IX.] LAND CHANGES. 339 



sent what is now the Mediterranean Sea, and affording free com- 

 munication for land animals between Europe and North Africa." 



Probably the dwarf elephants of Malta were developed from a 

 larger form, closely allied to or identical with the African elephant, 

 after the separation of the island itself from the mainland. With 

 regard to Leith-Adams' idea of the subsequent submergence of 

 Malta, it is pretty certain that this could not have been complete, 

 since that island is inhabited by a large species of weasel (Mustela 

 africand) common to Egypt, and perhaps the south of Italy 1 ; 

 this animal being doubtless a survivor from the old fauna of the 

 Plistocene land connecting Italy, Sicily and Malta with northern 

 Africa. 



In north-western Europe there are equally conclusive evidences 

 of the connection of the British Islands with the Continent during 

 the Plistocene epoch. On many parts of the English coasts there 

 occur, for instance, submerged forests dating from a comparatively 

 recent epoch, which, when exposed during exceptionally low tides, 

 are seen to contain the stumps of trees in their original upright 

 position,. and with their roots still implanted in the soil. Forests 

 of this kind are found near Torquay and Falmouth, as well as on 

 several parts of the Welsh coasts and in Holyhead harbour ; the 

 submergence which has taken place in the case of the one at 

 Falmouth being estimated at upwards of 70 feet. Again, the pre- 

 glacial Norfolk Forest-bed, so often alluded to in the foregoing 

 pages, affords evidence of an extensive submergence on the east 

 coast of England ; this being supplemented by the Dogger Bank 

 in the North Sea, from which, as already mentioned, such numbers 

 of remains of the mammoth, as well as those of the woolly rhino- 

 ceros and other mammals, have been dredged. Additional evidence 

 in favour of the same subsidence is afforded by the numerous 

 ancient river-channels and valleys found in many parts of Britain, 

 which are situated at depths of from one to two hundred feet 

 below the present level of the land, and frequently cut right across 

 the existing drainage lines, so as to connect valleys now com- 

 pletely distinct. These ancient channels, which are now completely 

 choked with sand, mud, or gravel, have only been revealed by the 



1 See Thomas, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1895, pp. 128 131. 



222 



