UPON THE BRITISH FLORA. 5 



animals of the southern migration into Europe show that there 

 was a land connection between the two Continents. The Straits 

 of Gibraltar were not then in existence when the African 

 Elephant ranged as far north as Madrid, and the Caff re Cat, 

 Lynx, and Spotted Hyaena caught their prey on the Spanish 

 Peninsula. Thus Pleistocene Europe had a connection with 

 Africa on the south, and with Asia on the east, extending as far 

 west as Britain and Ireland. The soundings which have been 

 made indicate that the British Isles and Ireland formed the 

 uplands of a plateau, now submerged to the extent of 100 

 fathoms on the Atlantic side. Immediately to the west of this 

 line the sea deepens so suddenly that the depth increases rapidly 

 to 2,000 fathoms. By a 100 fathom rise the British Isles would 

 be united to the Continent, and the Thames and the rivers on 

 the eastern coast would be united with the Elbe and the Rhine, 

 forming a river which emptied itself into the North Sea. On 

 this point Professor Boyd Dawkins says " The Straits of Dover 

 would then be the watershed between the valley of the German 

 Ocean, as it may be termed, and that of the English Channel, in 

 which the Seine, the Somme, and other French rivers joined those 

 of the south coast of England, and ultimately reached the 

 Atlantic." The quantity of bones of the Mammoth, the Woolly 

 Rhinoceros, the Horse, the Reindeer, the Spoiled Hy&na, and other 

 animals which are continually dredged up by the fishermen in 

 the German Ocean is almost incredible. Forbes considered 

 that the presence of South European plants in the south-west of 

 Ireland was in favour of a survival, as there had been no land 

 connection between Ireland and the south of Spain since the 

 Glacial Age. On the other hand Mr. Clement Reid considers it 

 may be assigned to other causes, and shows how plants can dis- 

 tribute themselves by natural means and contrivances, such as 

 birds conveying seeds in their feathers, or mingled in the mud on 

 which they had trodden just before taking their migratory flight. 

 In his recently published volume " On the Origin of the British 

 Flora " Mr. Clement Reid says " The autumn migration of 

 mammals which takes place when nearly all the seeds are ripe 



