148 EELIQTJI^: AQCTITANIC^E. 



Seine even in Paris, at Joinville, Montreuil, Grenelle, and Levallois have furnished 

 some teeth and other remains of Hippopotamus ; and at Levallois these remains 

 were found in company with those of the Reindeer, of three Rhinoceroses, and 

 two Elephants, and with numerous worked flints. At Viry Noureuil (Aisne) the 

 Hippopotamus is also found with some worked flints, and associated with two 

 Elephants, the Hyaena, Reindeer, and Musk-ox. 



The lowering of the level of the perpetual snow-line and the wide extension of 

 the glaciers do not, as I have said elsewhere, at all imply an excessive cold. In 

 the Southern Island of New Zealand, where the glaciers come down nearly to the 

 sea, and where a subtropical vegetation is developed quite near these glaciers, 

 the Hippopotamus would acclimatize itself very well if there were large rivers such 

 as our Seine was in the Quaternary Period, when its bed, according to the demon- 

 strative works of M. Belgrand, was about 4 kilometres (4370 yards) in breadth. 

 Our Quaternary flora, according to recent studies, and the usual commingling, in 

 our fluviatile drift, of bones of mammals of arctic character with those of species 

 analogous to certain of our existing intertropical types, would denote, as has been 

 very well said by M. de Saporta, a damp and warm climate, with variations of 

 temperature less extreme than those noticed by the ancient authors quoted by 

 Mr. Anderson. 



What especially strikes and preoccupies the mind is the great development of 

 the glaciers and the probable abundance of snow during the Period termed 

 " Glacial." It is, however, in most cases, the ice and snow that act as preserva- 

 tives against extreme cold. In our mean latitudes there are many plants perfectly 

 preserved beneath the snow and ice, which would infallibly perish if they were 

 exposed to the effects of the prolonged radiation during the clear quiet nights of 

 winter. There are some districts in Siberia where neither rain nor snow fall 

 during the winter, and where, during the long serene nights, the temperature on 

 a level with the soil is lowered to 50 (Centigrade) below zero. There is no orga- 

 nized nature which could resist such an excess of cold ; while most of the plants 

 and animals are perfectly preserved under the shelter of ice and snow. 



As to the contemporary existence, in Western Europe, of the Reindeer, Musk-ox 

 (Ovibos moschatus), Hippopotamus, and certain Rhinoceroses, I must refer to 

 what I have said in the 'Annales des Sciences Naturelles,' serie 5 me , Zoologie, 

 1867, vol. viii. pp. 189-193. The passage runs thus : 



" In concluding this sketch of Rhinoceros Merkii, a few words may be added 

 on the geographical distribution of that species during the several phases of its 

 existence. 



