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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin: of Europe, lived whilst the sea was peopled with most
of its present inhabitants; and we have confirmed that remarkable
law so often insisted on by Mr. Lyell, namely, that
the "longevity of the species in the mammalia is upon the
whole inferior to that of the testacea." [3]
The great size of the bones of the Megatheroid animals,
including the Megatherium, Megalonyx, Scelidotherium, and
Mylodon, is truly wonderful. The habits of life of these
animals were a complete puzzle to naturalists, until Professor
Owen [4] solved the problem with remarkable ingenuity. The
teeth indicate, by their simple structure, that these Megatheroid
The Voyage of the Beagle |
