164 HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN FAUNA. 



occasional means of distribution of the nature in- 

 dicated by Darwin. 



Very similar views on the origin of the present 

 Polar flora are expressed by Colonel Feilden, who 

 says, " To my mind it seems indisputable that several 

 plants now confined to the Polar area must have 

 originated there and have outlived the period of 

 greatest ice-development in that region" (, p. 50). 

 No land-connection at all need be supposed to have 

 existed in recent geological times, that is to say, 

 during the Glacial period or after, if Mr. Warming's 

 and Colonel Feilden's views be adopted. A pre-glacial 

 connection would be sufficient to explain the general 

 features of distribution. An admission is thus ob- 

 tained from these two independent authorities that 

 the climate during the Glacial period must have 

 been vastly less severe in the Polar Regions than 

 is generally conceded. I am of opinion that not 

 only the whole of the present flora, but also the 

 fauna of Greenland survived the Glacial period in 

 that country. 



If we suppose that an extensive centre of origin 

 existed in the Polar area, or we may say in Green- 

 land, both animals and plants would have been able 

 to spread from it into Northern Europe and North 

 America by means of the land-connections which are 

 generally supposed to have existed in pliocene times, 

 that is to say, just before the commencement of the 

 Glacial period. There must have been at this time 

 a connection too between Scotland and Scandinavia, 



