406 



THE AGE OF MAMMALS 



By far the most important animal is man, known as Homo neandertal- 

 ensis. 



Depression. — According to Pohlig/ this stage is characterized geo- 

 graphically by the widespread depression of the continental borders of 



southern Europe. Great 

 Britain was cut off from the 

 continent, Spain from Morocco ; 

 Italy, Sardinia, and Tunis were 

 separated, and Greece lost its 

 connection with Asia Minor. 

 A somewhat cooler interglacial 

 climate is represented in the 

 fauna of the Thuringian tufas, 

 in which Pohlig records sixty- 

 one species of mammals. Geo- 

 logically the stage was char- 

 acterized by extensive vol- 

 canic disturbances in central 

 Europe, and by the deposi- 

 tion of gypsum and tufas, 

 these earth movements being 

 connected through the wide- 

 spread depression of the 

 continental borders and isola- 

 tion of the islands of the Mediterranean above noted. 



The chief localities in which this fauna is recorded are the following: 



Grays-Thurrock and Ilford, Essex, England (Fig. 176, 17). 



DuRNTEN, near Zurich, Switzerland (18). 



Utznach, lignites, near Zurich (18). 



Taubach, near Weimar, Germany (19). 



Laviste, travertines, near Marseilles. 



Krapina (cave of), Croatia (23 a). 



It is interesting to summarize this fauna as found at Taubach,- near 

 Weimar, also at Ilford, and Grays-Thurrock, Essex,'* in order to bring out 

 more clearly its contrast with that which follows: 



This fauna is that of Taubach 



Summary of Second Fauna and of Ilford, Essex. It will be 



Man, Homo neandertalensis seen to present a Avide contrast to 



Straight-tusked elephant, E. antiquus the mammalian a!?semblage which 



■ Pohlig, H., Vorlaufige Mittheilungen iiber das Plistocaen, insbesondere Thiiringeiis. 

 Sitzungsher. Niederrhein Ges. Bonn, Mar. 3, 1884, pp. 2-15. 



2 Pohlig, H., Vorlaufige Mittheilungen iiber das Plistocaen, etc., 1884, p. 4. 



3 Dawkins, W. B., Classification of the Tertiary Period by Means of the Mammalia. 

 Qvart. Jour. Geol. Soc, Aug., 1880, pp. 379-405. 



Fiu. ISO. — Reconstruction of the head of Homo 

 neandertalensis by Charles R. Knight under the direc- 

 tion of the author. 1910. 



