CLIMATE OF PLEISTOCENE PERIOD. 29 



occurs sparingly in Pleistocene deposits in Middle Europe. It 

 is possible that two different species have been described under 

 this name, M. Lartet having been of opinion that B. Merckii 

 of De Meyer is the same as B. etruscits, Falc, a species found in 

 the Upper Pliocene. Professor Brandt, again, thinks that B. 

 etruscus is merely a variety of B. Merckii, Jaeg. 



The Bear. — Three species of bear lived in Europe in Palaeo- 

 lithic times, of which only one is now indigenous, namely the 

 brown bear ( Ursus arctos). The others were the grisly bear ( IT. 

 ferox), now confined to the west half of North America, and the 

 great cave-bear (U. spelceus), now extinct, which was nearly 

 allied to the brown bear. All these had a considerable range in 

 our continent — the remains of the cave-bear occurring in most 

 of the bone-caves of England, and being common also in those 

 of Central Europe, while those of the grisly bear are met with 

 in England, Belgium, Germany, and even as far south as 

 Gibraltar and Sicily. The brown bear was also a common form 

 in Central Europe, and its remains occur even in the caves of 

 Palermo. 



The Musk-Sheep (Ovibos moschatus) is a characteristic Arctic 

 species, being restricted to Melville Island, Greenland, and the 

 adjacent regions in North America. Formerly, however, it ranged 

 into England, Belgium, Germany, and Southern France. 



The Reindeer (Cervus tarandus) ranges over a vast region in 

 North America, Northern Europe, and Siberia, its southern limits 

 corresponding very nearly to the isothermal line of 32°. It is 

 gradually being driven north in Europe before the advance of 

 civilisation, and there are some slight grounds for believing that 

 it lived in the extreme north of Scotland down to early his- 

 torical times. Its remains occur abundantly in Palaeolithic 

 deposits over a large part of Europe, even as far south as 

 Aquitaine in France. 



The Wolverene or Glutton {Gulo lorealis) inhabits all 

 the northern parts of both hemispheres. It spread south in 

 Palaeolithic times to the shores of the Mediterranean (Mentone). 



The Arctic Fox (Canis lagopus) which, as its name implies, 



