MAMMALIAN LIFE OF THE QUATERNARY. 



563 



Fig. 946. 



4. Life of the Early and Middle Quaternary. 



It has been already stated that the Plants and Invertebrates (Mol- 

 lusks, etc.) of the Quaternary are, with a rare exception, living species, 

 while the Mammals are nearly all extinct. The latter are therefore 

 the species of highest interest. They include not only brute Mam- 

 mals, but also Man. 



I. Brute Mammals. 



1. Europe and Asia. — The Mammals or Quadrupeds of Quater- 

 nary Europe are remarkable for their great size. Caverns in Britain 

 and Europe were the dens of gi- 

 gantic Lions and Hyenas, while 

 Pachyderms and Ruminants, equal- 

 ly gigantic, compared with modern 

 species, roamed over the continent, 

 from the Mediterranean and India 

 to the Arctic seas. The remains 

 are found in the earthy or stalag- 

 mitic floors of caverns ; mired in 

 ancient marshes ; buried in river 

 and lacustrine alluvium, or sea- 

 border deposits ; or frozen and 

 cased in Arctic ice. Stalagmite (p. 

 75) is always forming in limestone 

 caverns, and envelopes anything 

 that may lie on the floor. 



In Great Britain, the Champlain 

 Mammals have been found in river- 

 border formations, in a large num- 

 ber of localities ; and several of 

 these have afforded also relics of 

 Man. The species of Mammals arc 

 with few exceptions the same that 

 have been found also in caverns. 

 The loess of the Rhine and the 

 valley formations of other parts of 

 Europe have afforded similar facts. 

 The European caves were mostly 

 caves of Bears (the great Ursus 

 spelceus Rosenmuller), while those 

 of England were occupied by Hy- 

 enas (Hycena spelcea Goldf.), with 



few bears. This Cave Hyena, al- Canine tooth of the Care Bear. 



