PHYSICAL CONDITIONS— PLEISTOCENE. 331 



CHAPTEE XIY. 



CLIMATIC AND GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS OF PLEISTOCENE 

 PERIOD — SUMMARY. 



Climatic and geographical conditions of Europe during Pliocene times — Gradual 

 change of climate and commencement of Glacial Period — Modification of fauna 

 and flora in glacial times — Geographical conditions in Pleistocene Age — 

 Land - connection between Europe and Africa — Continental condition of 

 British area — Dry land in the English Channel — Human relics in Pliocene 

 strata — Cut bones in Italian Pliocene — Human relics in Miocene strata — 

 Geographical conditions in Europe at the beginning of the last interglacial 

 epoch — Migrations of plants and animals — Character of interglacial climate 

 — Geographical conditions at climax of last interglacial epoch — Gradual de- 

 terioration of climate — Geographical conditions towards close of last inter- 

 glacial and beginning of last glacial epoch — Last glacial epoch — Migrations 

 of plants and animals — Final disappearance of great glaciers, etc. — Distribu- 

 tion of interglacial deposits — Interglacial age of Palaeolithic man and mam- 

 malia of southern group. 



Before we proceed to inquire into the physical conditions which 

 obtained in Postglacial and Neolithic times, it may be well first 

 to glance back over the ground we have traversed, for we have 

 now reached a point from which much that may have appeared 

 confused and obscure on the way, will no longer, I hope, offer 

 any real difficulty. We commenced our investigations, it may 

 be remembered, by passing in review the fauna and flora of the 

 Pleistocene Period, and thereafter we inquired into the character 

 and origin of the deposits in which those plant- and animal- 

 remains have been preserved. We then discussed the subject of 

 glacial and interglacial epochs, with the result of discovering 

 that the cave- and river-accumulations, which we had hitherto 



