THE SIBERIAN MIGRATION. 203 



continent nor North America was the home of the 

 direct ancestor of any of the true Elephants. 

 Similarly, though we have had our Sorex in Europe 

 from the Upper Eocene and Lagomys from the 

 Middle Miocene, the geographical distribution of 

 Sorex vidgaris and Lagomys pusillus does not support 

 the view that they are of European origin and have 

 migrated to Asia. Their absence from most of 

 the European islands indicates either an extremely 

 recent origin or a recent immigration from Asia, 

 and the latter view seems to me much the more 

 probable. 



No less than twenty-six species of the Siberian 

 mammals penetrated as far west as the British Islands, 

 and nine of these still inhabit Great Britain. Some 

 of the remaining seventeen species probably lived only 

 for a very short time in England, and the rest 

 gradually became extinct one by one. This process 

 of extinction of the aliens still continues. The Beaver 

 (Castor fiber) has died out within recent historic times. 

 We possess legends and uncertain historic records 

 pointing to the existence of the Reindeer in Scotland 

 as recently as about seven centuries ago. But much 

 the same state of things has happened on the Con- 

 tinent. The Glutton (Gulo hiscus), which still lived 

 in Northern Germany last century, has now entirely 

 vanished from that country, as also the Reindeer. 

 The Lemmings have found an asylum in Scandinavia. 

 The Musk-Ox (Ovibos moschatus) has disappeared 

 not only from Europe but also from Asia, and is now 



