1898 - 99 .] Prof. Duns on Early Post-Pliocene Mammals. 695 
of the bones of mammals and birds in quaternary beds along- 
side of bits of pottery, fragments of weapons, remains of ancient 
industrial implements, or of rude pre -historic art, introduce new 
elements of observation and inference. The association of objects 
of man’s handiwork with the remains of extinct animals goes 
far to indicate the nature of the environments of the animals — 
so far, indeed, as to warrant generalisations in regard to the 
physical conditions, the fauna and flora in the midst of which 
both the lower animals and man lived and moved. Natural 
science may thus do for these extinct forms a service analogous 
to what the historian has done for the men of “the long ago,” 
showing them as influenced by and influencing their surroundings. 
Now, subjects of importance as to the distribution and associa- 
tions of extinct forms are suggested here. In some parts of 
Britain, and, more widely, over the Continent, traces of the 
presence of man alongside of remains of extinct mammals are 
common, indeed, so common, as to warrant the inference of 
contemporaneity. But in Scotland, such cases occur without 
any traces of man. Does this imply that in such localities 
extinct species had looked their last before man appeared on 
the scene? Some argue that this was so. But, in reality, the 
question of time is not raised here, though the question of 
population is. Contemporary with the animals where man met 
them, there were wide areas which the people had not occupied, 
and in these animals had lived undisturbed by man, yet they 
had disappeared. I don’t attempt to account for the disappear- 
ance, but can only theorise touching the setting in of physical 
conditions fatal to animal life. The terms pre-glacial, glacial, 
post-glacial, ultra -glacial, and inter-glacial come into mind at 
the bare mention of unfavourable physical conditions. But I 
wish to keep clear of these in this paper as much as possible. 
This does not mean, however, that we are to keep out of view 
the nature, order, and relations of the surface deposits in which 
the remains of extinct forms occur. On the contrary, it is of 
chief importance that we should try to collate the superficial 
beds of one district with those of another which geologically 
differs from them but contains the same remains. This indicates 
the importance of studying these deposits both from the biotic 
