CHAP, in.] THE MEIOCENE PERIOD. 37 



CHAPTER III. 



BIOLOGICAL AND PHYSICAL CHANGES IN BRITAIN BEFORE 

 THE ARRIVAL OF MAN. THE MEIOCENE PERIOD. 



The Meiocene Classification. Genera of Meiocene Mammalia now living. 

 The Southern Seaboard. Continuity with North America. The 

 Mountains. Meiocene Volcanoes in British Islands. The Meiocene 

 Rivers. The British Meiocene Forests. Meiocene Flora of the 

 Hebrides and Ireland. Meiocene Flora on the Continent. Lower 

 Meiocene Mammals. Lower Meiocene Birds. Mammals inhabiting 

 Forests of the Mid Meiocene Age. Land Mammalia and Birds of 

 Upper Meiocenes. Meiocene Geography on the Continent. The 

 Meiocene Climate. No Evidence of Glacial Period in the Meiocene 

 Age. No Proof of Man in Europe in the Meiocene Age. 



WE have, in the course of this chapter, to seek for 

 evidence of man in the Meiocene life period, when the 

 living genera of mammals first begin to appear. It 

 must be admitted that the strict definition of the Meio- 

 cene from the Eocene period is one of exceeding difficulty 

 from the imperfect preservation of the fossils, and from 

 the impossibility of ascertaining the exact relative age 

 of assemblies of animals found in isolated lake basins 

 and in river deposits widely remote from each other. 

 The only clue to their geological date is the stage of 

 evolution presented by the mammalia, the more general 

 having obviously preceded in point of time the more 

 special forms. 



