102 Proceedings of the Bayed Physical Society. 



at Zurich, describes three varieties of the pig, as well as 

 three of cattle" ("Lake Dwellings of Europe," p. 535). 



3. Seeing, therefore, that wild stocks of the ox, goat, pig, 

 horse, and dog, frona which the corresponding domestic 

 animals could have been derived, did exist in Europe in pre- 

 Neolithic times, there seems to be no inherent improbability 

 in the idea that some of them had been domesticated by the 

 indigenous inhabitants prior to the incoming of the Neolithic 

 brachycephals into France. There is, indeed, every reason 

 to believe that while the early Lake-dwellers — probably 

 among the first of these eastern immigrants — were con- 

 structing their lacustrine habitations, the Dolmen-builders 

 were already in possession of the whole of Western Europe, 

 and living under a Neolithic civilisation derived from 

 sources altogether independent of the Aryan brachycephals. 

 If this be so, tlien we must considerably modify the view 

 hitherto upheld by archaeologists, viz., that the culture and 

 civilisation of the Neolithic age were exclusively introduced 

 into Europe by the successive waves of so-called Aryans 

 from Asia. That, however, these immigrants reared animals 

 in a state of domestication, which were originally derived 

 from Asiatic wild species, is probable, as it satisfactorily 

 accounts for the numerous breeds and varieties of domestic 

 animals which subsequently obtained among European 

 nationalities. 



4. But, it may be asked, who were these Dolmen-builders? 

 According to the best of my judgment, they were mainly the 

 descendants of the first Palaeolithic inhabitants, who entered 

 Europe, along with a batch of African animals, when the 

 country was connected with North Africa by at least two 

 extensive land tracts, one through Italy, Sicily, and Tunis, 

 and the other across the Strait of Gibraltar. These people 

 lived ever since in various selected localities throughout 

 Europe, during which the country passed through some 

 striking changes in climate and in the geographical distribu- 

 tion of land. The disappearance of the Euro- African land 

 bridges across the Mediterranean was an important physical 

 event, as it cut off a southern retreat to both men and 

 animals. But, like migratory birds who instinctively follow 



