Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/153

Rh these wild beasts enjoyed a long freedom before he appeared on the scene. How the thick hides were pierced by arrow- or spear-points made of stone, and how man with such weapons could have held his own against powerful and ferocious bears and lions, seems a mystery when we think of the ferocity of the degenerate descendants of these animals. It is, moreover, a curious circumstance not easily explained that, whilst the tiger and lion are daily destroying human beings, we find no indications of man among the gnawed bones so plentifully distributed throughout the ancient caverns and dens of the post-glacial epoch. The only explanation would seem to be that the larger carnivorous quadrupeds found ample subsistence among the lower animals during the cave period without preying on the lords of creation.

now a native of the Arctic Regions of the Old and New Worlds, was contemporary with the Bears, and sought its fortunes on British soil. Its bones have been discovered in caverns and deep soils in England, but the date of its extinction is so far shrouded in obscurity.

is the sole remaining representative of the Bear family which still lingers in our islands. Like the Glutton, it existed with the Bears, but was not so plentiful, if we may judge from the few bones which have hitherto been discovered.

and can be traced back to the days when the large carnivores and elephantine quadrupeds lived in our islands; and it would appear that, in point of size, individuals of the ancient race did not greatly surpass their modern representatives. It seems probable, moreover, that in all cases where quadrupeds, from early epochs, have remained unchanged in point of size, although confined within narrower geographical limits, they have continued to enjoy abundance of their natural food. At the same time it is the fact that several animals, as the Bear and Elephant, present to a greater extent individual variations in size, according to the favourable or inimical conditions under which they have happened to be placed. These are points of great importance to the naturalist, especially when attempting to trace back the history of extinct animals by a comparison of their remains with those of living species.