496 PREHISTORIC EUROPE. 



Italian geologists distinguish clearly the postglacial alluvia 

 from the older river-deposits of Pleistocene age. The more 

 recent deposits invariably occupy the bottoms of the valleys, 

 while the older Pleistocene loams and gravels frequently rise in 

 terraces at higher levels, which often present cliffs or bluffs 

 against which the modern alluvia abut. These appearances are 

 well shown in such valleys as those of the Seine, the Rhine, the 

 Weser, the Danube, the Po, and the Rhone. 



Lists of the fauna have already been given. Speaking gener- 

 ally, the postglacial fauna of the Continent is the same as that 

 which is represented in the postglacial and recent deposits of 

 Britain. There are some points, however, upon which we are 

 yet imperfectly informed : and one of the most important, I 

 venture to think, is the range northward of some of the tempe- 

 rate species. How far north did the red-deer and its associates 

 extend ? Professor Grewingk records it from the postglacial 

 deposits of Kurland, in which its horns are not uncommon. 

 He says there is neither historical nor traditional evidence of 

 its ever having been a native of that province, where its occur- 

 rence, he is of opinion, betokens a former milder climate. 1 It 

 would be extremely interesting to ascertain whether remains 

 of the same animal, and others of its congeners, occur in post- 

 glacial deposits still farther north in Russia and Sweden. 



The oldest relics which have yet been found in any accumu- 

 lations of postglacial age belong to the Neolithic era. Not a 

 trace of Palaeolithic man has hitherto been forthcoming. The 

 lowest beds of peat contain either no human implements or only 

 those of the Neolithic age. Higher up than these occur relics 

 pertaining to the Bronze Epoch and more recent times. 



Before passing on to review the evidence which has now 

 been adduced, I must mention some remarkable facts connected 

 with the postglacial beds of Spitzbergen, which it will be seen 

 in the sequel have a strong bearing upon the problem of post- 



1 Dorpater Archivfur Naturkunde, Ser. i. Bd. viii. pp. 580, 588, 621. Kemains 

 of urus are said by Grewingk to occur sometimes along with those of red-deer. I 

 am indebted to my obliging correspondent, Dr. Penck of the Geological Survey 

 of Saxony, for calling my attention to these interesting notices. 



