THE SUBMERGED FOREST. 69 



Indian species of mammal has ever found its way into 

 Australia, nor one Australian species into the Javan and 

 Indian region. There can be little doubt, therefore, that 

 these submerged forests, almost modern in their appear- 

 ance and overlying the glacial gravels, are relics of the 

 land surface which once connected us with the Conti- 

 nent on the one hand and with Ireland on the other. If 

 it be asked why, with such a wide connection existing 

 at so late a date, we should lack so many Continental 

 mammals, the answer is that in a small and thickly 

 peopled area like England many of them have been 

 exterminated, directly or indirectly, through man's 

 agency, within the historical period. The bear, the wild 

 boar, the wolf, the reindeer, and the beaver have all 

 become extinct since the Roman occupation ; the 

 badger, the otter, the marten, and the stoat are being 

 slowly driven out in our own time ; the fallow deer and 

 the white cattle have been artificially preserved ; and 

 even the fox would perhaps have died out long ago but 

 for the strenuous exertions of sportsmen. 



