1913-1914.] 5g 



of the Short-tailed Field Vole. This creature for two years was 

 an absolute plague in Scotland until the Short-eared Owls from 

 Scandinavia became inhabitants, and thus caused a cessation of 

 the plague. The cause of the increase of the Voles was mainly 

 due to the destruction of Hawks and Owls for purposes of game 

 preservation. He thought that the periodic visitations of Pallas's 

 Sand-Grouse were due to a scarcity of food in its normal habitats, 

 and that the cause of distribution in all species was mainly due to 

 food-supply. 



Mr. A. S. Kennard, wished to ask which form of Horse 

 had been found fossil in Ireland, and spoke of the two species 

 found in the English Pleistocene deposits ; the absence of the 

 Horse from Neolithic deposits ; and said he considered that our 

 present Horse was a modern introduction and not descended 

 from the Pleistocene species. He failed to understand the 

 presence of the oldest type of Voles on the western isles of 

 Scotland and their absence from Ireland, since they must have 

 originated in western Europe. He had no doubt as to the great 

 age of the Lusitanian element in our fauna and flora. This was 

 proved by the discovery of Hygromia monttvaga as a fossil in the 

 south-west of England. He also drew attention to the fact that 

 the Arbutus had been found recently on the cliffs of Brittany. 



Dr. Scharff thanked the audience for his reception, and 

 replying to Dr. Smith Woodward, said that he had seen teeth- 

 marks of Hyaena on bones of Mammoth, but that a bite would 

 crush a Reindeer bone. A great many of the latter had their 

 ends eaten off and a great many were gnawed by other creatures. 

 He had no doubt that the two lived together and considered that 

 the fifty or sixty thousand bones which filled the Doneraile Cave 

 must have been brought in by Hyaenas. He did not believe that 

 the wine trade had been responsible for the introduction of 

 southern species to the British Isles. 



To Mr. Welch — A certain number of smaller animals may 

 have come accidentally. To Mr. Reginald Smith— No Palaeolithic 



