CHAP. VII 



THE GLACIAL EPOCH 



121 



Europe could not have been made during the short sum- 

 mers of the glacial period. Thus the very existence of 

 such an animal in such remote localities closely associated 

 with those implying almost an arctic winter climate ap- 

 pears to afford a strong support to the argument for the 

 existence of warm inter-glacial or post-glacial periods. 



Evidence of Inter glacial Warm Periods on the Continent and 

 in North America. — Besides the evidence already adduced 

 from our own islands, many similar facts have been noted 

 in other countries. In Switzerland two glacial periods are 

 distinctly recognised, between which was a warm period 

 when vegetation was so luxuriant as to form beds of lig- 

 nite sufficiently thick to be worked for coal. The plants 

 found in these deposits are similar to those now inhabiting 

 Switzerland — pines, oaks, birches, larch, etc., but numer- 

 ous animal remains are also found, showing that the 

 country was then inhabited by an elephant {Elephas 

 aiitiquus), a rhinoceros (Rhinoceros megarhimts), the urus 

 {Bos jprimigenius)y the red deer {Cervus elephas), and the 

 cave-bear, ( Ursus speloius) ; and there were also abundance 

 of insects.-"- 



In Sweden also there are two "tills," the lower one 

 having been in places partly broken up and denuded 

 before the upper one was deposited, but no interglacial 

 deposits have yet been found. In North America more 

 complete evidence has been obtained. On the shores of 

 Lake Ontario sections are exposed showing three separate 

 beds of "till" with intervening stratified deposits, the 

 lower one of which has yielded many plant remains and 

 fresh-water organisms. These deposits are seen to extend 

 continuously for more than nine miles, and the fossiliferous 

 interglacial beds attain a thickness of 140 feet. Similar 

 beds have been discovered near Cleveland, Ohio, consisting, 

 first of " till " at the lake-level, secondly of about 48 feet 

 of sand and loam, and thirdly of unstratified " till " full 

 of striated stones — six feet thick.^ On the other side of 

 the continent, in British Columbia, Mr. G. M. Dawson, 

 geologist to the North American Boundary Commission, 



^ Heer's Primceval World of Switzerland Vol. IL, pp. 148-168, 

 ^ Dr. James Geikie in Geological Magazine, 1878, p. 77. 



