ANTIQUITY OF MAN. 221 



deer, were found by Cassar in the forests of Germany. 

 The one is extinct, the other is now confined to , 

 Lapland. The aurochs, or European bison, existed in 

 central Europe up to the twelfth century, but is now 

 limited to a single herd artificially preserved in Lithu- 

 ania. There is also reason to believe that the Irish 

 deer (Megaceros), whose bones are found under bogs 

 in Ireland, was contemporary with man. These facts 

 are, however, precisely parallel to some known as quite 

 recent in America; as, for instance, the entire dis- 

 appearance of the wapiti, the noblest of American 

 deer, and of the American bison, or ft buffalo," from 

 the regions east of the Mississippi, with the limitation 

 of the latter to one narrow district at the foot of the 

 Kocky Mountains,* and the rapidly approaching ex- ' 

 tinction of the reindeer or caribou in Nova Scotia and 

 the neighbouring parts of Eastern America. These 

 American facts relate to the comparatively short period 

 since the discovery of America, and are connected with 

 the introduction of fire-arms and the progressive 

 settlement of the country. In Europe such changes 

 were slower ; but there can be no doubt that the in- 

 troduction of bronze and iron, the migrations and 

 conquests which have occurred, and the increase of 

 population, have been instrumental in producing them. 

 More significant facts, as bearing on the antiquity 

 of man, are those which seem to indicate his having 



* It is estimated by Dr. G. M. Dawson, that the buffalo, at 

 the existing rate of destruction, will be extinct in about 

 fourteen years. 



