284 ANNALS NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



undoubted remains of human stone industry in Europe as well as abun- 

 dant remains of man. In the Alpine region this Riss-Wurm Stage is 

 indicated by "high terraces," which rise 25 to 50m. above the existing 

 streams. The Riss-Wurm interval is evidently shorter than that be- 

 tween the Second and Third glaciation. Penck considers that the depo- 

 sitions of "Newer Loess" which occurred in the Alps near the close of 

 Riss-Wurm Interglacial times represent a cold stage, since the fauna 

 which it contains is of the Tundra-Alpine type and the Palaeolithic im- 

 plements found in it are closely similar in workmanship to those found 

 in deposits subsequent to the Wiirm glaciation (Penck, 1909, p. 1159). 

 He regards this as the "Newer Loess" that was laid down prior to the 

 Fourth glaciation. Koken and Schmidt, on the other hand (1912), 

 regard the "Newer Loess" as partly or wholly Postglacial, that is, as 

 occurring after the Wiirm maximum. The Third Interglacial loess of 

 northwestern Europe was comparatively scanty and discontinuous, from 

 1 to 5m. in thickness, and contains a terrestrial molluscan fauna as* in 

 America. All the indications are that this loess was deposited by pre- 

 vailing westerly winds. Also along the Danube the loess is chiefly due 

 to westerly winds. Penck -attributes the scarcity of loess in the southern, 

 eastern and western borders of the Alps to the presence of thick vegeta- 

 tion even during the glacial stages, the moraines being pushed out into 

 the forests. 



In America the Third Interglacial interval is known as the Sanga- 

 mon; the deposits are composed of dark, black soil which is overlain by 

 the main or thickest loess deposit of the central United States. There 

 appears to have been a long interval between the melting of the Third 

 Glacial ice and the deposition of the loess which contains a terrestrial 

 molluscan temperate fauna, indicating climatic conditions not greatly 

 different from those now existing in the same regions (Shimek, 1909). 



The geologic deposits of this stage are mainly of three kinds: first, 

 iluviatile sands and gravels; second, loess; third, hearth or kitchen-mid- 

 den deposits made by man toward the cold closing period of this stage. 



CLIMATIC CHANGES DURING THE THIRD INTERGLACIAL STAGE 



The Third Interglacial Stage opens with a renewal or continuation of 

 climatic conditions favorable to an Asiatic-African fauna exactly similar 

 to that of the warm Second Interglacial period. This warm fauna is 

 known as the "Second E. antiquus fauna." It includes the hippopota- 

 mus, the straight-tusked elephant (E. antiquus) and the southern ele- 

 phant (E. trogontherii). This last species is even referred to by many 

 writers as E. meridiem alls. 



