78 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. iv. 



for the most part, of deciduous trees, maples, alders, 

 poplars, willows, elms, and ashes, with an under- 

 growth of bog- whortleberries (Vaccinium uliginosum). 

 These are found at a height of 700 metres above 

 the sea, while that of Meximieux is about 200 metres. 

 Yet a higher zone is met with at St. Vincent in 

 the Cantal at 1200 metres above the sea, in a forest 

 buried under lava, which consisted of pines, among 

 which one (Abies pinsapo) grows in Andalusia, in 

 regions between 1100 and 2000 metres high. 



These three zones of forest growth, so ably interpreted 

 by M. de Saporta, were probably to be met with only in 

 central and southern Europe where there were mountains. 

 The evergreen forest did not extend far beyond the 

 latitude of Paris, and the deciduous trees probably 

 formed a belt extending over the low country of Britain 

 and northern Germany, while the sombre forest zone of 

 pines was to be seen still farther north. The cinnamon 

 trees and the sabal palms (see Fig. 8), which in the 

 Meiocene times had extended as far north as the Lower 

 Rhine, in the early Pleiocene age were restricted to the 

 region of Italy. 



Pleiocene Climate. 



The climate necessary for the growth of the flora of 

 Meximieux is one considerably hotter, as well as more 

 moist, than that of the neighbourhood of Lyons at the 

 present time. The winters must have been mild and the 

 heat of summer above 20 centigrade to allow the Nerium 

 to flower, the bamboos to flourish, and the fruits of the 

 pomegranate to ripen. The mean annual temperature 

 necessary for these is estimated by M. de Saporta at 17 

 (62'6 Fahr.) centigrade, or about eight degrees more than 



