PLEISTOCENE OF EUROPE, NORTH AFRICA, AND NORTH AMERICA 429 



Mus sylvaticus, the field mouse. 



Marmota marmotta, the marmot of the alpine fauna. 



Ursus arctos, the brown bear. 



Meles taxus, the badger. 



Mustela inartes, the pine marten, also the weasel, pole cat, the 



ermine, etc. 

 Lutra vulgaris, the otter. 

 Gulo luscus, the wolverine. 

 Canis lupus, the wolf. 

 Canis vulpes, the fox. 

 Felis catus, the wild cat. 



There is evidence of the 'plateau' or 'Celtic* horse in the Neolithic 

 deposits of Essex and of Switzerland (La Tene) ; it was widely distributed 

 in Europe and Asia in prehistoric times. ^ 



It is beyond the purpose of this volume to trace the history of domes- 

 tication. The Neolithic immigrants, or men of the New Stone Age, pos- 

 sessed or brought with them cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, and dogs. 

 Appreciating the value of domestication, they certainly captured and domes- 

 ticated three indigenous European species, namely, the Celtic short-horn 

 cattle, the forest horse (E. caballus typicus) and the Celtic horse (E. cabal- 

 lus celticus). The wild ox {Bos primigenius) was hunted but not domes- 

 ticated. The domestic ox (Bos taurus) shows many points of resemblance 

 to the Urus, but is not directly descended from it, but rather from the Bos 

 trochoceros type of the Pleistocene of Italy. Riitimeyer has made an exhaus- 

 tive study of this subject,^ tracing the origin of the various types of domes- 

 ticated cattle. 



II. PLEISTOCENE LIFE OF NORTH AFRICA 



In no region of the world have more profound changes occurred during 

 and since Pleistocene times than in Africa north of the Sahara. In its 

 manmnal life this region is now part of Europe, or Palcearctic; in Quaternary 

 times it was still more distinctively a part of Africa, or Ethiopian. One 

 cannot fail to be struck, observes Boule,'' with the essentially African char- 

 acter of the Quaternary mammals of Algeria. With the exception of the 

 bear (Ursus) every genus still inhabits the dark continent, and several are 

 peculiar to it (Phacochoerus, Hippopotamus, the giraffe, and various ante- 

 lopes). The small number of species common to the Quaternary fauna of 

 Europe and North Africa is noteworthy; the affinity is so slight that it 

 appears that by the middle of the Quaternary, at the latest, communication 



•Ewart, J. C, op. cit., 1907. 



* Riitimeyer, L., Die Fauna der Pfahlbauten der Schweiz. Neue Denkschr. allg. schweiz. 

 Gesell. gesam. Naturwiss., Vol. XIX. Zurich, 1862. 



* Boule, M., Los Mammif^res quaternaires de I'Algerie d'aprfes les travau.ic de Pomel. 

 L'AnthropoL, Vol. VII, 1896, pp. 563-571. 



