20 On the Climate of the Fossil Elephant. [Jan. 



anomaly, being of a dirtv white or cream colour, like the state elephants 

 of the Burmese sovereign. 



Since Mr. Fleming raised the objection above stated, the discovery of 

 fossil bones of the elephant in Yorkshire, intermingled with those of the 

 Bison, a North American animal, and several species of land and fresh- 

 water shells yet existing in Great Britain, seems to have determined, that 

 the climate, at the period those animals lived, was nearly what it is at 

 present. But it is still a question of some interest, how much that dif- 

 ference was ; and our situation in a country, where races of animals si- 

 milar to those, whose bones have been found fossil, are yet existing, 

 enables us to throw some light upon this. I mean, of course, supposing 

 the species to be the same. If we revert to Mr. Fleming's objection 

 that no argument can be drawn from the capabilities of one species, as 

 to those of another, then we must desist from reasoning on the subject, 

 until we can ascertain the law according to which different species of the 

 same genus are distributed over the globe. 



Of the six species of Carnivora which were discovered in the celebrated 

 Kirkdale cavern, four are yet inhabitants of Northern Europe, viz. the 

 bear, wolf, fox, and weasel ; of the two others, the tiger and the hyama, 

 the first is sometimes found at the very edge of perpetual snow in the 

 Himalaya, as we learn from Mr. Hodgson's account of the Mammalia 

 of Nepal*. Pennant too mentions it among the snows of Mount Ararat 

 and in Armenia, and it is said to be abundant (see Playfair's Geography) 

 in the northern part of the peninsula of Corea on the eastern coast of 

 China. This peninsula extends from 34° 30' to 43° N. Lat. and its 

 climate cannot differ greatly from that of Pekin in 39° N. Lat., where it is 

 stated that the frost lasts from November to March, and that the ther- 

 mometer is usually below 20° Fahrenheit at night in winter time. An ac- 

 count too, has lately been published in Calcutta of a trading ship (the 

 Sylph) having been frozen up on the same coast, in Lat. 40° by the 1st of 

 December. So that there can hardly remain a doubt, but that the tiger 

 is capable of bearing a climate even more severe than that of England, 

 probably one approaching to that of the southern coast of the Baltic. 



The only circumstances essential to its existence appear to be a great 

 extent of very thick forest, and an abundance of ruminant animals, both 

 which would be the consequence of excess of moisture. It is most nu- 

 merous, I believe, in Ceylon, the eastern peninsula of India, the Delta of 

 the Ganges, and the vast belt of forests that border the outer Himalaya 

 range ; every where, in short, that great moisture, and the vegetation 

 consequent upon it are to be found. Where the climate becomes dry, 

 as in the country to the west of Dehli, the soil sandy, and the vegeta- 

 * Journal, As. Soc. vol. i. page 340. 



