I do not here speak of the KIND of
vegetation necessary for their support; because, as there is
evidence of physical changes, and as the animals have become
extinct, so may we suppose that the species of plants have likewise
been changed.
These remarks, I may be permitted to add, directly bear on the case
of the Siberian animals preserved in ice. The firm conviction of
the necessity of a vegetation possessing a character of tropical
luxuriance, to support such large animals, and the impossibility of
reconciling this with the proximity of perpetual congelation, was
one chief cause of the several theories of sudden revolutions of
climate, and of overwhelming catastrophes, which were invented to
account for their entombment. I am far from supposing that the
climate has not changed since the period when those animals lived,
which now lie buried in the ice. At present I only wish to show,
that as far as QUANTITY of food ALONE is concerned, the ancient
rhinoceroses might have roamed over the STEPPES of central Siberia
(the northern parts probably being under water) even in their
present condition, as well as the living rhinoceroses and elephants
over the KARROS of Southern Africa.
Pages:
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202