I have chosen these caverns as representing the pre-historic fauna of Great Britain. I might have quoted others, such as Kent's Hole, which, having been open during pleistocene and pre-historic times, contains the animals that were then alive, the former at a lower level than the latter; or the Paviland Cave, described by Dr. Buckland, in which the remains of both periods were mixed. I have, however, given a sufficient number of examples to prove how far the pre-historic differed from the post-glacial fauna. These pre-historic mammalia, associated with the remains of man, are also found along with others in the peat-bogs, so that by putting the two groups together we can form an adequate idea of the entire group of animals that inhabited Britain from the disappearance of the post-glacial mammals down to the time of the Roman invasion. The correspondence of the animals found with man with those taken from the peat-bog and alluvium, and from certain of the more modern caverns, proves that geologically they belong to the same pre-historic epoch. The cave-bear, cavelion, and cave-hyæna had vanished away, along with the whole group of pachyderms, and of all the extinct animals, but one, the Irish elk, was still surviving. This animal, indeed, is much rarer in England than in Ireland, in which latter country it seems to have lingered after its extinction in the former. According to some of the Irish savants it was destroyed by the hand of man. The reindeer still lived on; and its presence proves that the pre-historic climate was more severe in Britain than that under which we now live. As the pre-historic is remarkable for the absence of many of the animals of the preceding period, so is it characterized by the presence of others of a totally distinct character. The sheep, the goat, and the Bos longifrons appear for the first time; they are widely spread through and highly characteristic of all the deposits. With reference to the latter of these animals I am obliged to differ from the views of Professor Owen, who considers that it is also of post-glacial age. An analysis, however, of all the evidence that there is upon the subject, compels me to believe that the animal has not yet been found in any deposit of that age in Britain. Before the invasion of the Romans it was kept in great herds by the pre-historic folk, and is found universally in their tumuli and places of habitation. During the Roman occupation it was not supplanted by any other breed of oxen, as Professor Owen suggests, for its broken bones, teeth, and horncores in the refuse heaps of every Roman town and station in Britian, prove that it alone of the oxen, was the food of the provincials. On the landing of the Saxons it disappeared "Quart. Geol. Journal." 1867. Brit. Foss. Oxen, Part. ii. from the portion of the country conquered by them, and now lives in the smaller breeds of Wales and Scotland, where the Romanised Kelts took refuge. About that time also it was supplanted by a larger breed probably brought over from Friesland, the home of the Saxon invader. Whence the sheep and goat and Bos longifrons came is a question I will not dare to enter upon; but all of them appear simultaneously in Britain, and all are associated with man. It seems to be highly probable that they were introduced by him into our island. The true elk was very rare, and has left its remains only in one place-in Newcastle in a subturbary deposit. The red-deer had vastly increased in numbers since the post-glacial epoch, and very nearly replaced the rein-deer. Its remains, however, show the effect that a more limited range had on the development of the antlers. In post-glacial times, while England formed part of the mainland of Europe, they were very large; in pre-historic times after Britain became insulated they were smaller. A decrease of size is also noticeable in those used for food in the time of the Romans, while a minimum is reached in those which are now living in certain restricted parts of England and Scotland. The wolf and fox were very abundant, but the brown bear was by no means common. We will now pass on to the comparison of the pre-historic animals with those living in Britain at the time it was subject to the Roman power, and with those which are living at the present day. The Irish and the true elk had disappeared from Britain before the landing of the Roman legions; with these exceptions all the animals still lived on. To the Romans we are probably indebted for a new species of deer, the fallowdeer; for it has never been found in any post-glacial or pre-historic deposit, while in refuse heaps of Roman age it is by no means uncommon. At all events its presence in Britain dates from the arrival of the Romans. After this time in proportion as civilization increased on the haunts of the wild animals, they disappeared one by one from before the face of man. The last historical notice we have of the beaver is that afforded by Geraldus Cambrensis in the year 1188, when he met with it in the river Teivy, in Cardiganshire, on his tour through Wales to collect volunteers for the first Crusade. The brown bear became extinct in the year 1057, if there be any truth in a legend of the Gordon family in Scotland. The wolf, which was sufficiently abundant in Sussex to eat up the corpses of the Saxons left on the field of Hastings by Duke William "Vermibus atque lupis avibus canibusque voranda lingered on in England until 1306, in Scotland until 1680, and in Ireland, protected by the uncultivated wilds and the misrule of the country until the year 1710. In this outline of the pre-historic animals associated with man, I have attempted to prove that the animals of the neolithic and bronze ages in Britain are identical with those found in peat-bogs and alluvia, and that the whole group so constituted differs totally from the post-glacial group of animals. And I have striven to show their relation to the animals now living in Britain. Their comparison with the pre-historic fauna of the Swiss lakes, or that of