The elephant actress, as I
was informed, weighed one ton less; so that we may take five as the
average of a full-grown elephant. I was told at the Surry Gardens,
that a hippopotamus which was sent to England cut up into pieces
was estimated at three tons and a half; we will call it three. From
these premises we may give three tons and a half to each of the
five rhinoceroses; perhaps a ton to the giraffe, and half to the
bos caffer as well as to the elan (a large ox weighs from 1200 to
1500 pounds). This will give an average (from the above estimates)
of 2.7 of a ton for the ten largest herbivorous animals of Southern
Africa. In South America, allowing 1200 pounds for the two tapirs
together, 550 for the guanaco and vicuna, 500 for three deer, 300
for the capybara, peccari, and a monkey, we shall have an average
of 250 pounds, which I believe is overstating the result. The ratio
will therefore be as 6048 to 250, or 24 to 1, for the ten largest
animals from the two continents.) After the above facts, we are
compelled to conclude, against anterior probability, that among the
mammalia there exists no close relation between the BULK of the
species and the QUANTITY of the vegetation in the countries which
they inhabit.
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