quite a
recent period--perhaps within the last century--by the unrelenting
pursuit of Man,--a pursuit which their wingless condition rendered
them unable to evade.

[Illustration: Fig. 257.--Skeleton of _Dinornis elephantopus_,
greatly reduced. Post-Pliocene, New Zealand. (After Owen.)]

In Madagascar, bones have been discovered of another huge wingless
Bird, which must have been as large as, or larger than, the _Dinornis
giganteus_, and which has been described under the name of _AEpiornis
maximus_. With the bones have been found eggs measuring from
thirteen to fourteen inches in diameter, and computed to have
the capacity of three Ostrich eggs. At least two other smaller
species of _AEpiornis_ have been described by Grandidier and
Milne-Edwards as occurring in Madagascar; and they consider the
genus to be so closely allied to the _Dinornis_ of New Zealand,
as to prove that these regions, now so remote, were at one time
united by land. Unlike New Zealand, where there is the _Apteryx_,
Madagascar is not known to possess any living wingless Birds;
but in the neighbouring island of Mauritius the wingless Dodo
(_Didus ineptus_) has been exterminated less than three hundred
years ago; and the little island of Rodriguez, in the same
geographical province, has in a similar period lost the equally
wingless Solitaire (_Pezophaps_), both of these, however, being
generally referred to the _Rasores_.

The _Mammals_ of the Post-Pliocene period are so numerous, that
in spite of the many points of interest which they present, only
a few of the more important forms can be noticed here, and that
but briefly. The first order that claims our attention is that
of the _Marsupials_, the headquarters of which at the present
day is the Australian province. In Oolitic times Europe possessed
its small Marsupials, and similar forms existed in the same area
in the Eocene and Miocene periods; but if size be any criterion,
the culminating point in the history of the order was attained
during the Post-Pliocene period in Australia. From deposits of
this age there has been disentombed a whole series of remains of
extinct, and for the most part gigantic, examples of this group
of Quadrupeds. Not to speak of Wombats and Phalangers, two forms
stand out prominently as representatives of the Post-Pliocene
animals of Australia. One of these is _Diprotodon_ (fig. 258),
representing, with many differences, the well-known modern group
of the Kangaroos.