148 PROF. E. HULL, ON THE SPREAD OF EXISTING ANIMALS 
Formorians ; 2, the Firbolgs ; 3, the Tuatha-da-Danaan, and 
lastly, (4) the Milesian. The remarkable coincidence to which 
I wish to point is this two-fold migration from the Peninsula 
to Western Ireland, viz., that of man and of plants and 
animals, and the question suggests itself whether that of the 
flora and fauna was precedent to that of early man or con- 
temporaneous with it ? Measured by the ages of the Egyptian 
and Babylonian monarchies, the early settlements may have 
been several thousands of years before our era — a time, 
sufficiently distant, when the bed of the ocean may not have 
settled down to its present level from its high elevation during 
the glacial epoch, and may thus have presented in its shallower 
parts a land passage for the Milesians from Spain as well as 
that for the plants and small animals above enumerated. The 
land connection with Scotland, on the other hand, is indicated 
by the Irish hare — not the brown hare of England, but the 
■“ blue ” or mountain hare of the Scottish Highlands, which is 
common to both countries. 
Part III. 
Fauna of the Azores, Madeira, and Canaries . — These islands 
rise from the Atlantic off the coast of Spain, Portugal, and 
Africa, and are separated from the mainland by wide and deep 
water. They contain an ancient endemic fauna originally 
derived from Europe and North Africa belonging to a period 
which, according to Scharff, may date as far back as early 
Tertiary,* together with more recent forms of immigrants, such 
as goats, rabbits, weasels, rats, mice, and bats. There are also 
numerous birds, including waders, and insects, and the question 
arises how have these animals been introduced ? W as it by a 
recent land connection, or by those agencies, either natural or 
human, to which I have referred above ? The former view is 
supported by Scharff, the latter by Wallace; and we will now 
consider on which side the probabilities and preponderance of 
evidence lie. 
the Normans and Danes of a later age. Tradition and invention has had 
much to do with the history of this age, hut there has probably been a 
basis of reality for the leading events recorded ; at any rate the events 
■extended over a very long period. 
* According to Wallace, strata belonging to the Upper Miocene epoch 
are found in one of these islands, pointing to a land or shallow water 
connection with the mainland at this period. 
