210 EVOLUTION IN THE PAST 



Of this higher civilisation Egypt was undoubtedly an 

 outpost ; but it was not from that quarter that Europe was 

 to derive her vigorous races. 



EUROPE AT Before the close of the Period the climate of Europe became 

 CLOSE OF so warm as to drive mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, and 

 PLEISTOCENE other hardy animals to distant scenes. Lions, leopards, and 

 jungle-cats multiplied on the continent ; and hippopotamuses 

 and straight-tusked elephants (E. antiquus) penetrated far 

 into Britain, which still formed part of the European main- 

 land. The high temperature, however, was not greatly 

 prolonged ; and the warm-climate animals gradually with- 

 drew to more congenial scenes, excepting the straight-tusked 

 elephants (E. antiquus), which appear to have become 

 extinct. 



