235 
Dr Fleming on the Geological Deluge. 
Perhaps the abettors of the diluvian hypothesis may have 
recourse to the Ark as the place where the modern species found 
a temporary asylum. Still we have to ask the proof of the 
establishment of that law of exclusion , under the operation of 
which the mammoth and his unfortunate companions suffered 
extinction ? If these were not excluded, we have still to ask, 
what has become of the postdiluvian pairs and their families , 
of these now extinct species, since they outlived the deluge, 
but have since disappeared ? 
Under the conviction that the diluvian hypothesis did not ex- 
plain the extinction of our early quadrupeds, and that the sub- 
ject, even in the hands of Baron Cuvier, had not received the 
elucidation of which it was susceptible, I endeavoured, in my 
64 Philosophy of Zoology ,” to establish the laws which regulate 
the Physical Distribution of Animals, as a preparation for study- 
ing the Revolutions” which had taken place in the animal 
kingdom. 
I there intimated, in general terms (for 1 could not spare 
room for more), the effects which the persecutions of man must 
have produced on the distribution of many species. At the re- 
quest of any valued friend Professor Jameson, I extended these 
observations, in the paper on the 44 Distribution of British Ani- 
mals ,” which appeared in the 22d number of this Journal. 
Subsequent reflection on the subject has only served to confirm 
the views I have brought forward, and to convince me that we 
must refer the extinction of these early quadrupeds to the des- 
tructive influence of the chace. 
It is admitted on all hands, that the relics of the extinct qua- 
drupeds, of those which we know to have been extirpated by 
man, and of those which still dwell in the country, are co- 
extensively distributed, and must all have lived at the same 
time in this and analogous countries. From these premises, I may 
safely draw the following conclusions : — 1. That the cause of ex- 
tinction was not a general physical one, as it did not extend suc- 
cessfully to the subsequently extirpated and recent species. 2. 
That the cause of extirpation has not extended successfully as yet 
to the existing species. From the evidence of our observation, and 
the testimony of history, confirmed by geological documents, I am 
warranted likewise in the following conclusions : — 1. Man is at 
