Dr Fleming on the Climate of the Anile Regions. 73 



en ont rencontre un individu par le 32° et demi de latitude nord, 

 quoiqu'on fut an mois de Decern bre, et que la saiscn fut assez 

 rigoureuse.'''' If, then, we have an existing species capable of 

 living in a temperate river, where is the foundation of the claim 

 of the extinct species to be regarded as exclusiveli/ the inhabi- 

 tants of warm latitudes ? The geographical positions of their 

 remains may be considered as an index of the physical distribu- 

 tion of the species. 



" The existing Chelonians^'' says Mr Conybeare, " with a few 

 minute exceptions, are all confined to warm latitudes."" He 

 ought to have enumerated these minute exceptions, stated the 

 number of species natives of Europe, and the different stragglers 

 v.'hich have visited the British shores, aye, the Ultima Thule ; 

 and we have no doubt that his pen would never have recorded 

 the passage now quoted. 



IVIr Conybeare gives " a list of the animal genera actually li- 

 mited exclusively to warm latitudes, but occurring fossil in this 

 country." He admits that certain genera afford no indications 

 as to temperature whatever, and affects to overlook the value 

 of the evidence which they furnish in determining the laws of 

 physical distribution. But to what extent will his selected ani- 

 mal genera aid him .'' His first example is the Elephant. This 

 genus is at present confined to warm latitudes ; therefore he sup- 

 poses every fossil species must have flourished in a warm lati- 

 tude. It is not my intention to repeat the arguments already 

 advanced, to prove the falsity of this conclusion, for the scanti- 

 ness of Mr Conybeare's zoological attainments prevents him 

 from comprehending their value. But I will introduce him to 

 Baron Cuvier (whom he has designated " the first philosophical 

 authority,'" but whose writings he does not appear to have exa- 

 mined), who will tell him, in the first volume of his incompa- 

 rable work " Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles," that the 

 extinct elephant or mammoth was not a dwarf ; that it had a co- 

 vering suited to a cold climate, (p. 197) ; that it jjossibli/ could 

 support a temperature too low for the existence of Indian species ; 

 that it is even probable that it was so constituted as to prefer a 

 cold climate, (p. 200) ; nay, so satisfied is Baron Cuvier of the 

 visionary nature of the views entertained by the school to which 

 Mr Conybeare belongs, that he says, " Ainsi toutcs les hypo- 

 theses d'un rcfroidisscmcnt graducl de la tcrrc ou d'unc varia- 



