272 THE EEV, J. MAGENS MELLO, M.A., F.G.S., ETC.^ ON 



does not appear to be any clear overlapping of the two, such 

 as one would expect to find if the change was brought about 

 simply by the invasion of the regions occupied by Palseolithic 

 man, by other races. It almost looks at first as though the 

 Pleistocene age and Palseolithic man, together with the wild 

 fauna of the period had disappeared abruptly, and that there 

 was an interval between their disappearance and the coming 

 of their successors, which we cannot as yet bridge over. 



Some continental writers it is true do not allow that there 

 was any break, and hold that the Neolithic men came in 

 amongst the Palasolithic cave dwellers as a conquering race, 

 driving them before them, as later races have been driven by 

 invaders, and either exterminating or absorbing them. 



There must have been at the close of the Pleistocene age, 

 a culmination of various terrestrial changes, and consequent 

 changes in climatal conditions, which very deeply affected 

 the fauna of Europe, the increased temperature would drive 

 the arctic species northwards, and amongst these the rein- 

 deer, and if the men followed the reindeer, tliere may have 

 been, as de Mortillet supposes, an interval during which man 

 may have nearly disappeared from Central Europe. During 

 this age various accumulations formed, some of which covered 

 more or less deeply the traces of the pre-existing age. Then 

 in course of time other races of man made their appearance, 

 coming into Europe from the East, or as some suppose, at any 

 rate with regard to one branch of these immigrants, from the 

 North-east ; and now we see new manners and customs, a 

 new form of industry, and a new mode of life introduced. 

 If any of the original inhabitants were left, they would be so 

 merged in the overwhelming tide of new comers, as to have 

 left no trace of their existence, unless it may be found, as 

 some think, in certain physical characteristics which may from 

 time to time be detected amongst the later populations, oc- 

 casional reversions or atavism, reproducing some of the fea- 

 tures of the old Pala3olithic stock. But apart from this there 

 is as yet little or nothing to link Palseolithic man with his 

 Neolithic successor. 



The climate of the period on which we are now entering, 

 was pretty much that of the present day ; the great cold had 

 passed away, the glaciers had retreated far up the mountains, 

 the rivers for the most part had shrunk to their present 

 volume, and the only evidence now left of their former level 

 and of their great work of denudation is to be found in the 

 deposits of gi-avel and clay distributed on the flanks of the 



