_
2
‘
INFLUENCE on MAN ON MAMMALS,
’
:
year rendered the bare rarer than it has ever been previôusly,
indeed it has swept' this graceful denizen of the elds, th1s_
delight of every lover of nature,-as well'as unrivallèd
ment for the sick, almost out of certain coùnties, and may lead
to its almost total extinction; the wolf has disappeared, whlle—
—
the badger is Scarce, and Where, we may ask, would the red deer, _
the roe and the fox have been if a measure of protection had:
not been meted out to them?
Man’s interference caused the”
extinction within a generation of the huge“ Rhy‘na (sea—cow),
though it wasmore or less marine in habit, and in the
day:
the dugong and the manatee are diminishing ‘and may follow
their
As a rulè,it is not difCult for man to 1nuenceî
land—animals whether for abundanoe or scarcity. Yet eVen‘ here,:
_
under
surroundings, certain forms, as the 1abb1tm=
Australia, the lemmings in Norway and Sweden, the rats andË
'
mice of our houses, prove more than a match for his most potent—
'
checks.
In the 'vegetable world, again, it is an arduouS and
often frùitleSs task to extirpate
with
«ingenuity andeppoi*tunities.
in themapntyî
a
vast number of seeds, far ”beyond what is required “fo'rthe
preservation of the species, indeed the older natu'raliStS pomted_
to
as a wise provision for the 'support of
only when We come to the larger slow—growing kinds
‘
action of man is so destructive, and yet thenu_mber of » seeds1n
.
th'elargertrees, as“ the pines, ac&ciaS and others, f is ve1ygreat,
_
"30,000 for instance occurring in such as Mimosa LebbeoMan’s
% "Ï ëäS‘y aœe‘Ssx
Opporuitîés’
howeverveïY
from the conditions existing-ga*the
=andhowfewofthesenowhve‘Them0atereataukan