Sinnitic peninsnlii. glaeiers have existed; biit liis opinion, wliicli as far as we 

 know 1ms never lieen sliaieil liy any utliiv f^-cologist, is neitlier [imved to a certaiutv, 

 nov even recurred to liy the aritlior liiniseU". and the only argument given hy him, 

 the contiguration of the suifnco of the hills and valleys, may he crpiallv well 

 cxplrtined in a diiTeront way. 



Whether the diluvial era, -whi.h at all events, in the main, represents a 

 state of things intermediate between the tertiary and recent time, hut whieii 

 locally and temporally may 1« opposed to either, brought indeed a colder tem- 

 perature than that of the present day to Jajian and the adjacent parts of Asia, 

 can not be explained by the data given us by Japanese geology. Thus, the 

 answer to this rpiestion depends upon the answer which geology will give to the 

 iruportant question, to what degree did the influence of the increase of nortliern 

 ice and cold, whiuh undoubtedly took jilace at least during a part of the diluvial 

 era and caused its temperature to be somewhat like that of the southern henii- 

 s[ihere of the present age, extend towards the aorpiator. However probable it 

 may seem that such an influence has been felt in a similar way as the influence 

 of the heat of tlie Sahara-desert and of the winds arising from it is to be felt in 

 a great part of Europe, and as the influence of the moist and warm monsoon of 

 eastern India is nowadays felt in Japan:— we arc not able to assert that it 

 took place, and uuich less are we able to spealc about any degree of it. At any 

 rate there seems to ha\-e t,d<en place a sliL:,ht and gradual alicratinn of our 

 climates since the tertiai-y period, and if the degree of abatement was, in tlie 

 average, not very high — as there are many reasons to believe — , we cannot deny a 

 strong change of our climates in another way, namel}*, that the seasons became 

 more distinct and opjiosite, and that with an abatement of the temperature of 

 winter there is most likely to notice an increase of warmth of sununer. This 

 change seems to have gradually begun towards the eml of the tertiary jieriod. 



Indeed the assumptions and views here stated are quite sufficient to explain, 

 in connexion v.ifh the theory of natural selection, all the facts connected with the 

 changes of our faunas and floras since the miocenc time. 



We find indeed, that Japan has not only at tliat period but down to a mucli 

 more recent date had its share of tlie pala^arctic faunas and floras, which to a 

 certainty have been in connection with thr living fauna. Tlie continental 

 archipelago, whoso centre and most important part is tlie main island of Nijipon, 

 has indeed preserved some features which iiave di.'^apiieared elsewliere ; and wo 

 finil here a corrolx)ration of that law, which so strongly confirms Darwin's theory, 

 that isolated parts of faunas and floras escape the severest consequences of the 

 struggle of life and of natural selectinn, and may preserve certain characters even 

 long after they have disappcare<l elsewhere. In some ciuse.'', such renuianfs of 

 ancient flora.s and faunas arc likewise preserved in other countries, though very 

 often on the continents tliey arc jiushed much farther ti> liic south. 



As examples of such remnants of old floras and fauna.s may be quoteil 

 Gingko liiloba I/., a plant known from tlio miocenc and jilioo'iio Knro|M'an 



