Page:Early Man in Britain and His Place in the Tertiary Period.djvu/107

] the mean annual temperature of Palermo at the present time. Meximieux touches the 46th degree of latitude, while Palermo is in 38⋅7°.

The difference between these two latitudes gives us the means of estimating the climate with great precision. We may conclude that the isothermals in Pleiocene Europe were eight degrees farther north than they are at the present time. The climate was colder than in the preceding Meiocene age, when the evergreen forests spread as far north as the British Isles.

We have seen, from the study of the vegetation, that the European climate was warmer in the Pleiocene age than it is now. This conclusion is confirmed by an examination of the mammalia of France, which fall naturally into two groups, namely, those of Montpellier, or the Early Pleiocene, and those of the fluviatile and lacustrine strata in the neighbourhood of Issoire and Clermont, which belong to the later division, as defined by Professors Gervais and Gaudry.

In the Pleiocenes of Montpellier we have evidence of an association of animals analogous to that of the warmer regions of eastern Asia. Among others are the tapir, rhinoceros (R. megarhinus), and a deer (Cervus australis) closely allied to the muntjak of the Oriental region. Two kinds of apes inhabited the forests, and found abundant food in the pomegranates and other fruits; one (Macacus), allied to the macaque of the East Indies