108 HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN FAUNA. 



it to more than one species of the British fauna. An 

 ice-bridge, thinks Mr. Kinahan, " could easily have 

 connected Scotland and Ireland, thus giving a land 

 causeway for migration" (p. 3). Mr. Lamplugh 

 throws more light on this interesting speculation by 

 giving us the name of an animal which he believes 

 crossed a narrow sea on a bridge of ice. This animal 

 unfortunately happens to be one whose remains have 

 never been found in high northern latitudes, viz., the 

 Irish elk (Cervus giganteus). And because he is of 

 opinion that this species of extinct deer found its 

 way to the Isle of Man from the mainland on a 

 waning ice-sheet, he sees no reason why certain 

 elements of the Irish fauna should not have been 

 similarly introduced. 



It seems of no advantage to begin the discussion 

 on the origin of the British fauna by assuming the 

 former existence of ice-bridges, and the possibility of 

 a migration across them of some of its members. If 

 a glacier connected Scotland and Ireland, the climate 

 of both countries (since they were highlands and 

 acted as the feeders of the ice-sheet) must have 

 been uncomfortable to the majority of the British 

 species. What were the inducements that could 

 have prompted those which had braved the dis- 

 comforts of Scotland to emigrate to Ireland at 

 such a time? What light does it throw on the 

 origin of the Irish fauna as a whole, to advance the 

 extremely improbable hypothesis that certain ele- 

 ments of it may have reached Ireland by an ice* 



