9 
1915-16.] Opening Address by the President. 
the slopes of the Harz Mountains, the Erzgebirge, the Sudetes, and across 
a large part of Russia. The British and Scandinavian ice-sheets coalesced 
on the floor of the North Sea, and the united ice-field moved westwards 
towards the limit of the continental shelf. The lower boulder clays of 
Holland, North and South Germany, Poland, and Central Russia were then 
accumulated together with the lower boulder clay of Britain. He believed 
that a cold current washed the western coasts of Europe, and that Arctic 
molluscs entered the Mediterranean. 
The Second or Tyrolian Interglacial Epoch was characterised by a 
temperate flora and fauna, and the interior of Europe was affected by a 
mild oceanic climate. This interval was supposed to be of long duration. 
The palseontological evidence furnished by deposits of this age in the 
Alps is of the highest importance in relation to oscillations of climate, and 
will be referred to in the sequel in connection with the researches of Penck 
and Bruckner. In the North German plain fossiliferous beds, referred to 
this Interglacial Epoch, have been found at numerous localities, and 
have been described in detail by Wahnschaffe. They have yielded a rich 
mammalian fauna comprising southern forms, and some suggesting a colder 
climate than the present. In certain peat beds, supposed to belong to this 
horizon, Stoller found plant remains indicating a mild climate and none 
of boreal aspect. James Geikie believed that during this phase one or 
more land bridges existed across the Mediterranean, which enabled the 
southern forms to migrate northwards into Europe. Britain was then 
joined to the continent, and a large part of the North Sea may have 
been land. 
The Chellean and Acheulian culture stages of Palaeolithic man 
were referred by James Geikie to the Second Interglacial Epoch. The 
rude stone implements of Chellean man are to be found in the river drifts 
of that period, showing that he frequented the river valleys under genial 
climatic conditions. 
A noteworthy feature of this Interglacial Epoch is the evidence of 
prolonged denudation of the land during the Chellean culture stage. 
Valleys were excavated and the general surface of the land was lowered. 
These topographical changes were accompanied by crustal movements 
which led to the submergence of the Baltic coast lands and parts of the 
Mediterranean region. 
During the Polonian or Third Glacial Epoch (Rissian of the Alps), 
Scandinavia and most of the British Isles were again buried under one 
continuous ice-field, but the ice-sheet did not cover such an extensive area 
in Britain, North Germany, and Russia as in the Saxonian Epoch. The 
