332 HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN FAUNA. 



latter, and no doubt reached within a comparatively 

 short time the great heights at which they now 

 occur in the Alps. But the Voles (Arvicola) have 

 scarcely spread beyond the region of fields and 

 cultivated ground. A height of 5000 feet at the 

 most marks their maximum altitude in the Alps. 



The fauna which reached the Alps in miocene and 

 pliocene times, as well as the indigenous element, 

 must have survived the Glacial period in their 

 mountain home. Though I think that the con- 

 ditions of the climate at that time and the size of 

 the Scandinavian glaciers have been greatly ex- 

 aggerated, there can be no doubt at all about the 

 enormous size of many of the Alpine glaciers at this 

 period. The climate was probably much moister but 

 not colder than what it is now, possibly warmer. 

 The snowfall was therefore greater, so that glaciers 

 filled many of the lower valleys of Switzerland which 

 are now quite free from ice, and even invaded the 

 plain. But there is no reason whatsoever why the 

 Alps should not even then have supported a luxuriant 

 fauna and flora as they do now. Possibly many of 

 the miocene plants and animals became extinct then, 

 but extinction of species occurs at the present day. 

 We hear complaints that the Chamois and the 

 Steinbock have nearly vanished ; we know that the 

 Marmot is now much scarcer than it used to be, 

 and that the Edelweiss and many other plants are 

 more and more difficult to find, and seem rapidly to 

 disappear. No doubt all this is in a great measure 



