The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man, with remarks on theories of the origin of species by variation. Illustrated by woodcuts

Front matter

THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN BY THE SAME AUTHOK. PRINCIPLES of GEOLOGY ; or, the Modern Changes of the Earth and its Inhabitants, as illustrative of Geology. 9th Edition. Woodcuts, 8vo. 18s. ELEMENTS of GEOLOGY ; or, the Ancient Changes of the Eabth and its Inhabitants, as illustrated by its Geological Monuments. 6th Edition, revised. Woodcuts. 8vo. [/« preparation. A FIRST and SECOND VISIT to NORTH AMERICA, CANADA, NOVA SCOTIA, &c. : with Geological Obsebvations. 2nd Edition. Maps. 4 vols. Post Svo. _». A VILLAGE BUILT ON PILES IN A SWISS LAKE. Restored by Dr. F. Keller, partly from Diimont D'l'rvilk's sketch of similar habitations in New Guine THE GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCES OF THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN with bemabks on theobies of THE OEIGIN OF SPECIES BY VAEIATTON By SIR CHARLES LYELL, E.R.S. author op 'PRINCIPLES OP GEOLOGY,' 'elements op geology,* etc. etc.

SECOND EDITION, REVISED ILLUSTRATED BY WOODCUTS LONDON JOHN MTJKKAY, ALBEMAELE STEEET 1863 Ihe right 01 translation is reserved LONDON PEINTED BT SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. NEW-STBEET 8QUABE ADVEBTISEMENT. ■:-?-*. TYTITH the exception of a few minor alterations and corrections, this edition is the same as the first (which was published February 6, 1863), but some additional matter has been introduced in an Appendix. This Appendix is also printed separately, for the use of* the possessors of the first edition, who may obtain it free of charge on application to their booksellers, with a list of errata and corrigenda to the first edition. 53 Haeley Street, London: April 1863. ERRATA TO THE SECOND EDITION. PAGE LINE 14 1 Jbr eruption read irruption. 100 9 omit the paragraph beginning From &c, as I am informed that the supposed core was afterwards found to be part of a large flint tool, the other fragment of which has now been fitted to it. CONTENTS.

Chapter I

introduction. Preliminary Remarks on the Subjects treated of in this Work — Definition of the Terms Recent, Post-Pliocene, and Post-Tertiary — Tabular View of the entire Series of Fossiliferous Strata Page 1

Chapter II. Recent Period Danish Peat And Shell Mounds Swiss Lake Dwellings

Works of Art in Danish Peat-Mosses — Remains of three Periods of Vegetation in the Peat — Ages of Stone, Bronze, and Iron — Shell-Mounds or ancient Refuse-Heaps of the Danish Islands — Change in geographical Distribution of Marine MoDusca since their Origin — Embedded Remains of Mammalia of recent Species — Human Skulls of the same Period — Swiss Lake-Dwellings built on Piles — Stone and Bronze Implements found in them — Fossil Cereals and other Plants — Remains of Mammalia, wild and domesticated — No extinct Species — Chronological Computations of the Date of the Bronze and Stone Periods in Switzerland — Lake-Dwellings, or artificial Islands called ' Crannoges,' in Ireland 8

Chapter III. Fossil Human Remains And Works Of Art Of The Recent

PERIOD. Delta and Alluvial Plain of the Nile — Burnt Bricks in Egypt before the Roman Era — Borings in 1851-54 — Ancient Mounds of the Valley of the Ohio — Their Antiquity — Sepulchral Mound at Santos in Brazil — Delta of the Mississippi — Ancient Human Remains in Coral Reefs of Florida — Changes in Physical Geography in the Human Period --^Buried Canoes in marine Strata near Glasgow — Upheaval since the Roman Occupation of the Shores ofthe Firth of Forth — Fossil Whales near Stirling — Upraised marine Strata of Sweden on Shores ofthe Baltic and the Ocean — Attempts to compute their Age .33 X CONTENTS.

