CHAP. L] HISTORY OF TERTIARY LIFE ENDS WITH MAN. 9 



European forms on the new continent. The contrast 

 between the Secondary and the Tertiary faunas is enor- 

 mous and proportionate to the geographical change, but 

 it is not so strongly marked in the floras, which have 

 changed more slowly. 



The History of Tertiary Life ends with Man. 



The third or Tertiary period is that which more 

 immediately concerns us. In it each life-group is so 

 closely linked to that which went before and followed 

 after, that there is no break of sufficient importance to 

 be used for a starting-point in our special inquiry into 

 the ancient history of man. We shall therefore be com- 

 pelled to treat in outline the principal changes which 

 took place in this country from the beginning of the 

 Tertiary period down to the time when man first ap- 

 peared upon the stage, and to see how they are related 

 to the varying conditions of life on the continent. 



The Classification of the Tertiary Period. 



The Tertiary period in Europe may be divided into 

 six well-defined stages, as I have pointed out in my 

 work on Cave-hunting. 



Characteristics. 



I. Eocene, or that in which the mammalia now on 

 the earth were represented by allied forms 

 belonging to existing orders and families. 



II. Meiocene, in which the alliance between living 

 and fossil mammals is more close than before. 



Living orders 



and families 



present. 



Living genera. 



III. Pleiocene, in which living species of mammals 

 appear. 



Living species. 



