Mythical Monsters. Gould Charles

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      Perfect skeletons are occasionally procured from marshes, where the animals had become mired. In life this species appears to have measured from twelve to thirteen feet in height and twenty-four to twenty-five feet in length, including seven feet for the tusks. Undigested food found with its remains show that it lived partly on spruce and fir-trees. A distinct species characterised the Quaternary deposits of South America.

      The Irish Elk. – The species (Megaceros hibernicus), commonly but erroneously called the Irish Elk, was, as professor Owen52 has pointed out, a true deer, whose place is between the fallow and reindeer.

      Though now extinct, it survived the Palæolithic period, and may possibly have existed down to historic times. Mr. Gosse adduces some very strong testimony on this point, and is of opinion that its extinction cannot have taken place more than a thousand years ago.

      It had a flattened and expanded form of antler, with peculiarities unknown among existing deer, and was, in comparison with these, of gigantic size; the height to the summit of the antlers being from ten to eleven feet in the largest individuals, and the span of the antlers, in one case, over twelve feet.

      Although its remains have been found most abundantly in Ireland, it was widely distributed over Britain and middle Europe. It has been found in peat swamps, lacustrine marls, bone caverns, fen deposits, and the Cornish gravels. It has been obtained from the cavern of Goyet in Belgium, and from the burial-place at Aurignac, in the department of the Haute Garonne. Its known range in time is from the early part of the Glacial period down to, possibly, historic periods.

      The Cave-Hyæna. —Hyæna spelæa of Goldfuss – is, like the cave-bear, characteristic of Europe during the Palæolithic age. It has been found in numerous caves in Britain, such as Kent’s Hole, the Brixham cave, and one near Wells in Somersetshire, explored by Dawkins in 1859; in all of these the remains are associated with those of man, or with his implements. This species is closely related to the H. crocuta of Zimm, at present existing in South Africa, and is by some geologists considered identical with it. It is, however, larger.

      It appears to have to some extent replaced the cave-bear in Britain; we are also, doubtless, greatly indebted to it for some of the extensive collections of bones in caverns, resulting from the carcases which it had dragged thither, and imperfectly destroyed.

      In a cave at Kirkdale, in the vale of Pickering, the bones of about three hundred individuals – hyænas – were found mingled with the remains of the mammoth, bear, rhinoceros, deer, cave-lion, brown bear, horse, hare, and other species. Mr. Dawkins,53 in describing it, says: “The pack of hyænas fell upon reindeer in the winter, and at other times on horses and bisons, and were able to master the hippopotamus, the lion, the slender-nosed rhinoceros, or the straight-tusked elephant, and to carry their bones to their den, where they were found by Dr. Buckland. The hyænas also inhabiting the ‘Dukeries,’ dragged back to their dens fragments of lion.”

      Notable Quaternary forms (now extinct) on the American continent are the gigantic sloth-like animals Megatherium, which reached eighteen feet in length, and Mylodon, one species of which (M. robustus) was eleven feet in length; Armadillos, such as Glyptodon, with a total length of nine feet; Chlamydotherium, as big as a rhinoceros; and Pachytherium, equalling an ox.

      In Australia we find marsupial forms as at the present day; but they were gigantic in comparison with the latter. As for example, the Diprotodon, which equalled in size a hippopotamus, and the Nototherium, as large as a bullock.

      I may mention a few other species, the remains of which are associated with some of those commented on in the last few pages; but which, as they have undoubtedly continued in existence down to the present period, are external to the present portion of my argument, and are either treated of elsewhere, or need only to be referred to in a few words.

      Fig. 14. – Mylodon robustus. (After Figuier.)

      It must also be borne in mind that the linking together of species by the discovery of intermediate graduated forms, is daily proceeding; so that some even of those spoken of in greater detail may shortly be generally recognised, as at present they are held by a few, to be identical with existing forms.

      The Hippopotamus. – The Hippopotamus major, now considered identical with the larger of the two African species —H. amphibia, has been found associated with E. antiquus and R. hemitæchus of Falc in Durdham Down and Kirkdale caves, and in those at Kent’s Hole and Ravenscliff. It has also been found in river gravels at Grays, Ilford, and elsewhere, in the lower part of the river-border deposits of Amiens with flint implements, and in Quaternary deposits on the continent of Europe.

      The Cave-Lion —Felis spelæa– is now considered to be merely a variety of the African lion (Felis leo), although of larger size; it had a very wide range over Britain and Europe during the Post Pliocene period, as also did the leopard (F. pardus) and probably the lynx (Lyncus).

      The Reindeer or Cariboo —Cervus tarandus– which still exists, both domesticated and wild, in northern Europe and America, is adapted for northern latitudes. It formerly extended over Europe, and in the British Isles probably survived in the north of Scotland until the twelfth century.

      Its remains have been found in Pleistocene deposits in numerous localities, but most abundantly in those which M. Lartet has assigned to the period which he calls the Reindeer age.

      Other Pleistocene mammals still existing, but whose range is much restricted, are the musk ox (Ovibos moschatus), familiar to us, from the accounts of arctic expeditions, as occurring in the circumpolar regions of North America; the glutton (Gulo luscus), the auroch (Bison europæus), the wild horse (E. fossilis), the arctic fox (Canis lagopus), the bison (Bison priscus), the elk or moose (Alces malchis), found in Norway and North America, the lemming, the lagomys or tail-less hare, &c.

      As examples of total extinction in late years, we may mention the dodo, the solitaire, and species allied to them, in the islands of Mauritius, Bourbon, and Reunion; the moa in New Zealand; the Æpiornis in Madagascar; the great auk, Alca impennis, in northern seas, and the Rhytina Stelleri, common once in the latitude of Behring’s Straits, and described by Steller in 1742.

      Fig. 15. – Skeleton of Rhytina Stelleri. (From “The Voyage of the ‘Vega.’”)

      The Dodo, a native of the island of Mauritius, was about 50 lbs. in weight, and covered with loose downy plumage, it was unable to rise from the ground in consequence of the imperfect development of its wings; it was minutely described by Sir Thomas Herbert in 1634, and specimens of the living bird and of its skin were brought to Europe. Its unwieldiness led to its speedy destruction by the early voyagers.

      Fig. 16. – Rhytina Stelleri. (From “The Voyage of the ‘Vega.’”)

      The Solitaire was confined to the island of Mascaregue or Bourbon. It is fully described by Francis Leguat, who, having fled from France into Holland in 1689, to escape religious persecution consequent on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, engaged under the Marquis de Quesne in an expedition СКАЧАТЬ