Chapter IV. Post-pliocene Period Bones Of Man And Extinct Mammalia In Belgian

CAVERNS. Earliest Discoveries in Caves of Languedoc of Human Remains with Bones of extinct Mammalia — Researches in 1833 of Dr. Schmerling in the Liege Caverns — Scattered Portions of Human Skeletons associated with Bones of Elephant and Rhinoceros — Distribution and probable Mode of Introduction ofthe Bones — Implements of Flint and Bone — Schmerling' s Conclusions as to the Antiquity of Man ignored — Present State of the Belgian Caves — Human Bones recently found in Cave of Engihoul — Engulfed Rivers — Stalagmitic Crust — Antiquity of the Human Remains in Belgium how proved Page 69

Chapter V. Post-pliocene Period Fossil Human Skulls Of The Neanderthal And Engis

CAVES. Human Skeleton found in Cave near Dusseldorf — Its geological Position and probable Age — Its abnormal and ape-like Characters — Fossil Human Skull of the Engis Cave near Liege — Professor Huxley's Description of these Skulls — Comparison of each, with extreme Varieties of the native Australian Race — Range of Capacity in the Human and Simian Brains — Skull from Borreby in Denmark — Conclusions of Professor Huxley — Bearing of the peculiar Characters of the Neanderthal Skull on the Hypothesis of Transmutation 75

Chapter VI. Post-pliocene Alluvium And Cave Deposits With Flint Implements

General Position of Drift with extinct Mammalia in Valleys — Discoveries of M. Boucher de Perthes at Abbeville — Flint Implements found also at St. Acheul, near Amiens — Curiosity awakened by the systematic Exploration of the Brixham Cave — Flint Knives in same, with Bones of extinct Mammalia — Superposition of Deposits in the Cave — Visits of English and French Geologists to Abbeville and Amiens 93

Chapter VII. Peat And Post-pliocene Alluvium Of The Valley Of The Somme

Geological Structure of the Valley of the Somme and of the surrounding Country — Position of Alluvium of different Ages — Peat near Abbeville Its animal and vegetable Contents— Works of Art in Peat— Probable Antiquity ofthe Peat, and Changes of Level since its Growth began Flint Implements of antique Type in older Alluvium — Their various Forms and great Numbers ......... jog CONTENTS. XI

Chapter VIII. Post-pliocene Alluvium With Flint Implements Of The Valley

of the somme — concluded. Fluvio-marine Strata, with Flint Implements, near Abbeville — Marine Shells in same — Cyrena Fluminalis — Mammalia — Entire Skeleton of Rhinoceros — Flint Implements, why found low down in Fluviatile Deposits — Rivers shifting their Channels — Relative Ages of higher and lower-level Gravels — - Section of Alluvium of St. Acheul — Two Species of Elephant and Hippopotamus coexisting with Man in France — Volume of Drift, proving Antiquity of Flint Implements — Absence of Human Bones in tool-bearing Alluvium, how explained — Value of certain Kinds of negative Evidence tested thereby — Human Bones not found in drained Lake of Haarlem . . Page 121

Chapter IX. Works Of Art In Post-pliocene Alluvium Of France And England

"Flint Implements in ancient Alluvium of the Basin of the Seine — Bones of Man and of extinct Mammalia in the Cave of Arcy — Extinct Mammalia in the Valley ofthe Oise — Flint Implement in Gravel of same Valley — Works of Art in Post-Pliocene Drift in Valley of the Thames — Musk Buffalo — Meeting of northern and southern Fauna — Migrations of Quadrupeds — Mammals of Amoor Land — Chronological Relation of the older Alluvium of the Thames to the Glacial Drift — Flint Implements of Post-Pliocene Period in Surrey, Middlesex, .Kent, Bedfordshire, and Suffolk 150

