334 MIOCENE MAN. 



pliocene as to miocene times. But those who have learnt 

 geology at the feet of Sir Charles Lyell, and look up to> 

 him as their master in the science, will be the least able to 

 agree with him on this point, for the imperfection of the 

 geological record has hitherto been urged upon us almost as 

 strongly by Sir C. Lyell as by Mr. Darwin. It is true that 

 few of our existing species or even genera have as yet been 

 found in miocene strata ; but if man constitutes a separate 

 family of mammalia, as he does in the opinion of the highest 

 authorities, then, according to all palaeontological analogies,, 

 he must have had representatives in miocene times. We 

 need not, however, expect to find the proofs in Europe ; our 

 nearest relatives in the animal kingdom are confined to hot,, 

 almost to tropical, climates, and it is in such countries that 

 we must look for the earliest traces of the human race. 



