15 



Ban well, Bleadon, and Gower. It is still common in Siberia and 

 North. America, and is the pest of the fur-hunters of those countries. 



Mustela erminea. — The " Ermine" is another of the Weasel tribe, 

 now gone North-east, and over the Ural chain into Siberia. 



Alces malchis. — The " Elk " has been met with in Scotland, at 

 Chirdon Burn, beneath peat, in a similar deposit as the Megaceros in 

 Ireland. A lower jaw also has been obtained from Llandebie Cave, 

 in South Wales. It is the true Elk of Norway, or Moose-deer of 

 the Canadians. 



If we take into consideration the relative importance of the various 

 animals to man in his hunter state, the whole list is probably sur- 

 passed by the Eeindeer ( Cervus tarandus J. Not only do we find its 

 remains in greater profusion than that of any other animal in those 

 caves in which man undoubtedly resided, but his weapons were for 

 the most part fabricated from its horns, bones, and sinews; and 

 doubtless, his clothes were composed of its skin. The later investi- 

 gations of Mr. Pengelly, at Torquay, have led to the discovery of 

 similar barbed javelins of Eeindeer horn to those of the French 

 Caves. That fewer cut antlers have been found in England than in 

 France, may be due to the more savage condition of the early 

 Britons ; but it cannot be attributed to lack of the reindeer. In 

 Boscoe's Den, Gower, South Wales, more than 1,000 antlers have 

 been obtained by Colonel Wood; indeed, their remains are almost 

 co-extensive with the cavern and river-valley and peat-deposits. It 

 is reasonable to suppose that the reindeer may have retained a 

 footing in Scotland even long after the Eoman occupation of Britain ; 

 but it must have yielded, if living there, not only before the pursuit 

 of the chase by man, but also before the overpowering influence of 

 the red-deer, Cervus elaplius, and still more to the great change in 

 physicial conditions which affected our climate. That the reindeer 

 could continue to live for long in Britain after its isolation 

 from France, seems unlikely, for the migratory instincts were as 

 strong in the race then as at the present day. The only change pro- 

 duced has been to modify the area which the migration formerly 

 extended over. Instead of migrating southward in winter, from 

 Norway and Denmark into France and Britain, they are not only 



