FAUNA OF THE POST-PLIOCENE. 377 



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 neighborhood 

 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 

 regions during the Post-Glacial division of Post-Pliocene time 

 cannot be doubted for a moment. As to the physical peculi- 

 arities of the ancient races that lived with the Mammoth and 

 the Woolly Rhinoceros, little is known compared with what 

 we may some day hope to know. Such information as we 

 have, however, based principally on the skulls of the Engis, 

 Neanderthal, Cro-Magnon, and Bruniquel caverns, would lead 

 to the conclusion that Post-Pliocene Man was in no respect 

 inferior in his organization to, or less highly developed than, 

 many existing races. All the known skulls of this period, with 

 the single exception of the Neanderthal cranium, are in all 

 respects average and normal in their characters ; and even the 



