CLIMATE OF PLEISTOCENE PERIOD. 27 



Palaeolithic Europe ; at the present day it ranges over all Africa, 

 and Southern Asia, Sumatra, and Borneo. 



The Serval (F. served) is a South African species which has 

 been met with in some of the bone-caves of the Mediterranean 

 coast, as at Gibraltar. 



The HYiENA. — There are two species of hyaena, the striped 

 hyaena (Hycena striata) and the spotted hyaena (H. crocuta). 

 The former is distributed over a wide area in North Africa and 

 South-western Asia, while the latter is restricted to South 

 Africa. Both species have been recognised in the bone-caves of 

 Europe — the remains of H. crocuta being especially abundant. 

 The spotted hyaena of Palaeolithic times (H. spelcea) was of 

 larger size than its living representative. It ranged over a great 

 part of Europe, from the Mediterranean up to Northern England. 



The Elephant. — Several species of elephant have been met 

 with in deposits of Palaeolithic age. The African elephant (E. 

 africanus) has left its remains in Southern Europe, but no trace 

 of it has yet been found north of the Pyrenees and the Alps. 

 The remains of an extinct dwarf species (E. melitensis) occur in 

 Malta, Sicily, and Candia. It averaged four and a half feet or 

 so in height at the shoulder. Associated with this dwarf species 

 there appears to have been a yet lesser pigmy elephant (E. 

 Falconeri) as determined by Mr. Busk. The average height of 

 this animal could not have exceeded two feet six inches to three 

 feet. Eemains of these pigmy species are very abundant in the 

 caves and rock-crevices of Malta. Dr. Leith Adams believes 

 that Malta had even a third species of elephant (E. mnaidrensis), 

 the average height of which was about seven feet. An extinct 

 species of large size (E. antiquus) is met with frequently in the 

 bone-caves and ancient river-gravels of Europe. It had a very 

 wide range — from the Mediterranean north as far as Yorkshire. 

 It also lived in North Africa. Another extinct form was E. 

 meridionalis, met with in the preglacial deposits of Norfolk, and 

 Pleistocene alluvia in Erance and Italy. A most characteristic 

 species of Palaeolithic times was the mammoth (E. primigenius), 

 now extinct, which had a most extensive range — its remains 



