CHAP, ii.] BIOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL CHANGES. 13 



CHAPTER II. 



BIOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL CHANGES IN BRITAIN BEFORE 

 THE ARRIVAL OF MAN. THE EOCENE PERIOD. 



The Eocene Classification. South-Eastern Coast-Line of Britain. Eocene 

 Sea-Board of Britain. The Eocene Sea. Britain connected with 

 America. The Mountains. The Rivers. The Lower Eocene Plants 

 and Animals. The Lower Eocene Birds.- The Mid Eocene Flora. 

 The Mid Eocene Mammalia. British Upper Eocene Mammals. 

 Upper Eocene Mammalia of the Continent. The Order Primates 

 represented. Climate of Britain Tropical. General Conclusions. 

 Man not here. 



THE close of the Secondary age, as we have observed 

 in the preceding chapter, was marked by great changes 

 in the physical geography of Europe. The cretaceous 

 rocks, which had been formed at the bottom of a deep 

 sea, were lifted up above the waves, and plants and 

 animals hitherto unknown appeared on the new continent. 

 The new invaders took possession of the land, the air, 

 and the sea, and brought about as marked a change in 

 the European fauna as that in geography which had 

 preceded their arrival. 



It is very probable that the elevation of the bottom 

 of the sea, by which this immigration of new forms 

 became possible, was accompanied by a corresponding 

 depression of a neighbouring tract of land, like that 



