LUBBOCK OX THE ANCIENT LASE HABITATIONS OF SWITZERLAND. 43 



were abuudaut in the Jura and Black Forest iu tiie twelfth and thir- 

 teenth centuries, though they do not apjiear to have been so large 

 as those which lived in earlier times. The last was shot in Basle, 

 at the close of the eighteenth century, v/hile in Western Swdtzerland 

 and WaUis they lingered somewhat longer. The Eoedeer still occurs 

 in some places. 



The Fauna thus indicated is certainly very much what might have 

 been expected. We find most of the species which characterise the 

 post-tertiary epoch in Europe. Some of the larger ones have since 

 iallen avv-ay in the struggle for existence, and others are becoming 

 rarer and rarer every year, while some maintain themselves even now, 

 thanks only to the inclemency and inaccessibility of the mountainous 

 regions Avhich they inhabit. Tlie gradual process of extermination, 

 which has continued ever since, had however even then begun. 



Taken as a whole, therefore, the animals of the Swiss Pileworks 

 belong evidently to the Fauna, which commenced in post-tertiary 

 times with the Mammoth, the Rhinoceros tichorhinus, the Cave 

 Bear, and the -Fossil Hya?]ia. These extinct species appear to have 

 co-existed in Europe with aU of its present indigenous inhabitants ; 

 it was, indeed, long supposed that man belonged to a subsequent 

 period, but recent investigations have shown, that he is no exception 

 to the rule. 



While, however, we must regard tlie Fauna of the Stone age as 

 belonging to the same Zoological epoch with that of the later drifts 

 on the one hand, and the present time on the other ; we cannot 

 forget that the immense time which has elapsed since the end of the 

 Tertiary period, has produced great changes in the Fauna of Europe. 

 In this Post-tertiary era the Pileworks occupy, so to say, a middle 

 ]30sition. Distmguished from the present Fauna of Switzerland in 

 the possession of the Urus, the Bison, the Elk, the Stag, and the 

 Wild Boar, as well as by the more general distribution of the Beaver, 

 the Bear, the Wolf, the Ibex, the Roe, &c., they diifer equally from 

 tlie drift gravels in the absence of the Mammoth, the Rhinoceros, 

 the Cave Bear, and the Cave Hyaena. 



M. Riitimeyer, however, thinks that we may carry this division far- 

 ther, and he considers that some of the Pileworks presenting a more 

 archaic character than others, they may be arranged as follows : — 

 Istly, Moosseedorf 

 2ndly, As being somewhat more recent, Wauwyl, Robenhauseu, 



Wangen, and Meilen. 

 Srdly, The Lake-habitations of Western Switzerland. 



It is of course unnecessary to point out the interest and impor- 

 tance of such a distinction, which accords so well with that indicated 

 by the study of the weapons and tlie state of pi*eservation of the piles. 

 Thus, the Urus has only occurred at Moosseedorf and Robenhausen ; 

 the Aurochs only at Wauwyl ; the Bear only at Moosseedorf and 

 Meilen. A glance at the table given at page 250, will show that several 

 other species have as yet only occurred at Moosseedorf and Roben- 

 hauseu, a fact however whidi indicates rather the richness than the 



