THE ARCTIC FAUNA. 149 



climate at the time when it commenced its southerly 

 increase of range, but I have already shown that the 

 climate of Europe at that time was not necessarily 

 colder than it is at present, but that it may have been 

 somewhat milder (p. 80). I think that a vast increase 

 of ice in the Polar Regions has taken place only at. a 

 comparatively recent date, and that both the Reindeer 

 and the Arctic Hare originated there during a much 

 more temperate climate than obtains at present. 

 A great sensation was produced among European 

 zoologists and anthropologists when the discovery 

 was first announced that the remains of the Reindeer 

 had been found in the Pyrenees, and it naturally gave 

 rise to many speculations as to the nature of the 

 climate at the time when its range extended so far 

 south. 1 The greater number of our best authorities 

 are still of opinion that the existence of the Reindeer 

 in Southern Europe points to the prevalence of an 

 arctic climate in that region. It is generally over- 

 looked, however, that the Reindeer-remains occur in 

 company with many typically southern animals, which, 



1 A very interesting piece of information has been given us, recently, 

 by Mr. Barrett- Hamilton on the Arctic Fox of Spitsbergen. In com- 

 paring the skulls of Spitsbergen Foxes with those of Europe, he found 

 that the former are much smaller, and represent a distinct race or sub- 

 species. This small race he believes to be confined to Greenland, 

 Iceland, Spitsbergen, and Novaya Zemlya, whilst the larger one occurs 

 in Europe, Asia, and on the Commander Islands. This fact favours 

 the view which I have advocated in Chapter V., that the Arctic Fox in 

 Europe is a Siberian migrant, and did not come from the north with 

 the Reindeer and Arctic Hare. 



