426 THE AGE OF MAMMALS 



persisted longer here than in other parts of Europe. As analyzed by Nuesch, 

 we discover here mammals distinctive of the tundras, of the steppes, of the 

 modern Alps (marmot, chamois, ibex), of the meadow-forests (bison, urus), 

 and finally of the modern forest type (lion, wolf, bi-own bear, pine marten, 

 squirrel, wild boar, and stag) . These manunal zones undoubtedly correspond 

 with the passing or evolution of several human culture stages (perhaps 

 the Aurignacian, Solutrian, and Magdalenian). While the tundra fauna 

 was pushing southward into the heart of Switzerland, it had already van- 

 ished from central Germany, Belgium, and France, where it had been super- 

 seded by a steppe, or even a meadow-forest fauna. The human artifacts 

 show that these deposits parallel those of Schweizersbild, both belonging to 

 the Magdalenian. A hearth with ashes and coals, and many charred bones 

 of old and young mammals, including the woolly rhinoceros, have been 

 found here. The human remains show that a race of pigmies dwelt here 

 smaller even than the small men of Schweizersbild, their height being 

 estimated at 120 cm. (4 feet).^ The horse of Kesslerloch shows many re- 

 semblances to the Przewalsky horse of the high steppes of Central Asia.^ 



The fauna of Voklinshofen ^ includes a similar intermingling of tundra, 

 steppe, mountain, and meadow-forest types. 



The same is true of the scattered deposits * in Thuringia near Saalfeld, 

 Gera, Jena, Leipzig, etc. The loess fauna near Wilrzburg, Bavaria,^ also 

 includes twenty species of mammals divided into typically modern tundra 

 forms of northern Asia, typical modern steppe forms of central Asia and 

 Siberia, together with the four characteristic great mammals of the period, 

 the mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros, urus, and bison. 



The arctic character of the fauna of Chdteauneuf-sur-Charente ^ in cen- 

 tral France is very conspicuous, most of the species belonging either to 

 the tundras or the steppes of modern Europe. The bones of many 

 young animals occur in this deposit, which may be explained perhaps 

 on the supposition that the animals fell into the fissure while the open- 

 ing was lightly covered with snow, the young being the most frequently 

 entrapped. 



Summary. — This grand fauna is singularly uniform; everywhere it in- 

 cludes the woolly rhinoceros, the mammoth, and the reindeer. Highly 

 characteristic forms, intermingled with these at favorable points, are the 



^ Nuesch, op cit., p. 21. 



* Studer, T., Die Knochenreste aus der Hohle zum Kesslerloch bei Thayngen. Neue 

 Denkschr. allg. schweiz. Ges. gesam. Naturwiss., Vol. XXXIX, Pt. 2, 1904, pp. 73-112. 



3 Lepsius, R., Geologic von Deutschland und den Angrenzenden Gebieten. Erster Teil, 

 Das Westliche und Sudliche Deutschland. Stuttgart, 1892. 



* Pohlig, H., Vorlaufige Mittheilungen iiber das Plistocaen, insbesondere Thiiringens. 

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



* Nehring, A., ttbersicht iiber vierundzwanzig mitteleuropaische Quartar-Faunen. Zcil- 

 schr. deutsch. geolog. Ges., Jahrg. 1880, pp. 468-509. 



' Boule, M., and Chauvet, G., Sur I'existence d'une faune d'animaux arctiques dans la 

 Charente h I'epoque quaternaire. C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Vol. XXVIII, 1899, pp. 1188-1190. 



