252 HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN FAUNA. 



remains of the Fallow Deer are known from Asia, 

 it seems probable that it and also the Irish Elk 

 originated in Southern Europe, and only invaded 

 Asia in early pleistocene times. 



The Mammoth (Elephas primigenius) is a familiar 

 example among a large number of mammals which 

 have come to us about the same time from Asia by 

 the Asia Minor route. It had a much wider range 

 than the' Irish Elk, since its remains have been dis- 

 covered in a large number of European localities as 

 far west as Ireland, also in Siberia, and even North 

 America. Though we have had Proboscidea in Europe 

 from the Middle Miocene onwards, Mr. Lydekker 

 (d, p. viii.) holds that " our comparatively full know- 

 ledge of Lower Miocene and Upper Eocene mam- 

 malian faunas of the greater part of Europe and 

 North America, renders it almost certain that neither 

 of those regions was the home of the direct ancestors 

 of the Elephantidce ; and we must therefore look 

 forward to the discovery of marnmaliferous Lower 

 Miocene or Upper Eocene strata in some other 

 region of the (probably old) world which may yield 

 these missing forms." 



The genus Elephas makes its first appearance in 

 the Upper Miocene of India. Our European E. 

 antiquus is, according to Professor Zittel, probably 

 identical with E. armeniacus of Asia Minor, while 

 E. meridionalis agrees in all essential characters 

 with the Indian E. hysudricus. The Indian and 

 European species of fossil elephants altogether are 



