FAUNA OF THE POST-PLIOCENE. 363 



by impenetrable forests, for the most part of Birch, Poplar, 

 Larch, and Pines, and low creeping dwarf Cedars, they present 

 every gradation in climate from the temperate to that in which 

 the cold is too severe to admit of the growth of trees, which 

 decrease in size as the traveller advances northwards, and are 

 replaced by the grey mosses and lichens that cover the low 

 marshy 'tundras.' The maximum winter cold, registered by 

 Admiral Von Wrangel at Nishne Kolymsk, on the banks of 

 the Kolyma, is — 65° in January. ' Then breathing becomes 

 difficult ; the Reindeer, that citizen of the Polar region, with- 

 draws to the deepest thicket of the forest, and stands there 

 motionless as if deprived of life ; ' and trees burst asunder with 

 the cold. Throughout this area roam Elks, Black Bears, 

 Foxes, Sables, and Wolves, that afford subsistence to the 

 Jakutian and Tungusian fur-hunters. In the northern part 

 countless herds of Reindeer, Elks, Foxes, and Wolverines 

 make up for the poverty of vegetation by the rich abundance 

 of animal life. ' Enormous flights of Swans, Geese, and Ducks 

 arrive in the spring, and seek deserts where they may moult 

 and build their nests in safety. Ptarmigans run in troops 

 amongst the bushes ; little Snipes are busy along the brooks 

 and in the morasses ; the social Crows seek the neighbourhood 

 of new habitations; and when the sun shines in spring, one 

 may even sometimes hear the cheerful note of the Finch, and 

 in autumn that of the Thrush.' Throughout this region of 

 woods, a hardy, middle-sized breed of horses lives under the 

 mastership and care of man, and is eminently adapted to bear 

 the severity of the climate. . . . The only limit to their 

 northern range is the difficulty of obtaining food. The severity 

 of the winter through the southern portion of this vast wooded 

 area is almost compensated for by the summer heat and its 

 marvellous effect on vegetation." — (Dawkins, ' Monograph of 

 Pleistocene Mammalia.') 



Finally, a few words must be said as to the occurrence of the 

 remains of Man in Post-Pliocene deposits. That Man existed 

 in Western Europe and in Britain during the Post- Pliocene 

 period, is placed beyond a doubt by the occurrence of his bones 

 in deposits of this age, along with the much more frequent 

 occurrence of implements of human manufacture. At what 

 precise point of time during the Post-Pliocene period he first 

 made his appearance is still a matter of conjecture. Recent 

 researches would render it probable that the early inhabitants 

 of Britain and Western Europe were witnesses of the stupend- 

 ous phenomena of the Glacial period ; but this cannot be said 

 to have been demonstrated. That Man existed in these 