Chapter X. Cavern Deposits, And Place Of Sepulture Of The Post-pliocene Period

"Flint, Implements in Cave containing Hyæna and other extinct Mammalia in Somersetshire — Caves of the Gower Peninsula in South Wales — Rhinoceros hemitœchus — Ossiferous Caves near Palermo — Sicily once part of Africa — Rise of Bed of the Mediterranean to the Height of three hundred Feet in the Human Period in Sardinia — Burial Place of Post-Pliocene Date of Aurignac in the South of France — Rhinoceros -'tichorhinus eaten by Man — M. Lartet on extinct Mammalia and Works of Art found in the Aurignac Cave — Relative Antiquity of the same, considered CONTENTS. XII chapter; xi. AGE OF HUMAN FOSSILS OF LE PUY IN CENTRAL FRANCE AND OF NATCHEZ ON THE MISSISSIPPI, DISCUSSED. Question as to the Authenticity of the Fossil Man of Denise, near Le Puy-en- Velay, considered — Antiquity of the Human Race implied by that Fossil — Successive Periods of volcanic Action in Central France — With what Changes in the Mammalian Fauna they correspond — The Elephas Meridionalis anterior in Time to the implement-bearing Gravel of St. Acheul — Authenticity of the Human Fossil of Natchez on the Mississippi, discussed — The Natchez Deposit, containing Bones of Mastodon and Megalonyx, probably not older than the Flint Implements of St. Acheul . . Page 194

Chapter XII. Antiquity Of Man Relatively To The Glacial Period And To

THE EXISTING FAUNA AND FLORA. Chronological Relation of the Glacial Period, and the earliest known Signs of Man's Appearance in Europe — Series of Tertiary Deposits in Norfolk and Suffolk immediately antecedent to the Glacial Period— Gradual Refrigeration of Climate proved by the Marine Shells of successive Groups — Marine Newer Pliocene Shells of northern Character, near Woodbridge — Section of tbe Norfolk Cliffs — Norwich Crag — Forest Bed and fluvio-marine Strata — Fossil Plants and Mammalia of the same — Overlying Boulder Clay and contorted Drift — Newer freshwater Formation of Mundesley compared to that of Hoxne — Great Oscillations of Level implied by the Series of Strata in the Norfolk Cliffs — Earliest known Date of Man long subsequent to the existing Fauna and Flora 206

Chapter XIII. Chronological Relations Of The Glacial Period And The Earliest Signs

OF MAN'S APPEARANCE IN EUROPE. Chronological Relations of the Close of the Glacial Period and the earliest geological Signs of the Appearance of Man— Effects of Glaciers and Icebergs in polishing and scoring Rocks — Scandinavia once encrusted with Ice like Greenland — Outward Movement of Continental Ice in Greenland Mild Climate of Greenland in the Miocene Period — Erratics of recent Period in Sweden — Glacial State of Sweden in the Post-Pliocene Period — Scotland formerly encrusted with Ice — Its subsequent Submergence and Re-elevation Latest Changes produced by Glaciers in Scotland— Remains of the Mammoth and Reindeer in Scotch Boulder Clay — Parallel Roads of Glen Roy formed in Glacier Lakes — Comparatively modern Date of these Shelves . CONTENTS. XIII

Chapter XIV. Chronological Relations Of The Glacial Period And The Earliest

signs of man's appearance in Europe — continued. Signs of extinct Glaciers in Wales — Great Submergence of Wales during the Glacial Period proved by Marine Shells — Still greater Depression inferred from stratified Drift — Scarcity of organic Remains in Glacial Formations — Signs of extinct Glaciers in England — Ice Action in Ireland — Maps illustrating successive Revolutions in Physical Geography during the Post- Pliocene Period — Southernmost Extent of Erratics in England — Successive Periods of Junction and Separation of England, Ireland, and the Continent — Time required for these Changes — Probable Causes of the Upheaval and Subsidence of the Earth's Crust — Antiquity of Man considered in relation to the Age of the existing Fauna and Flora .... Page 205

