填空题. That large animals require a luxuriant vegetation, has been a general assumption which has passed from one work to another; but I do not hesitate to say that it is completely true, and that it has vitiated the 1 reasoning of geologists on some points of great interest in the ancient history of the world. The prejudice has probably derived from India, and the Indian 2 islands, which troops of elephants, noble forests, and impenetrable jungles, 3 are associated together in every one's mind. If, therefore, we refer to any 4 work of travels through the southern parts of Africa, we shall fred illusions 5 in almost every page either to the desert character of the country, nor to the 6 numbers of large animals inhabiting it. The same thing is rendered evident by the many engravings which have been published of various parts of the interior. Dr. Andrew Smith, who has lately succeeded in passing the Tropic of Capricorn, informs me that, taken into consideration the whole of the 7 southern part of Africa, there can be no doubt of its being a sterile country. On the southern coasts there are some fine forests, but without these 8 exceptions, the traveler may pass for days together through open plains, covered by a poor and scanty vegetation. Now, if we look to the animals inhabiting this wide plains, we shall find their numbers extraordinarily 9 great, and their bulk immense. We must enumerate the elephant, three species of rhinoceros, the giraffe, two zebras, two gnus, and several antelopes even larger than these latter animals. It may be supposed that even 10 although the species are numerous, the individuals of each kind are few.