I 14 HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN FAUNA. 



course, that Great Britain and Ireland were connected 

 at that time. 



Within the last few years the spell which has bound 

 naturalists to accept the theory of a total destruction 

 of life during the Glacial period is happily vanishing, 

 and more enlightened views are gaining ground. 

 The Lusitanian species of plants in the west of Ire- 

 land, which had already furnished Forbes with an 

 argument in favour of survival, are also regarded by 

 Mr. Bulman as the remnants of a pre-glacial flora 

 which was exterminated everywhere else by the 

 cold (p. 265). This view of the survival of a pre- 

 glacial fauna and flora has since been accepted by 

 Mr. Carpenter, whilst I also have endeavoured to 

 bring fresh evidence into the field in its favour. 

 We both agree with Edward Forbes in considering 

 the Lusitanian element as the oldest section of our 

 fauna and flora, and that it came long before the 

 Glacial period. But we differ somewhat from him, 

 in so far as we do not limit that element to Ireland. 

 It seems also to be represented in South-western 

 England and Wales, though it is there less con- 

 spicuous. 



This decision as to the relative age of the British 

 South-western fauna has not been arrived at from any 

 geological considerations. The conviction that it 

 must be older than the other sections has been gained 

 solely from a study of the geographical distribution 

 of the species belonging to that fauna. Many of 

 them exhibit what is known as "discontinuous distri- 



