wxx PLEISTOCENE MAMMALIA. 



CHAPTER III. 



The Historic Mammalia of the Continent — The Wild Animals of Middle 

 Europe — The Wild Animals of Northern Europe — The Wild Animals of Southern 

 Europe — Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Southern Russia — The Domestic Animals on 

 the Continent — Range of the Principal Wild European Mammalia — Climatal Change 

 on the Continent — Conclusion. 



Historic Mammalia of the Continent. 



The Mammalia now living in Europe may be divided into three groups ; the first 

 consisting of those which inhabit the temperate regions of Central Europe, France, 

 Germany, Belgium, Hungary, and Central Russia ; of those which live in the district 

 north of a line passing through the Baltic Sea ; and, lastly, of those which live in the 

 Iberian peninsula, Italy, and Greece, and of the district which stretches eastwards and 

 southwards to the frontier of Asia. 



The Wild Animals of Middle Europe. 



When we compare the present wild Mammalia of Great Britain and Ireland with 

 those now living in the temperate zone in the Continent we shall find that many of those 

 which have been extinct in our country are still to be met with in the uncultivated 

 districts. The beaver 1 still builds its dams in the Danube and the Rhine, and destroys 

 the willow plantations of the Rhone, and is abundant only in the Dwina and the Petschora, 

 and in the Caucasus. The wolf and the wild boar are still a terror to the herdsman and 

 farmer in France, Germany, and Spain, as well as in Russia and Scandinavia ; and the 

 red deer affords an important supply of meat to the inhabitants in the forests of North 

 Germany as well as in the wilds of Russia. According to a recent report 3 on the game 



1 The authorities for the following statements as to the range of the animals are Keyserling unil 

 Blasius, 'Die Wirbelthiere Europas ;' Blasius, ' Saugethiere Deutschlands ;' Bonaparti, 'Fauna Italica,' 

 vol. i; Pallas, ' Zoographia ;' Lord Clermont's 'Quadrupeds of Europe.' 



2 Report presented to Parliament ' On the Laws and Regulations relative to the Protection of Game,' 

 1871, parti, p. 6. In the year 1867 no less than 4288 head of deer were killed in the provinces of Prussia, 

 and yielded 514,560 lbs. of meat. 



