1872.] DAAVKINS CLASSIFICATION OP PLEISTOCENE STEATA. 427 



cicnt elasticity of constitution to endure a considerable degree of cold. 

 The second animal belonging to this section, the Spotted Hyaena, 

 is now found only in South Africa, under tropical conditions ; while 

 the third, or the Hippopotamus, lives at the present time in Middle 

 and Southern Africa. Formerly it inhabited the valley of the lower 

 Nile ; and a tooth in the British Museum, from Nubia, is as large as 

 that of the fossil variety, H. major. In the Pleistocene period it ex- 

 tended over the whole of the regions north of the Mediterranean, 

 from Sicily and Gibraltar as far as Kirkdale, in Yorkshire, and east- 

 wards into the valley of the Ehine ; and the Hytena and Lion at least 

 as far to the west as Hungary, and to the north as Kdnigsberg. The 

 evidence afforded by these three animals as to the climate of those 

 portions of Europe which they inhabited in Pleistocene times, differs 

 considerably in point of value, but, on the whole, points towards a 

 temperate or comparatively hot condition ; for, although the elasticity 

 of constitution which we know to have been possessed by the Lion 

 may also have been shared by the Hyaena, it is very improbable that 

 so aquatic an animal as the Hippopotamus could have ranged from 

 Southern Europe as far north as Yorkshire under any other than 

 temperate conditions. It could hardly have endured a winter suffi- 

 ciently severe to cover the rivers with a thick coating of ice, without 

 having its habits entirely altered ; and such an alteration of habit 

 would certainly leave its mark in other modifications in the fossil 

 remains than those minute differences which have been observed be- 

 tween them and the skeleton of the living IlipjJopotamus ampJiibius. 

 The fourth species, or the African Elephant, ranged as far as Sicily, 

 and, according to M. Lartet, as far in Spain as Madrid. The fifth, 

 or the Striped Hyaena, so common now in North Africa, has, accord- 

 ing to the same high authority, been discovered in Spain and, by 

 M. de Serres, in the cave of Lunel Viel, in the south of Prance; and 

 the Felis caffer of Dcsmarest, an African species, has been added, by 

 Mr. Ayshford Sanford and the writer, to the British animals. The 

 Serval and FeMs pavdina of Africa have been identified by Dr. Fal- 

 coner and Prof. Busk among the remains from the caves of Gibraltar*. 



The Northern Group. 



The second group consists of those which are now only to be met 

 with in the colder regions of the northern hemisphere — the Glutton, 

 the Reindeer, Musk-sheep, Pouched Marmot, Hamster, Alpine Hare, 

 Lemming, Ibex, and the Chamois ; and their testimony as to climate 

 is diametrically opposed to that of the preceding eight animals. The 

 Musk-sheep, now found only in the high latitudes of the North- 

 American continent, on the desolate, treeless, barren grounds, and 

 the Eeindeer, which lives in the belt of forest and the great treeless 

 plains which extend between the forest and the sea, ranged through 

 North Germany, Britain, and France, as far south as the mountain- 

 barriers of the Alps and Pyrenees. Their absence from the districts 

 further to the south is due, most probably, to a difference in tempe- 



* Since the above was written, Professor Busk has informed me that he has 

 detected Fdis caffer among the remains from Gibraltar. 



VOL. XXVIII. PART I. 2 H 



