OF THE SPREAD OF THE EUROPEAN FAUNA. 



107 



Perhaps the most notable animal of these species is the 

 Gasteropod Gcomalacus maculosus or spotted slug, which is in 

 Kerry and Portugal.* Tlie former direct land connection 

 between Portugal and Ireland is also evidenced by the Arhttus 

 unedo, or strawberry tree, and the Eitphorhia liiherna, or Irish 

 spurge, both species of South-West Europe ; but in the north 

 confined, the former to South- West Ireland, and the latter to 

 that area and South- West England. 



The mammals of Europe that may be regarded as having a 

 Lusitanian origin are the rabbit {Lcpns cujiicidus), which is in 

 Spain, France and the British Islands, and is fossil in the 

 Pleistocene of Germany, and two moles of the genera Myogcde 

 and Talpa. 



Of birds, there is one that is known in the British Islands, 

 but only in the South-East of England, the Dartford warbler 

 {Mtlizopliilus undcdus), that ranges to the extreme South-West 

 of Europe, and another species of the same genus is in the 

 Mediterranean Islands, and both may be regarded as of 

 Lusitanian origin. Other Lusitanian birds are the pied wagtail,, 

 the bearded titmouse and some species of magpie and finch. 



Of Itcptilia may be noted the snake (Tropidonotus viperinus), 

 and two or three species of lizards ; while of Amphibia there 

 are several toads, three newts, and the Salamandra chiofjlossa.. 

 There are, too, a number of species of terrestrial Mollusca, 

 both of Helix and of slugs, including the before-mentioned 

 Gcomalacus. Xo less than ten species of spiders, several 

 butterliies and beetles, and some other small invertebrates, are 

 regarded as being of Lusitanian origin. 



The south-east of Europe with its Balkan highlands was a 

 considerable centre of dis])ersal of land Mollusca. One genus, 

 Clausilia, has but a few species in the British Islands, and there 

 is only one Clausilia in Spain, while in the south-eastern region 

 there are about one hundred and thirty species. 



Although probably the Alpine central region gave to Europe 

 no new genus of Mammalia, there are several species that 

 appear to have been there developed from more ancient stocks. 



Of these the most notewortliy are perhaps the chamois- 

 (Btipiccrpra tragus) and the steinbock {Ccqira ibex). Both of 

 these characteristic Alpine animals are doubtless species of 

 genera of Asiatic origin which have been subjected to mountain 

 conditions, and so have given the present Alpine forms. So 

 also may be regarded the Alpine marmot (Arctomys marmotta), 



* For a figure of this animal, see ScharfF, European Animals, ^p. 89. 



