Dr. A. Nehring—Fauna of the Loess in Central Europe. 51 
I].—Tue Fauna or Crenrtat Europe DURING THE PERIOD OF THE 
Lorss.—A ResgornprrR to Mr. H. H. Howortsu. 
By Dr. A. Newrine, 
_ Professor of Zoology at Berlin. 
N the last volume of the Georocitcan MaGazine the question con- 
cerning the origin of the Loess has been discussed by several 
authors in a minute and rather excited manner. Mr. Howorth 
has firstly expressed his opinion on that question in the MaGazinu 
for January and February, 1882, and he there combats the theory 
of the formation of the Loess as set forth by Baron Richthofen 
(China, Bd. I., Berlin 1877). This distinguished geographer 
and geologist found himself compelled to explain and defend his 
theory in a detailed letter to the Editor of the GuonocicaL MaGaziIne 
for July last, in which he enumerates and discusses the most im- 
portant arguments of his theory. 
To these arguments belongs one based on the fauna which has 
been expressed in the following form (Grou. Mae. 1882, p. 296) : 
“The great quantity of bones of mammals found in the Loess, the 
genera and mostly the species, or the next relatives of which, are 
known to abound at present in Steppes and on grassy plains.” 
And concerning the molluscs of the Loess, Baron Richthofen in 
the preceding lines, calls our attention to “the fact, that land-shells 
are imbedded in immense numbers throughout the Loess, and that 
the most delicate shells are perfectly preserved. Fresh-water shells 
are of extremely rare occurrence, as has been correctly pointed out 
by Mr. Howorth.” 
In the subsequent explanation of his arguments Baron Richthofen 
refers to my researches concerning the Diluvial Fauna of Central 
Europe, of which he says as follows (op. cit. p. 801) : “ At the same 
time, when I published these arguments regarding the mode of origin 
of the Loess of Europe, Dr. Nehring, of Wolfenbiittel, came in the 
course of his admirable researches on the bones found in the Loess 
of Northern Germany to the well-known result, that the mammals 
which lived there at the time of the formation of that earth, were 
identical with, or nearly related to, those which are living now on 
the Steppes of Arctic regions, as well as in Siberia and Central Asia, 
and he concluded, that Germany must then have had the character 
of a Steppe and been subjected to a climate similar to that which 
prevails at present in Western Siberia. 
“Thus, Dr. Nehring, who, at that time, had no knowledge of my 
researches, was led through the study of the fossil remains to 
precisely the same conclusion regarding a limited region in Kurope, 
at which I had arrived with respect to a large portion of the 
continent by arguing on the structure and mode of occurrence of the 
Loess. Since then, the continued studies of the bones of mammals 
contained in the Loess, which have been made by Dr. Nehring and 
others, have yielded an overwhelming amount of evidence in the 
same direction, and have enabled us to extend the first conclusions 
to the whole of Germany, including the Rhine valley, Bohemia, and 
the vicinity of Vienna, and also in Hungary.” 
