OF THE SPREAD OF THE EL^KOPEAN FAUNA. 



115 



regarded as Xewer Pliocene, but Dr. Scliarff thinks it ought to 

 be considered as of Inter-Glacial age and therefore Quaternary, 

 and that this may have been the period of this North-Eastern 

 Immigration. He contends tliat comparatively mild climatal 

 conditions may have existed during the Glacial epoch in the 

 North of Europe, very near to the glaciated region, as is now 

 the case in New Zealand and Switzerland where grapes ripen 

 jiear to the foot of great glaciers, and that these mild conditions 

 would allow of an abundant fauna living then in the southern 

 part of the British Islands. 



Tiie history of the spread of the European fauna suggests 

 and opens many highly interesting questions on which much 

 difference of opinion r.iay legitimately arise, but the limits of 

 this paper will not allow of my entering into these discussions. 

 I must l)e content with having introduced the subject to the 

 notice of the Victoria Institute, indicating its general scope, 

 character and teachings, from which I think it will be seen 

 that it at least offers a good example of the interdependence of 

 different branches of natural knowledge. 



Dlscussiox. 



The discussion was opened by Sir Henry H. Ho^vorth, F.R.S., 

 who dwelt upon the evidence of the former connection between the 

 Iberian peninsula and the west of Ireland, as shown by the presence 

 of several plant forms, such as the arbutus, two species of heaths of 

 which the " Mediterranean heath " is abundant in Galway, and the 

 Osmunda regalis — a magnificent fern which grows luxuriantly both 

 at Killarney and in Donegal. 



The Secretary, Professor Hull, F.R.S., after thanking the 

 author for his paper, said, — There is an episode in the remarkable 

 history of the European fauna, to which we have been listening, 

 which I wish to advert to during this discussion. It has been only 

 briefly alluded to by the author, because it is only indirectly 

 connected with his subject ; but from its unique character deserves 

 special attention. I refer to the great migration of the Europasian 

 animals into Africa, towards the close of the Pliocene period — 

 I'esulting in the re-peopling of that vast continent by new races of 



