244 Tf ie Irish Naturalist. [November, 



having apparently existed, either as sea or desert, long enough to form a 

 barrier to the extension of life northwards from the African Tropics. 

 We agree with Dr. Scharff when he states that he cannot (p. 290) call to 

 mind any large species of mammal which we might reasonably suppose 

 to have originated in South-western Europe. Myogalc is possibly such ; 

 Talpa, even if it occurs in French Miocene deposits, is old enough in the 

 Bast to have reached Japan. The Rabbit (Lcpus cumculus) may be a case 

 in point, as may also be Muscardinus (p. 316), of the ancestry of which, 

 however, we know nothing, but we doubt if Dr. ScharfF is right in 

 branding Myoxus (now known as G//s) as of European extraction (p. 316), 

 that genus having a representative, M. eleqans, Temm., in Japan. 

 Neither can we agree with Dr. Scharff in placing the origin of the genus 

 Fringilla (p. 293), and especially of the Chaffinches, in south-western 

 Europe, for the various sub-species found in Teueriffe, Madeira, the 

 Canaries, and the Azores, are surely only instances of the adoption, by 

 isolated colonies of a widely spread bird, of a dress suitable to local 

 conditions. Even Cyanopolius Cooki (p. 293"), the beautiful blue Magpie of 

 Spain, must be the survivor of a once widely-spread species, now repre- 

 sented only by itself and the almost identical C. cyan us of eastern Siberia. 



Among the vertebrate representatives of Arctic forms in our islands 

 are the extinct Reindeer, Arctic Fox and Lemmings, the Varying 

 Hare, the Stoat, Ptarmigan, Great Auk (extinct), the Salmonidcc, the 

 vSticklebacks, the genus Cottus, Perches, Cods, and Herrings The North 

 American fresh-water sponges and plants of Ireland belong to a slightly 

 different section. With regard to these, we think Dr. Scharff is right in 

 claiming that they reached our shores by land and not by passing over 

 frozen arms of the sea, but when he talks of the Reindeer frequently 

 crossing and recrossing Bering's Straits (why spell it " Behring " ?) in 

 winter, we think he is incorrect, for we believe the ice of these straits 

 is never firmly fixed enough for such traffic, as the traveller De Wentt 

 recently found to his cost. Other Arctic vertebrates, such as the Polar 

 Bear and Musk Ox, are not known from the British Isles. 



A pretty point is made by Dr. Scharff when he contends that the 

 presence of arctic and alpine plants and animals is not necessarily 

 indicative of a severe climate, but that they exist in such situations on 

 account of the protection afforded to them by the snow from severe cold. 

 In support of this he quotes the extreme delicacy of Arctic plants in 

 gardens, and their inability to stand an ordinary winter uncovered, the 

 fact that many of them are evergreen, that some of them such as 

 the alpine Edelweiss and the Mountain Avens, are found elsewhere at 

 sea-level, while all, or nearly all, have an extremely discontinuous range. 

 If we are to follow Dr. Scharff. we shall be led to the conclusion that 

 arctic and alpine animals are refugees, and have retired before other 

 and more vigorous forms, to their present habitats, and we must admit 

 that there seems to be a good deal to favour this supposition. As regards 

 mountains, we have evidence that in Tibet and in Luzon a group of high 

 mountains may form an island-like retreat for a peculiar fauna, while 

 the last refuge of many animals formerly wide-spread has been in the 

 far or intermediate North. To quote one or two, the Great Auk, the 



