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The Museum Gazette 



the continent, and further that Ireland was detached long ages 

 before the detachment of England. 



We shall very probably at some future time republish this 

 schedule with such emendations as the criticisms of our 

 readers or our own further investigations may suggest. We 

 may also perhaps be emboldened to attempt to space out in 

 detail in another schedule the events now crowded between 

 the lowest lines, i.e., those of the last ten thousand years. In 

 the meantime, we hope that our present venture may be of 

 assistance to our readers in suggesting a clear and orderly 

 arrangement, which they can expand, correct or corroborate 

 for themselves. 



Note. — The figures given in the first column denote the 

 number of years antecedent to present time. 



Memoranda as to Prehistoric Man in Britain. 



There is convincing evidence that as long as a quarter of 

 a million years ago (250,000) there were men in England 

 who were accustomed to the use of tools (adapted flints). It 

 is probable that still earlier their ancestors had existed in 

 England and other parts of the world for periods which 

 almost defy calculation. 



In answer to enquiry as to the nature of the evidence 

 which justifies the belief that Ireland was detached from 

 the European Continent long before Britain was so detached, 

 it may be stated that prior to the detachment, there was in 

 gradual progress a migration of both plants and animals from 

 south-east to north-west. Far fewer reached Ireland than 

 England, and many — more especially snakes, which are slow 

 travellers — never got to Ireland at all. The number of 

 different species of both plants and animals is smaller in 

 Ireland than in Britain, and in Britain than in Germany. 



