410 



PROCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETT. 



[June 5, 



singular group of Cervidse, consisting of, at the very least, the fol- 

 lowing species : — 



Cervus elaphus, 



megaceros. 



capreolus. 



Polignacus. 



Cervus carnutorum. 



Sedgwickii. 



verticornis. 



The first three of these are not of Pliocene age, if the Mammaliferous 

 strata of Auvergne, Marseilles, and the Val d'Arno be taken as the 

 Pliocene standards. Their presence, therefore, in the Forest-bed 

 points forwards rather than backwards in time, since they are abun- 

 dant in the caves and river-deposits of the Pleistocene age. The 

 next, on the other hand, is a well-known Pliocene species ; while the 

 Cervus carnutorum is common to the Forest-bed and the river-strata 

 of St.-Prest, and the last two peculiar to the Forest-bed. 



This peculiar mixture of Cervine species seems here to indicate 

 that, in classification, the Forest-bed belongs rather to an early stage 

 of the Pleistocene than to the Pliocene ; and this inference is corro- 

 bo]:ated by the presence of the Mammoth, which is so characteristic 

 of the Pleistocene age. 



3. The Classification of the Pleistocene strata of Britain and the 

 Continent hy means of the Mammalia. By W. Botd Dawkins, 

 Esq., M.A., F.K.S., F.G.S. 



Contents. 



1. The Principle of Classification. 



2. The Late Pleistocene Mammalia 



from British Kiver-deposits. 



3. The Late Pleistocene Ossiferous 



Caves of Britain. 



4. Magnitude of Interval between 



the Late Pleistocene and the 

 Prehistoric Ages in Britain. 



5. The Middle Division of the 



Pleistocene Mammalia. 



6. The Early Pleistocene Mam- 



malia. 



7. M. Lartet's Classification. 



8. Range of Late Pleistocene Mam- 



malia on the Continent. 



9. The Middle Pleistocene. 



1 0. The Early Pleistocene Division . 



1 1 . The Pleistocene Fauna of South- 



ern Europe. 



12. The Pleistocene Climate. 



13. The three Climatal Zones. 



14. The Physical Evidence as to 



Climate. 



15. Relation of Pleistocene Mam- 



malia to the Glacial Period. 



16. The Pleistocene Invading Forms. 



17. The North-western Extension 



of Europe. 



18. The Southern Extension of 



Europe. 



19. The Pliocene Mammalia. 



20. Conclusion. 



1. The Principle of Classification. 



The Pleistocene period was one of very long duration, and em- 

 braced changes of great magnitude in the geography of Europe. 

 The climate, which in the preceding Pliocene age, in Northern 

 and Middle Europe, had been temperate, at the beginning of the 

 Pleistocene gradually passed into the extreme arctic severity of the 

 glacial period; and this change caused a corresponding change of 

 the forms of animal life, the Pliocene species (whose constitutions 

 were adjusted to temperate or hot climates) yielding place to those 

 which were better adapted to the new conditions ; and since, as we 



