THE GLACIAL PERIOD. 247 



association of a steppe-fauna with reindeer, mammoth, hyaena, 

 etc., at Westeregeln and Thiede is by no means singular. A 

 similar mixture of species has been recorded from many other 

 places in Central and Western Europe. 



Such are some of the general considerations which might be 

 urged against the ingenious theory so ably set forth by Baron 

 von Eichthofen. When we descend to details objections crop 

 up at almost every step, and some of these have been well stated 

 by Dr. Jentzsch in his paper already referred to. But as the 

 inapplicability of Bichthofen's theory is implied in the descrip- 

 tion and explanation of the European loss given in this and a 

 preceding chapter (pp. 143 to 168), I may spare the reader 

 further controversy. 



I have now traced in meagre outline the principal physical 

 phenomena which would seem to have characterised the Glacial 

 Period at its climax. All Northern Europe down to the valley 

 of the Thames in England, and to even a lower latitude in Ger- 

 many, was covered with an ice-sheet, the terminal front of which, 

 as we gather by following the limits reached by the niorainic 

 dtibris in Poland and Bussia, gradually turned away to the north- 

 east and north, passing by Mjnii Novgorod and Mkolsk, sweep- 

 ing round the upper reaches of the Vichegda river, and thereafter 

 striking north-north-west to the Tchesskaja Gulf. The limited 

 extension of the ice-sheet in an easterly direction was doubtless 

 due to the smaller snowfall in those regions, just as was the case 

 during the Glacial Period in the comparatively rainless tract 

 between the Missouri and the Bocky Mountains. But the 

 greater humidity and cold are evinced by the presence in the 

 Urals of moraines which tell of the former presence of glaciers 

 where now there are none. At the same time the Alps and all 

 the considerable hilly tracts of Central Europe supported mers 

 de glace, many of which flowed out from the mountain- valleys, 

 and advanced to almost inconceivable distances upon the low 

 grounds. Even within the Mediterranean region glaciers of 

 considerable size existed in valleys where no perennial ice now 

 appears. The winters were so severe, that the rocks at levels 



