1834.] On the Climate of the Fossil Elephant. 21 



tion stunted, it is supplanted by the lion, an animal which infested that 

 part in great numbers a few years back, though since the arrival of 

 the English it has become extinct, or nearly so. 



I have not yet been able to ascertain the limit of the climate of the 

 hyaena. But there are two animals in the list of the Kirkdale remains, 

 viz. the weasel and the water-rat, that are, at present, confined to high 

 northern latitudes. The first of these (see Pennant's Table of Quad- 

 rupeds of Arctic Zoology, vol. 1,) extends only as far south as Barbary, 

 and the last no further than the south of Europe, so that, in a degree, 

 they enable us to set a limit to the heat of the ancient climate, as the 

 elephant and animals allied to it do to the cold. The next question, 

 therefore, that occurs to us is, — what extreme of cold these latter are 

 capable of enduring ? 



The greatest elevation at which the wild elephant is found in the 

 mountains to the north of this, is at a place called Nahun, about 4000 

 feet above the level of the sea, and in the 31st degree of N. Lat. I have 

 not met with the temperature of Nahun itself in any work, but we have 

 given us in the Gleanings the temperature of Seharunpoor, 1000 feet, and 

 Mussoori 7000 feet above the level of the sea, both places in nearly 

 the same latitude and longitude. They are as follows. 



Seharunpur Mean Temperature. 

 Jan. Feb. March April May June July Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. 



52 55 67 78 85 90 85 83 79 74 64 55 



Mussoori. 



39 39.5 52 60 72.5 73 65.5 65.5 61.5 60.5 52 40 



Now Nahun being, as to elevation, half way between these two, we can- 

 not err greatly in taking the arithmetic means of these numbers for its 

 temperature. Thus, we have, 



45.5 47 59.5 69 78.5 81.5 75 74 70 67 58 47.5 

 for the mean temperature of each month, giving a yearly mean of 64.4. 

 Now the yearly mean of Keswick in Cumberland, which we may assume 

 for that of Kirkdale, is 48°, leaving a difference of 16.°4 still to be ac- 

 counted for. 



But we niay remark that this climate of Nahun is what has been call- 

 ed an " excessive," in opposition to an insular, climate ; that is, one in 

 which, owing to its distance from the ocean, the extremes of heat and 

 cold are very great. Thus, the month of January averages 45.5, and June, 

 the hottest month, is 81.5, making a difference of 36 degrees; whereas, at 

 Edinburgh, the mean of January for five years is 37, and of July (usually 

 the hottest month there) only 60°, giving a difference of only 23 degrees. 



It may be worth while to compare the five coldestmonths atboth places. 

 Taking the average at Edinburgh for five years, and adding one degree 



