44 HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN FAUNA. 



It inhabits Europe and Northern Asia. It is absent 

 apparently from many parts of Central Asia, but it 

 appears again farther south in Palestine, Syria, Persia, 

 Turkestan, and Tibet. West Central Asia would be 

 about the centre of its range. That this corresponds 

 to its place of origin is indicated by the fact that the 

 only three other Badgers known viz., M. anakuma, 

 M. leucuruS) and M. albogularis are confined to Asia. 

 If we examine the fossil history of the genus, we find 

 that the two most ancient instances of the existence 

 of Badgers have been discovered in Persia, where M. 

 Polaki and M. maraghanus occur in miocene deposits. 

 The latter had migrated as far west as Greece in mio- 

 cene times ; no other trace of the Badger, however, is 

 known from Europe until we come to the pleistocene 

 beds. There are a good many cases known among 

 mammals where the centre of dispersion would indicate 

 to us a similar origin. On the other hand, there may 

 be no fossil evidence of the occurrence of a species, 

 or of its ancestors, in Asia, whilst such has been 

 discovered in Europe. I think, however, that the 

 present range of a species forms a safer criterion for 

 the determination of its original home, as the Asiatic 

 continent is still practically unworked from a palaeon- 

 tological point of view. In a letter which I received 

 from Professor Charles Deperet, he advocates the 

 view that the wild Boar (Sus scrofa) is probably of 

 European, and not, as I maintained (c, p. 455), of 

 Asiatic origin ; because there seemed to be a direct 

 descent from Hyotherium of the middle miccene of 



