i897-] Coi^K- — Jhe Borderland of E7i7'ope» 239 



remains with which we are acquainted in Ireland, prior to the Glacial 

 epoch ; and even these land-remains, as we may fairly say in this 

 country, are lacustrine. 



All this is here put forward as showing that geologists, if allowed a 

 loop-hole, will be anxious to claim the British area as a breeding-ground 

 for the European fauna. And Dr. Scharff, by arguing that the fauna 

 was not extinguished in Ireland by the glacial epoch, provides a loop- 

 hole of some magnitude. 



The discussion of the climate and physical geography of Europe during 

 the glacial epoch is one of the most valuable features of the paper. 

 Anything that keeps open the position maintained by Lyell and others, 

 that extensive glaciation is compatible with mild and sheltered nooks 

 and corners, and that much of the distribution of boulder-clay was per- 

 formed in seas and not on land, may be welcomed by rationalists, at any 

 rate until further research has been carried on among the Arctic glaciers. 

 At present, ever}'^ year brings evidence of modern marine boulder-clays 

 in high latitudes, and removes us farther and farther from belief in a 

 moraine prof onde. Dr. Scharff, for example, in his extensive reading, has 

 not overlooked the recent observations of Captain Feilden (p. 475) ; and 

 Mr. Russell's description of the forest growing on the ice of the Mala- 

 spina glacier would also have provided him with a useful argument. 



The absence of marine organisms from the Russian boulder-clay is met 

 by the suggestion (p. 464) of " a persistent current, carrying icebergs, 

 laden with detritus in an already turbid sea." But these conditions must 

 have prevailed in almost any region where boulder-clay was forming 

 under water ; and the explanation must be regarded as tentative. The 

 difficulties surrounding the discussion of glacial questions are admirably 

 illustrated on p. 492, where Dr. Scharft's remarks are not only edifying, 

 but exhilarating : — "A number of land and freshwater shells are quoted 

 by Prof. J. Geikie from the Arctic freshwater bed on the coast of Norfolk, 

 in evidence of a rigorous climate. These are spoken of by him as high 

 northern forms ; but in this he is mistaken. Everyone of them are in- 

 habitants of Ireland at present, and all but one very common." 



"While Dr. Scharff does much to explain away the evidence in favour 

 of an arctic climate in our islands, we may remember that the tables can 

 be turned, and that the puzzle as to the Hippopotamus and Spot ted Hyaena 

 (p. 486) may be solved by supposing that, of a large number of such 

 ndividuals subjected to a temperate climate, a sufficiently, large number 

 may be found capable of surviving and perpetuating the race. This, by 

 the by, is only what happens when we send young men from our 

 Universities and Staff-colleges to compete with natives in India. 



When we come to old sea-barriers, and land-connexions now sub- 

 merged, we are still largely in the region of hypothesis. Dr. Scharff 

 treats candidly, yet firmly, the supposed connexion between Europe and 

 America, by way of Spitsbergen (maps on pp. 461 and 466), and seems to 

 regard Mr. Carpenter's suggestion of a dual origin of certain species as 

 still beyond the range of probability (p. 476). But Cope argued 

 for the dual ancestry of so complex a creature as the horse 



