CHAPTER III. 



THE FAUNA OF BRITAIN. 



THE British Islands are, as I have remarked, very 

 suitable as a starting-point for our investigations. 

 Their fauna and flora are fairly well known, and the 

 distribution of the large animals at any rate, which 

 are of course of much importance in these researches, 

 has been as much studied as that of any other area 

 in Europe. We possess in England an abundance of 

 the remains of past animal life, and a combination of 

 the data furnished by both of these important factors 

 will enable us to draw up a history of the origin of 

 the present British fauna. 



In the first chapter I indicated that in the fauna of 

 the British Islands three divisions or elements are 

 recognisable a northern, a southern, and an eastern. 

 These elements correspond to migrations which can 

 be proved to have arrived in this country at different 

 periods in past times. When we investigate these 

 migrations more closely, the eastern is found to be 

 composed partly of European and partly of Siberian 

 species. The southern is made up of European 

 and of Central and Southern Asiatic species. To 

 make matters still more complex, the southern and 



89 



