84 HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN FAUNA. 



seas and not on land, may be welcomed by 

 rationalists, at any rate until further research has 

 been carried on among the Arctic glaciers. At 

 present every year brings evidence of modern 

 marine boulder-clays in high latitudes, and removes 

 us farther and farther from belief in a moraine 

 profonde" That foraminifera are occasionally found 

 in boulder-clay has been known for a long time, 

 but it is only within recent years that these marine 

 organisms have been shown to occur in so many 

 localities, that Mr. Wright, who examined a large 

 number of samples, says (p. 269), " I am forced 

 to the conclusion that the Scottish as well as 

 the Irish boulder-clay is a true marine sedimentary 

 deposit " 



In the fourth and fifth chapters I shall return to 

 this subject again, and mention a number of facts 

 of distribution which appear to me much easier of 

 explanation by means of the marine than by the land- 

 ice theory. But I do not propose to go into further 

 geological details in this volume, as I think I have 

 clearly conveyed my position in this controversy. 



Before concluding this short review of the glacial 

 problem, so far as it affects the origin of the European 

 fauna, I should like to refer to the opinion of one 

 who has devoted years to the study of the glacial 

 phenomena in the Arctic Regions, viz., Col. 

 Feilden. "To a certain extent," he says (a, p. 57), 

 "all boulder clays at home arc fragmentary when 

 compared with the boulder-bearing beds of Kolguev, 



