538 THE PLEISTOCENE EPOCH 



parts of the White Mountains have plants which do not occur 

 on the lowlands until Labrador is reached, and the snowy Alps 

 have truly Arctic plants and animals. 



Of Pleistocene animals it is only the mammals that require 

 mention. Here also we find the same mingling of northern and 

 southern forms, and association of types now widely separated. 

 North America had Mastodons, Elephants, Horses, Tapirs, the 

 first Bisons (which had migrated from the Old World, as had 

 several kinds of Deer and the Musk-ox), Peccaries and huge 

 Llamas, Wolves, great Cats as large as lions, Sabre-tooth Tigers, 

 and the first Bears, also immigrants. A great variety of Rodents 

 is found, most of them kinds which still inhabit the country, but 

 mingled with these are South American forms like the Cavies and 

 Water Hog {Hydrochairus), and the giant Beaver (Castoroides) 

 is an altogether peculiar form. Enormous Sloths {Megatherium, 

 Mylodon, and Megalonyx) and Armadillos ( Glyptodon) show that 

 the way of migration from the south was still open. 



In South America were an astonishing number of huge Eden- 

 tates : Sloths nearly as large as elephants, Ant-eaters, and a marvel- 

 lous variety of giant Armadillos. Some of the immigrants from 

 the north, which are now. extinct, still lingered in the Pleistocene, 

 such as the Mastodons and Horses. 



Europe was the meeting-ground of mammalian types now 

 widely scattered. Together with Arctic forms like the Reindeer, 

 Musk-ox, Mammoth (Hairy Elephant), Hairy Rhinoceros, and 

 the Lemming (Myodes) were found southern animals, such as 

 the Hippopotamus, several kinds of Elephants and Rhinoceroses, 

 Lions, and Hyaenas, and likewise species allied to those still liv- 

 ing in Europe, such as the huge Cave Bear, the gigantic Irish Deer 

 (Megaceros), and great Oxen. Northern Africa was joined to 

 Europe by way of Malta and Sicily, and probably at Gibraltar 

 also, permitting frequent intermigrations. The junction of Ireland 

 with Great Britain and of both with the continent continued until 

 after the ice-sheets had disappeared, so that these islands, and 

 especially Great Britain, were stocked by the continental animals 

 and plants. 



