THE PLEISTOCENE OR GLACIAL PERIOD. 421 



We place very little value on estimates of this kind, except as means 

 for developing a concrete sense of proportion. 



Foreign. 



In Europe, the succession of ice epochs and formations is not less 

 complex than in North America. The following table gives the classi- 

 fication of Geikie: 1 



XI. Upper Turbari an = Sixth Glacial Period. 

 X. Upper Forestian = Fifth Interglacial Period. 

 IX. Lower Turbarian = Fifth Glacial Epoch. 

 VIII. Lower Forestian = Fourth Interglacial Epoch. 

 VII. Mecklenburgian = Fourth Glacial Epoch. 

 VI. Neudeckian = Third Interglacial Epoch. 



V. Polandian = Third Glacial Epoch. 



IV. Helvetian = Second Interglacial Epoch. 



III. Saxonian = Second Glacial Epoch. 



II. Norfolkian = First Interglacial Epoch. 



I. Scanian = First Glacial Epoch. 



These several stages cannot now be correlated with confidence with 

 those of North America. According to Geikie's interpretation, the 

 ice of the Scanian epoch (perhaps = Jerseyan) was less extensive than 

 that of the next epoch, and its deposits have been definitely recog- 

 nized in but few places. In the Norfolkian (Aftonian?) epoch, Great 

 Britain is thought to have been joined to the continent and to have 

 enjoyed a climate as mild as that of the present time. In the Saxonian 

 (Kansan?) epoch, the ice attained its maximum development and 

 covered the area shown in Fig. 528. In the deposits of the interglacial 

 Helvetian epoch, fossils denoting both cool and warm climates are 

 found, though perhaps not at the same horizon. The central European 

 flora of this stage indicates a climate milder than the present. In the 

 Polandian epoch, the ice-sheet was less extensive than in the Saxonian, 

 and the direction of ice movement was at variance with that of the 

 earlier epoch in many places. The deposits of the Neudeckian inter- 

 glacial epoch are partly marine and partly non-marine, and the faunas 



1 Jour, of Geol., Vol. Ill, pp. 241-269. 



