INTERGLACIAL EPOCHS. 279 



mammalia have been disinterred. The species are Elephas pri- 

 migenius, E. antiquus, Rhinoceros ticlwrhinus, R. leptorhinus, Bos 

 prisons, Cervus mcgaceros. Freshwater-shells accompanied these 

 remains. 1 Out of a bed of sand at Kreuzberg, occupying a 

 similar interglacial position, remains of the musk-sheep (Ovibos 

 moschatus) have been obtained. 2 Thus, we have clear evidence 

 that the Glacial Period in North Germany, like that of Scandi- 

 navia and our own islands, was not a long uninterrupted period 

 of severe arctic cold. The ice which had at one time overflowed 

 the great plains down to the high grounds of Saxony melted 

 away, and the Pleistocene mammalia occupied the area from 

 which, doubtless, they had been driven before the advance of 

 the snow and ice. It is highly probable that the Eixdorf inter- 

 glacial beds belong to the last interglacial epoch, and to the 

 same era we should probably assign the interglacial infusoria- 

 beds near Domitz (Mecklenburg-Schwerin) on the Elbe. Pro- 

 fessor F. E. Geinitz has described 3 a section exposed in the 

 brickworks at Wendisch-Wehningen, which shows the following 

 succession : — 



1. Thick overlying mass of boulder-clay. 



2. Layer of finely-laminated clay ; a few inches thick. 



3. Band of black infusoria-earth ; eighteen inches. 



4. Layer of finely -laminated clay ; a few inches. 



5. Yellow boulder-clay of variable thickness. 



6. Fine sand. 



The black-earth is rich in humus, and abundantly charged 

 with freshwater diatoms, which are also plentifully present in 

 the thin layers of clay between which the "infusoria-earth" 

 occurs. The freshwater beds are bent and distorted, and thus 

 partake of the disturbances which are a common feature of the 

 drift deposits throughout all Mecklenburg. 



1 Beyrich: Zeitschr. deutsch. geol. Ges., 1868, p. 647; Dames: Ibid., 1875, 

 p. 481. Professor Berendt showed to Mr. Helland a reindeer's horn, which, he 

 said, had come from the same place. Zeitschr. deutsch. geol. Ges., 1879, p. 92. 



2 Eoemer: Zeitschr. deutsch. geol. Ges., 1874, p. 601. 



3 Beitrag zur Geologie Mecklenburgs, 1880, p. 40. 



