218 t GLACIAL HISTORY. 



During the interglacial period,, at the time of the formation 

 of the lignites, the Elephas antiquus probably came into Swit- 

 zerland in the summer time from Italy, where it was abundant, 

 and the mammoth (Elephas primigenius) immigrated into the 

 Swiss region from more northern localities. The remains of the 

 mammoth are everywhere found in Central and Northern 

 Europe, in Northern Asia *, and in North America ; its area of 

 distribution was more extended than is usual for animals of such 

 vast size. In Germany the valley of Cannstatt and Stuttgard 

 was an especially favourite resort of the mammoth and woolly 

 rhinoceros ; and in that basin great quantities of the bones and 

 teeth of these animals have been found in a sandy loam (the 

 Loess), which in many places is covered with tuifs. In the 

 plain of the Rhine the Loess contains bones of the same two 

 pachyderms. 



Small as is the number of animals found in the Swiss drift 

 (Diluvium), the remains are very remarkable on account of the 

 singular mixture of species. Side by side with forms which may 

 be regarded as belonging to the temperate zone, such as the 

 horse, the urus (Bos primigenius), the stag, the badger, the bear, 

 and the wild cat, there are true Alpine animals, such as the 

 chamois, the ibex, and the marmot, and inhabitants of the 

 northern regions, such as the elk and the reindeer; and with 

 these are associated a rhinoceros arid an elephant, the nearest 

 relatives of wliich now live only in the torrid and warm zones ; 

 but, at the same time, they differ from their living representa- 

 tives by their hairy covering, and thus demonstrate that they 

 were organized for a cold climate. 



The drift-fauna presents the same character in all parts of 



* It is probable that the mammoth was originally a native of Eastern 

 Siberia, and that it lived there as early as the epoch of the Swiss lignites ; it 

 is also likely that, the temperature decreasing more and more during the 

 second Glacial period, it emigrated and arrived in Central Europe. This 

 hypothesis is supported by the fact that in Siberia the mammoth passed the 

 Arctic circle and reached even the 80th degree, while in Europe it has never 

 attained the Arctic circle (see Prof. Heer's ' Flora Fossilis Arctica,' i. p. 43). 

 In Siberia several perfect specimens of this animal with the skin and hair 

 have been found buried in the frozen soil ; and the teeth are there so abun- 

 dant that fossil ivory constitutes in that country an important article of 

 commerce. 



