434 TROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Juiie 5, 



regions of the Don and "Volga, in Southern Eussia. The latter ani- 

 mal is especially abundant on the banks of the Soura river, in lat. 

 55° N., and long. 47° E., under a temperate continental climate, cold 

 in winter but hot in summer. Dr. Pallas, in his travels, describes 

 the country which it inhabits as covered by tulips, saffron, and the 

 Star of Bethlehem, in spite of the unusual severity of the preceding 

 winter ; and although the Pouched Marmot {SpermojpMlus dtUlus) 

 was in the neighbourhood, there were vineyards close by. The Por- 

 cui)ine, on the other hand, does not now roam as far north as the 

 caves of Belgium, but is restricted to the warmer countries near the 

 Mediterranean. 



The Pleistocene Urus still lives in the larger domestic cattle, al- 

 though the wild breed was exterminated in the middle ages ; and 

 the Bison at the present time lives under the protection of the Tzar, 

 in Lithuania, after having spread throughout Europe from Scania 

 southwards. The Pleistocene Horse is represented by the, mouse- 

 coloured wild animal of Northern Asia ; it was as abundant and 

 as widely spread over the Pleistocene continent as the Urus and 

 the Bison. 



The presence of these animals in the Pleistocene fauna implies a 

 climate not very severe, but in all probability resembling that of 

 Southern Eussia and Northern Asia, in which they now live. 



The Sjpecies common to Cold and Tropiccd Climates. 



The Panther, which has been found alike in Britain, France, and 

 at Gibraltar, has at the present day a most extended range through 

 Africa, from Barbary to the Cape of Good Hope, and throughout 

 Persia into Siberia. In this latter country Dr. Gothilf Eischer de- 

 scribes it as living in the same districts in the Altai Mountains and 

 in Soongaria as the Tiger. The Eox and "Wolf are like instances of 

 carnivores being able to endure great variations in temperature 

 without being specifically modified. These three animals, therefore, 

 can teU ins nothing as to the Pleistocene climate. 



The Extinct Species. 



The extinet mammalia may be divided into three classes, which 

 correspond vnth three out of the four into which the living Pleisto- 

 cene species naturally fall. To the southern belong the two Maltese 

 dwarf Elephants, as well as Elephas antiquus and E. meridionalis, 

 Rhinoceros etruscus, H. megarhinus, R. hemitoschus, and Ursus ar- 

 vernensis, which passed from their head quarters, in the districts 

 bordering on the Mediterranean, as far north as Norfolk. The 

 Mammoth and Woolly Ehinoceros constitute the second or northern 

 division. Found throughout Northern Asia together, even on the 

 shores of the great Arctic Sea, they ranged through Eussia and the 

 whole European area south of the Baltic and north of the Alps. The 

 Mammoth even ventured as far south in Europe as the valley of the 

 Tiber, and in America as far down as the lower basin of the Missis- 

 sippi. From its presence, in association with the southern forms, 



