ANCIENT WILD ANIMALS 333 



fresh-water lakes, and the drainage from the moun- 

 tains would find its way by numerous channels across 

 the low plain into the sea. Thus, the Tiber, 

 escaping from its narrow estuary among the hills 

 not improbably continued its southwesterly course, 

 so as to pass across what afterwards became the 

 great volcanic district of Bolsena and to enter the 

 sea somewhere between Civita Vecchia and Orbetello. 

 The Anio would thus at that time be the main stream 

 in the Roman Campagna. 



From the layers of lacustrine or fluviatile deposits 

 in the tuff and also from cavities and fissures in the 

 limestone-hills, which then as now rose abruptly from 

 the edge of the volcanic plain, an interesting series 

 of organic remains has been obtained which throw 

 a vivid light upon the plants and animals of the 

 centre of Italy in the volcanic period. So far as 

 yet discovered, the flora was on the whole similar to 

 that which still survives in the district. But the 

 fauna was strangely different. If the remains have 

 been correctly identified, the land animals of the 

 time consisted of a curiously mixed assemblage, 

 including, on the one hand, many forms which have 

 long been extinct, together with some which still 

 inhabit the surrounding region ; and on the other 

 hand, quadrupeds characteristic of southern Europe 

 or Africa, as well as a few whose descendants are 

 only found much farther north. The open glades 

 were traversed by various species of deer, gazelle 

 and wild ox, most of which are no longer living but 

 which comprised the red deer and the reindeer. 

 There were likewise herds of more than one kind 



