HA. H, Howorth—The Mammoth in Siberia. 555 
and the vast distances over which this migration would have to pass, 
we shall come to but one conclusion. Where could the Mammoths 
from Kamskatka, or the banks of the Kolyma, or the islands of 
New Siberia, migrate to? Where, in fact, could any of those living 
on the shores of the Polar Sea migrate to, to gain a favourable 
wintering station? Lake Baikal and its neighbourhood have a 
terribly severe winter. South of these are the Mongolian Deserts. 
Even if the distances were possible, the want of a haven of refuge 
would prevent such a movement. 
There remains, therefore, but one conclusion, namely, that the 
climate of Siberia has changed, has become much more severe and 
inhospitable, and this conclusion seems to be the one which is 
making its way among observers. The change of climate argued 
for is one from a temperate to an Arctic character. There is only 
one fact which seems to militate somewhat against this view, and 
which has had the effect of retarding reasonable conclusions on this 
subject. If you postulate such a change, it is said, what is to 
become of the Arctic fauna, the Reindeer, the Musk Sheep, etc., etce., 
associated with the Mammoth? This isa very fair question, and may, 
I think, be satisfactorily answered. 
Those who have found small difficulty in postulating that an 
Elephant, a Hyena, or a Hippopotamus, animals essentially tropical 
in their present distribution, should have lived in any part of 
Central or Northern Asia; who have had no difficulty in under- 
standing how the Tiger should still live in Siberia and the Camel 
survive the icy temperature of Tibet, have apparently overlooked the 
fact that the Musk Ox and the Reindeer may have equally elastic 
constitutions. It is forgotten that the Reindeer undoubtedly thrived 
in Scotland, if not, as is very probable, in the days of the Norsemen, 
as one of the Sagas asserts, at all events when the Pictish forts were 
built, as my good friend Mr. Dawkins has shown, when the climate 
was apparently not much colder than at present, when the Shetlands 
and Orkneys were occupied by thriving woods, although wood will 
grow there no longer ;—it is forgotten that, until comparatively 
recently, the Reindeer apparently abounded in the Southern Urals 
and in Livonia, and that it is still found largely in Manchuria, 
where it is actually the prey of the Manchurian Tiger. Similarly 
the skulls of the Musk Sheep have occurred in a very fresh condition 
much to the south of the present habitat of that animal, and there 
can be no doubt that both are well adapted to live in a comparatively 
temperate climate. The chief condition which seems to affect 
the distribution of animal life is apparently not climate; that is 
only a secondary element, but abundance or lack of suitable food, 
and in the case of the Reindeer and Musk Sheep, perhaps the 
antipathy of these animals and their kindred to damp. On this 
question I should like to quote some facts I published same years ago 
in illustration of another subject, and which I think apposite. 
“Why will not the Reindeer now live in Scotland? The at- 
tempt to introduce it has been made more than once. The experi- 
ment has been described in considerable detail in Mr. Arthur de 
