416 



THE AGE OF MAMMALS 



last great glacial advance, after which came the meadow or field (Weide- 

 fauna), and then the forest fauna {W aid-fauna). 



Steppe conditions of climate were rendered possible in Europe by the 

 elevation and extension of the land much farther to the north and north- 



FiG. 182. — Map of northwestern Europe in the late Pleistocene. Former coast repre- 

 sented at present 100 fathom line by double lines. Dots indicate areas where remains of late 

 Pleistocene, terrestrial mammals have been found. After Boyd Dawkins. 



west than at present; Great Britain was united uath the continent, Scan- 

 dinavia with Spitzbergen, and thus all tempering influences of the Atlantic 

 ocean were cut off from northern Europe. Prevailing east ^vinds probably 

 helped to give central Europe a cold, dry continental climate favorable to 

 dust storms. This was a chief period of loess formation, which, according to 



