108 PliOF. J. LOGAN LOBLEY, F.G.S., F.R.G.S., ON THE HISTORY 



the vole, Evotomys narjcri, the Alpine shrew (Sorex alpimis), 

 and the little dormouse {Muscardinus avellanarms), although the 

 last named has spread over a large part of Europe, but not to 

 Ireland. 



This, however, can scarcely be said with respect to the genus 

 Salamandra, whicli appears to be of Alpine origin, for although 

 two species, S. maculosa and S. caucasia, have a somewhat 

 extended range of habitat, it is centred on the Alpine region, 

 while the third species, S. atra, is never found on the lower 

 lands. 



Species of land Mollusca of the genera Helix, Fomatias, 

 Zonitcs, Acme, and Dandihardia appear to have had an Alpine 

 origin, with some butterflies and grasshoppers. 



South-Eastern Immigrants. 



The immigration of animals into the European area from 

 Southern and Western Asia was by far the most important 

 contribution to the fauna of Europe. 



Europe itself, as lias been stated, does not seem to have 

 produced any genus of Mammalia, and the few that have 

 entered Europe from Arctic lands are small and unimportant, 

 though possessing considerable interest for the purposes of this 

 enquiry ; while the later immigration from IS'orth-Eastern Asia, 

 or Siberia, important as it was undoubtedly, was much less 

 considerable than the migration westwards into our continent of 

 Southern Asiatic animals ; for this much earlier faunal movement 

 brought to Europe large quadrupeds and many birds and reptiles. 



It was more especially an invasion of Miocene and Phocene 

 times; but the immigration has contniued through the 

 Pleistocene period down to historical times. Many of these 

 Oriental immigrants have become extinct in the European 

 area, but their bones are so abundant and well preserved in 

 Pliocene and Pleistocene deposits that there is no difticulty in 

 giving approximately complete lists of these animals, some of 

 them well known as now living only in Asia and Africa. 



The genus Elephas was represented in Europe by four 

 species, while now there are only two species of elephants 

 existing, the E. indicus of Asia and the E. africavus of Africa. 

 Three of the four species ranged far north-westwards, and with 

 land continuity found such a congenial liabitat in what is now 

 Britain that their l)ones are abundant in English Pleistocene 

 deposits. In this district, the Thames Valley, two species were 