Scandinavia, Germany, France, and Italy, I must leave to the savants of those countries. The modification of that fauna I have shown to be the result of man's influence, and I cannot help believing that the disappearance of the larger animals associated with man in post-glacial times, is in a measure owing to the same cause, as well as to climatal or geographical change. With the larger carnivores man must have waged a war of extermination; while the larger ruminants on which he fed must have found the difficulty of concealment increase in proportion to their size. There is a great gulf fixed, so to speak, representing an inconceivable length of time between the post-glacial and pre-historic periods; and the fauna of Europe, as we have it now, dates from the latter epoch. In Britain, of course, insulated from the mainland of Europe, several animals probably introduced into Europe after that insulation, have not been found, such as the chamois and bouquetin. Had Britain been united to France during the rein-deer epoch, we might have expected to find the remains of those animals. ELECTRICAL COUNTRIES. BY M. J. FOURNET.* (Continued from our September Number.) IN a preceding article upon electrical countries, I especially directed my investigations to remote regions. It now remains, therefore, to concentrate the field of these researches, and to remark that in the mountains of the basin of the Rhone, and those in connection with them, there are some places which are distinguished by electrical discharges of a very remarkable intensity, whilst up to the present time the most absolute silence reigns in others, notwithstanding the apparent identity of surfaces. I hope that the details which follow may excite some attention in observers so that at last some meteorological law may be established. Leaving, therefore, for the present, the details already mentioned by M. Arago, I shall first consider that which concerns the Alpine and Jurassic group, and afterwards return to the most western parts of our country. ALPINE ELECTRICITY. 1. Illumination of the rocks of Mont Blanc. A. During the night of the 11th of August, 1854, Mr. Blackwell being stationed on the Grands Mulets (altitude 3455 mètres), the guide, F. Le Couttet, went out of the cabin about 11 o'clock at night, and saw the crests of these mountains all on fire. He made this circumstance immediately known to his companions, they all wished to be assured as to the fact, and they saw that by an effect of electricity produced by the tempest, each one of the adjacent rocky projections appeared illuminated. Their clothes were literally covered with sparks, and when they raised their arms their fingers became phosphorescent. At the same hour we had at Lyons rather a violent shower with thunder, from the south-west, and the whole of the day had been very stormy. According to information, for which I am indebted to M. V. Payot, a naturalist universally known, the guide, Couttet, of Chamounix, at the time of his ascent of Mont Blanc the 25th of August, 1841, with M. Chénal, was surprised by a storm on the Grands Mulets which placed them in actual danger on account of the thunder and lightning which surrounded them without intermission. All the stones around them had * Translated from the "Comptes Rendus." their electrical sparks, and yet the summit of Mont Blanc as well as the sky were perfectly serene. 2. Electricity on the Breven.-In 1767, during very stormy weather, De Saussure, Jalabert, and Pictet were on the Breven (altitude 2500 mètres). There they had only to raise a hand and to extend a finger to feel a kind of pricking at the extremity. This remark, first made by Pictet, was soon followed by another, that as the sensation became more apparent it was accompanied with a kind of whistling. Jalabert, whose hat was trimmed with gold lace, heard a fearful buzzing round his head. They drew the sparks from the button of his hat as well as from the ferrule of his cane. At last the storm was so violent in the cloud which was in the same plane with their heads, that they were obliged to descend from the summit to 20 or 24 mètres lower, where they no longer felt the electrical influences. 3. Electricity of the snow lying on the soil of the Jungfrau. -Snow lying on the ground, does not prevent these manifestations; this fact results from the following details. On the 10th of July, 1863, Mr. Watson, accompanied by several other tourists and guides visited the summit of the Jungfrau. The morning was very fine, but on approaching the summit they perceived large clouds piled upon it, and when they had almost reached it, they were assailed by a tremendous puff of wind accompanied with hail. After some minutes they were obliged to make a retreat, and during their descent the snow continued to fall in such a quantity that the little troop, mistaking the direction, travelled for some time in the Latoch-Sittel. They had scarcely perceived their error when they heard a violent clap of thunder, and soon afterwards Mr. Watson heard a kind of whistling which proceeded from his stick. This noise resembled that which a kettle makes when the water boils briskly. They halted and remarked that their sticks, as well as the hatchets with which each was provided, produced a similar sound. These objects did not discontinue their singular whistling even when one end was placed in the snow. Presently one of the guides took off his hat, exclaiming that his head was burning. His hair literally stood on end like that of a person who had been electrified under the influence of a very powerful machine, and all experienced a sensation of pricking and heat in their faces and other parts of the body. Mr. Watson's hair was straight and stiff, a veil which was round another traveller's hat was lifted vertically, and they heard the electrical whistling at the end of their fingers when moved in the air. Even the snow emitted a sound analagous to that which is produced by a sharp hail-storm. There was not, however, any appearance of light, which must have been the case |