341 
period of these beasts of prey, analogous to that which now 
divides us from the Continent, may be worthy of closer 
inquiry." That a continuity of land once existed between 
the coasts of Britain and France, there cannot remain a 
doubt ; and that even a Geological union or close approxima- 
tion of the west of Ireland with the north of Spain ; as also 
that a great Miocene land (to use the language of Professor 
Edward Forbes), extended far into the Atlantic, past the 
Azores, is more than probable. 
But allowing, for the sake of argument, that the first 
union alluded to existed at the period when the bears and 
hyaenas were contemporary inhabitants of Europe, I cannot 
see in what way its subsequent separation explains the 
localization of the genera in question, or even suggest a 
cause why the bears were retained in greater numbers on 
the Continent, and the hyaenas escaped to Britain, supposing 
they were ever tolerably equally distributed. But instead of 
this separation occurring during the precise time of their joint 
residence, there is evidence that the disruption took place at 
a much more remote epoch than the Pleistocene period ! So 
that there still remains a predisposing cause for the peculiar 
localization just noticed, to be accounted for, more satisfactory, 
than has yet been adduced. The mere fact, however, of 
bears preponderating in the north of Europe and hyaenas in 
Britain, might be considered by some persons as not very 
remarkable, the former being, generally speaking, more 
northern animals than the latter. But here again we have 
an apparent anomaly, inasmuch as no remains of the Frsidae 
have ever been found in the extreme north of the British 
Isles, as Scotland; and even those which have occurred in 
Britain, do not extend further north than Yorkshire, and 
there only sparingly, while, on the contrary, their remains 
are most plentiful in the southern and south-western parts of 
England, as Devonshire and Somersetshire. So that during 
