THE HEDGEHOG. 85 
mammal which existed in that world would have to pick its way 
among the feet of such monsters as Palzotherium and Dinoceras, 
not to mention such less bulky associates as tapirs and three-toed 
(Perissodactyl) horses. Altered conditions of land and climate 
swept most of these mighty types from the face of the earth ; but 
the humble imsectivores underwent little change. The mole 
sought safety by adopting a subterranean life ; the hedgehog re- 
mained above ground and developed defensive spines; both 
devices proved perfectly satisfactory ; so that, arriving at Pliocene 
times, when the English crag was formed, we find remains of 
hedgehogs indistinguishable from those of the present day. 
They had as companions various kinds of pachyderms—ele- 
phant, mastodon, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, besides the for- 
midable sabre-toothed lion and our contemporary beavers and 
otters. 
But these mighty forms of life were doomed to extinction. 
The climate slowly, but steadily, grew colder; by the time the 
English crag and forest beds had been formed it had become of 
arctic severity, and the greater part of what is now the Britisn 
Isles was cased in a mantle of ice some hundreds of feet thick. 
Over the whole of Northern Europe every recognisable form of 
life, animal and vegetable, was extinguished. Thousands of 
years had to pass—thousands of feet of solid rock had to be 
ground into glacial clay—the land had to be ploughed into 
something like its present contours before it could be re-stocked. 
The hardy little hedgehog must have been among the earliest 
mammalian colonists, and now occupies a territory extending 
from the Mediterranean seaboard to the Norwegian dales ; 
though, like Julius Agricola and Edward I., it has not yet accom- 
plished the conquest of the Scottish Highlands. It is spread- 
ing there, however, having lately been reported as a newcomer 
in Argyll. In 1892 Mr Harvie Brown wrote: “As far as we 
know, the hedgehog is not as yet found in a wild state in Suther- 
land, although it has been introduced on several occasions.’’* 
It is difficult to account for its presence in Ireland otherwise 
than by human agency. 
At first sight one would scarcely pronounce the hedgehog 
* Fauna of the Moray Basin, i., 155. 
