128 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. vr. 



water-rats ; while among the smaller animals were the 

 common shrew, the musk shrew (now inhabiting the 

 banks of the Volga), and the common mole. Had he 

 entered these forests in the autumn, he would have seen 

 the wild boars eagerly seeking for acorns as they fell 

 from the trees, and overhead squirrels feasting on the 

 cones of the Scotch fir. 



These living and extinct species formed the advanced 

 guard of the Asiatic invasion of Europe at the close of 

 the Pleiocene age, as described in the last chapter, which 

 was probably due to the lowering of the temperature, 

 by which animals hitherto living in Asia were driven 

 to the south and west by the increasing cold in the 

 northern regions. Their arrival marks the first phase of 

 the Pleistocene age in Britain. They belong to the 

 following species : 



Fauna of Forest- Bed. 



Survivals from Pleiocene, Living Species. 

 Hippopotamus . . . Hippopotamus ampliibius. 



Survivals from Pleiocene, Extinct Species. 



Bear of Auvergne . . . Ursus arvernensis. 



Sabre-toothed lion . . . Machairodus. 



Deer of Polignac . . . Cervus polignacus. 



Sedgwick's deer . . . Cervus dicranios = G. 



Etruskan rhinoceros . . R. etruscns. 



Big-nosed rhinoceros . . R. megarhinus. 



Southern elephant . . . Eleplias meridionalis. 



New Comers, Living Species. 



Musk shrew .... Sorex moschatus. 

 Common shrew S. vulgaris. 



Water vole .... Arvicola amphibia. 

 Red field vole . . . . A. glareolus. 

 Mole ..... Talpa europcea. 



