168 TBANSACTIONS LIVEEPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



this (ante-glacial fauna) or at least the greater part 

 of it."* 



Prof. J. Geikie remarks — " As neither our animals nor 

 our plants could have existed in the British Islands during 

 the last glacial epoch, it follows that they must be of post- 

 glacial age;t and another Geologist, Mr. Clement Keed, 

 says — " In the Britain of the present day we may study 

 the repeopling of a country over which everything had 

 been exterminated. ' ' J 



On the other hand, Dr. Scharff, of Dublin, has lately 

 written a very interesting monograph on this subject, 

 the burden of which is to demonstrate the probability of 

 the uninterrupted continuity of the British Fauna since 

 pre-glacial times. For so revolutionary a view, however, 

 the evidence seems inadequate. The climatic conditions 

 which we know from data quite other than faunistic must 

 have prevailed, still more such a submergence as the 

 shell-beds of Tryfan and Macclesfield might suggest, could 

 not but have very considerably modified the previous 

 fauna and flora, if it did not exterminate them. A 

 remnant may have escaped the cold by a southern migra- 

 tion, and an archipelago of islets may have afforded a 

 refuge from a submergence ; but I doubt whether, in any 

 case, it can be safely maintained that our present flora 

 and fauna are merely an uninterrupted continuation of 

 those of late Tertiary days. 



However, leaving ground so debatable, let us turn to 

 the animals themselves, and see what light they throw on 

 the subject. 



In the first place, we must exclude from consideration 

 any species which owes its appearance here to other than 

 purely natural agencies. There are probably very -few 



* " Island Life," p. 338. + " Gr. Ice Age," 3rd ed., 1894. 



$ "Flora of Greenland." 



