Page:Natural History Review (1862).djvu/54

Rh were abundant in the Jura and Black Forest in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, though they do not appear to have been so large as those which lived in earlier times. The last was shot in Basle, at the close of the eighteenth century, while in Western Switzerland and Wallis they lingered somewhat longer. The Roedeer still occurs in some places.

The Fauna thus indicated is certainly very much what might have been expected. We find most of the species which characterise the post-tertiary epoch in Europe. Some of the larger ones have since fallen away in the struggle for existence, and others are becoming rarer and rarer every year, while some maintain themselves even now, thanks only to the inclemency and inaccessibility of the mountainous regions which they inhabit. The gradual process of extermination, which has continued over since, had however even then begun.

Taken as a whole, therefore, the animals of the Swiss Pileworks belong evidently to the Fauna, which commenced in post-tertiary times with the Mammoth, the Rhinoceros tichorhinus, the Cave Bear, and the Fossil Hyæna. These extinct species appear to have co-existed in Europe with all of its present indigenous inhabitants; it was, indeed, long supposed that man belonged to a subsequent period, but recent investigations have shown, that he is no exception to the rule.

While, however, we must regard the Fauna of the Stone age as belonging to the same Zoological epoch with that of the later drifts on the one hand, and the present time on the other; we cannot forget that the immense time which has elapsed since the end of the Tertiary period, has produced great changes in the Fauna of Europe. In this Post-tertiary era the Pileworks occupy, so to say, a middle position. Distinguished from the present Fauna of Switzerland in the possession of the Urus, the Bison, the Elk, the Stag, and the Wild Boar, as well as by the more general distribution of the Beaver, the Bear, the Wolf, the Ibex, the Roe, &c., they differ equally from the drift gravels in the absence of the Mammoth, the Rhinoceros, the Cave Bear, and the Cave Hyæna.

M. Rütimeyer, however, thinks that we may carry this division farther, and he considers that some of the Pileworks presenting a more archaic character than others, they may be arranged as follows:—

2em

It is of course unnecessary to point out the interest and importance of such a distinction, which accords so well with that indicated by the study of the weapons and the state of preservation of the piles. Thus, the Urus has only occurred at Moosseedorf and Robenhausen; the Aurochs only at Wauwyl; the Bear only at Moosseedorf and Meilen. A glance at the table given at page 250, will show that several other species have as yet only occurred at Moosseedorf and Robenhausen, a fact however which indicates rather the richness than the