292 MAN AND THE GLACIAL PERIOD. 



characteristic of the period under consideration in Europe, 

 we must probably suppose such an elevation of the region 

 to the south as to afford land connection between Europe 

 and Africa. This would be furnished by only a moderate 

 amount of elevation across the Strait of Gibraltar and 

 from the south of Italy to the opposite shore in Africa ; 

 and there are many indications, in the distribution of 

 species, of the existence in late geological times of such 

 connection. 



It should also be observed that the present capacities 

 and habits of species are not a certain criterion of their 

 past habits and capacities. As already remarked, both the 

 rhinoceros and the mammoth of glacial times were prob- 

 ably furnished with a woolly protection, which enabled 

 them to endure more cold than their present descendants 

 could do, while the elephant is even now known to be able 

 to endure the rigors of the climate at great elevations upon 

 the Himalaya Mountains. We can easily imagine these 

 species to have been adjusted to quite different climatic 

 conditions from those which now seem necessary to their 

 existence. In the case of the. hippopotamus, also, it is 

 quite possible, as already suggested, that it is more inclined 

 to migration than is generally supposed. 



Geikie's theory of the prevalence of an equable climate 

 during a portion of the Glacial period in Europe is 

 thought to be further sustained by the character of the 

 vegetation which then covered the region, as well as by 

 the remains of the mollusks which occupied the waters. 

 Then " temperate and southern species like the ash, the 

 poplar, the sycamore, the fig-tree, the Judas-tree, the 

 laurel, etc., overspread all the low ground of France, as 

 far north at least as Paris. ... It was under such condi- 

 tions," continues Geikie, " that the elephants, rhinoceroses, 

 and hippopotamuses, and the vast herds of temperate 

 cervine and bovine species ranged over Europe, from the 

 shores of the Mediterranean up to the latitude of York- 



