54° PREHISTORIC EUROPE. 



in every respect with those of the Pleistocene river-gravels, 

 lignites, travertines, loams, and cave-accumulations. In both 

 series of deposits the plants and animals are associated with 

 relics of Palaeolithic man, while not a trace of the latter or of 

 the more characteristic mammals of Pleistocene times has any- 

 where been met with in beds of Postglacial age. 



An examination of Pleistocene organic remains leads us to 

 conclude that strongly-contrasted climatic conditions alternated 

 during the period. At one time an extremely equable and genial 

 climate prevailed, allowing animals, which are now relegated to 

 widely-separated zones, to live throughout the year in one and 

 the same latitude. Hippopotamuses, elephants, and rhinoceroses, 

 Irish deer, horses, oxen, and bisons, then ranged from the borders 

 of the Mediterranean as far north at least as Middle England 

 and Northern Germany. In like manner, plants wbich no 

 longer occur together — some being banished to hilly regions, 

 while others are restricted to low grounds, and yet others have 

 retreated to the extreme south of the Continent or to warmer 

 regions beyond the limits of Europe — lived side by side. The 

 fig -tree, the judas-tree, and tbe Canary laurel flourished in 

 Northern France along with the sycamore, the hazel, and the 

 willow. And we encounter in the Pleistocene deposits of various 

 countries in Europe the same remarkable commingling of north- 

 ern and southern forms — of forms that demand a humid climate 

 and are capable of enduring considerable cold, together with 

 species which, while seeking moist conditions, yet could not 

 survive the cold of our present winters. The testimony of the 

 mammals and plants is confirmed by that of the land and fresh- 

 water mollusca — all the evidence thus conspiring to demonstrate 

 that the climate of Pleistocene Europe was, for some time at 

 all events, remarkably equable and somewhat humid. The 

 summers may not indeed have been warmer than they are now ; 

 the winters, however, were certainly much more genial. But if 

 the evidence of such a climate having formerly obtained be 

 very weighty, not less convincing are the proofs, supplied 

 by the Pleistocene deposits, of extreme conditions. Think what 



