25 



Then gradually the climite grew milder, and a fresh movement 

 of elevation occurred ; the bed of the glacial sea became dry land, 

 covered with forests of oak, yew, Scotch fir, and ash, while new 

 species of the Pleistocene mammalia found ample food for them- 

 selves. Glaciers remained on the higher parts of Scotland and 

 Wales, but they slowly disappeared ; the Scandinavian plants, 

 insects, birds, and quadrupeds retreated to the higher grounds, 

 where some of their descendants remain to this day ; and our 

 share of the Germanic flora made its way across the North Sea 

 Plain. It is this later stage of the Pleistocene Period which is 

 depicted on the map. The coast line, as you see, stretched much 

 farther north and west than at present, 200 or 300 miles west of 

 Ireland, and onwards to the inner angle of the Bay of Biscay. All 

 the sea within this line at the present time is less than 100 

 fathoms in depth, but immediately outside it sinks rapidly to 

 several thousand feet ; it is then in reality the true western coast- 

 line of Europe, and the British Isles at present rise from the 

 enclosed surface as from a submarine plateau. If an elevation of 

 600 feet were to take place now, this state of things on the map 

 would be restored. Let me direct your attention to one or two 

 interesting features in the map : — the present North Sea was a 

 broad undulating plain rich in vegetation, and was the feeding 

 ground of herds of animals whose bones and teeth lie scattered 

 over it at the present time in immense numbers. The Dogger 

 Bank was " a part of western Europe, its southern and western 

 sides washed by the waters of a large river " coming from the 

 south and flowing onwards to the deeper parts of the North Sea. 

 This river was *-lie Rhine, which then received the Thames and all 

 the rivers of eastern Britain as feeders. The English Channel had 

 no existence, but was a wide valley similarly drained by a river 

 flowing to the west. The Bristol Channel was also a valley 

 through which the Severn flowed to join a much larger stream 

 draining the lake and plain of the present Irish Sea. One 

 interesting proof of this is found in the fact of the small island of 

 Caldy off the coast of Pembrokeshire having yielded an abundance 

 of remains of large mammals which must have required extensive 

 feeding grounds. "It may be concluded," says Professor Boyd 

 Dawkins, " that when they perished in the fissures Caldy was not 

 an island, but a precipitous hill overlooking the broad valley now 

 occupied by the Bristol Channel, but then affording abundant 

 pasture. We must therefore picture to ourselves a fertile plain 

 occupying the whole of the Bristol Channel, and supporting herds 

 of reindeer, horses, and bisons, many elephants and rhinoceroses, 

 and now and then being traversed by a stray hippopotamus, which 