Chapter XV. Extinct Glaciers Of The Alps And Their Chronological Relation To

THE HUMAN PERIOD. Extinct Glaciers of Switzerland — Alpine Erratic Blocks on the Jura — Not transported by floating Ice — Extinct Glaciers of the Italian Side of the Alps — Theory of the Origin of Lake-Basins by the erosive Action of Glaciers, considered — Successive Phases in the Development of Glacial Action in the Alps — Probable Relation of these to the earliest known Date of Man — Correspondence of the same with successive Changes in the Glacial Condition of the Scandinavian and British Mountains — Cold Period in Sicily and Syria 290

Chapter XVI. Human Remains In The Loess, And Their Probable Age

Nature, Origin, and Age of the Loess of the Rhine and Danube — Impalpable Mud produced by the grinding Action of Glaciers — Dispersion of this Mud at the Period of the Retreat of the great Alpine Glaciers — Continuity of the Loess from Switzerland to the Low Countries — Characteristic organic Remains not Lacustrine — Alpine Gravel in the Valley of the Rhine covered by Loess — Geographical Distribution of the Loess and its Height above the Sea — Fossil Mammalia — Loess ofthe Danube — Oscillations in the Level of the Alps and lower Country required to explain the Formation and Denudation of the Loess — More rapid Movement of the inland Country — The same Depression and Upheaval might account for the Advance and Retreat of the Alpine Glaciers — Himalayan Mud of the Plains of the Ganges compared to European Loess — Human Remains in Loess near Maestricht, and their probable Antiquity CONTENTS.

Chapter XVII. Post-glacial Dislocations And Foldings Of Cretaceous And Drift Strata In

THE ISLAND OF MOEN, IN DENMARK. Geological Structure of the Island of Moen — Great Disturbances of the Chalk posterior in Date to the Glacial Drift, with recent Shells — M. Puggaard's Sections of tbe Cliffs of Moen — Flexures and Faults common to the Chalk and Glacial Drift — Different Direction of the Lines of successive Movement, Fracture, and Flexure — Undisturbed Condition of the Rocks in the adjoining Danish Islands — Unequal Movements of Upheaval in Finmark — Earthquake of New Zealand in 1855 — Predominance in all Ages of uniform Continental Movements over those by which the Rocks are locally convulsed Page 341

Chapter XVIII. The Glacial Period In North America

Post-glacial Strata containing Remains of Mastodon Giganteus in North America — Scarcity of Marine Shells in Glacial Drift of Canada and the United States — Greater southern Extension of Ice-action in North America than in Europe — Trains of Erratic Blocks of vast Size in Berkshire, Massachusetts — Description of their Linear Arrangement and Points of Departure — Their Transportation referred to Floating and Coast Ice — General Remarks on the Causes of former Changes of Climate at successive geological Epochs — Supposed Effects of the Diversion of the Gulf Stream in a Northerly instead of Nortb-Easterly Direction — Development of extreme Cold on the opposite Sides of the Atlantic in the Glacial Period not strictly simultaneous— Number of Species of Plants and Animals common to Preglacial and Post-glacial Times ...... 351

Chapter XIX. Recapitulation Of Geological Proofs Of Man's Antiquity

Recapitulation of Results arrived at in the earlier Chapters Ages of Stone and Bronze —Danish Peat and Kitchen-Middens— Swiss Lake-Dwellings— Local Changes in Vegetation and in the wild aDd domesticated Animals and in Physical Geography coeval with the Age of Bronze and tbe later Stone Period — Estimates of the positive Date of some Deposits of the later Stone Period — Ancient Division of the Age of Stone of St. Acheul and Aurignac — Migrations of Man in that Period from the Continent to England in Post- Glacial Times — Slow Rate of Progress in barbarous Ages — Doctrine ofthe superior Intelligence and Endowments of the original Stock of Mankind considered — Opinions of the Greeks and Romans, and their Coincidence with those of the modern Progressionist - Early Egyptian Civilisation and its Date m comparison with that of the First and Second Stone Periods CONTENTS. XV

Chapter XX. Theories Of Progression And Transmutation

Antiquity and Persistency in Character ofthe existing Races of Mankind — Theory of their Unity of Origin considered — Bearing of the Diversity of Races on the Doctrine of Transmutation — Difficulty of defining the Terms 'Species' and 'Race' — Lamarck's Introduction of the Element of Time into the Definition of a Species — His Theory of Variation and Progression — Objections to his Theory, how far answered — Arguments of modern Writers in favour of Progression in the Animal and Vegetable World — The old Landmarks supposed to indicate the first Appearance of Man, and of different Classes of Animals, found to be erroneous — Yet the Theory of an advancing Series of organic Beings not inconsistent with Facts — Earliest known Fossil Mammalia of low Grade — No Vertebrata as yet discovered in the oldest fossiliferous Rocks — Objections to the Theory of Progression considered — Causes of the Popularity of the Doctrine of Progression as compared to that of Transmutation ...... Page 385

Chapter XXI. On The Origin Of Species By Variation And Natural Selection

Mr. Darwin's Theory of the Origin of Species by Natural Selection — Memoir by Mr. Wallace — Manner in which favoured Races prevail in the Struggle for Existence — Formation of new Races by breeding — Hypothesis of definite and indefinite Modifiability equally arbitrary — Competition and Extinction of Races — Progression not a necessary Accompaniment of Variation — Distinct Classes of Phenomena which natural Selection explains — Unity of Type, rudimentary Organs, Geographical Distribution, Relation of the extinct to the living Fauna and Flora, and mutual Relations of successive Groups of Fossil Forms — Light thrown on Embryological Development by natural Selection — Why large Genera have more variable Species than small ones — Dr. Hooker on the Evidence afforded by the Vegetable Kingdom in favour of Creation by Variation — Steenstrup on alternate Generation — How far the Doctrine of independent Creation is opposed to the Laws now governing the Migration of Species .... 407

Chapter. XXII. Objections To The Hypothesis Of Transmutation Considered

Statement of Objections to the Hypothesis of Transmutation founded on the Absence of intermediate Forms — Genera of which the Species are closely ali;e(j — Occasional Discovery of the missing Links in a Fossil State — Davidson's Monograph on the Brachiopoda — Why the Gradational Forms, when found, are not accepted as Evidence of Transmutation — Gaps caused by Extinction of Races and Species — Vast Tertiary Periods during which this Extinction has been going on in the Fauna and Flora now existing — CONTENTS. Genealogical Bond between Miocene and recent Plants and Insects — Fossils of Oeninghen — Species of Insects in Britain and North America represented by distinct Varieties — Falconer's Monograph on living and fossil Elephants — Fossil Species and Genera of the Horse Tribe in North and South America — Relation of the Pliocene Mammalia of North America, Asia, and Europe — Species of Mammalia, though less persistent than the Mollusca, change slowly — Arguments for and against Transmutation derived from the Absence of Mammalia in Islands — Imperfection ofthe Geological Record — Inter calation of newly discovered Formations of intermediate Age in the chronological Series — Reference of the St. Cassian Beds to the Triassic Period — Discovery of new organic Types — Feathered Archæopteryx of the Oolite Page 424

Chapter XXIII

■ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGES AND SPECIES COMPARED. Aryan Hypothesis and Controversy — The Races of Mankind change more slowly than their Languages — Theory of the gradual Origin of Languages — Difficulty of defining what is meant by a Language as distinct from a Dialect — Great Number of extinct and living Tongues — No European Language a Thousand Years old — Gaps between Languages, how caused — Imperfection of the Record — Changes always in Progress — Struggle for Existence between Rival Terms and Dialects — Causes of Selection — Each Language formed slowly in a single geographical Area — May die out gradually or suddenly — Once lost can never be revived — Mode of Origin of Languages and Species a Mystery — Speculations as to the Number of original Languages or Species unprofitable 454

Chapter XXIV. Bearing Of The Doctrine Of Transmutation On Tiie Origin Of

MAN, AND HIS PLACE IN THE CREATION. Whether Man can be regarded as an Exception to the Rule if the Doctrine of Transmutation be embraced for the rest of the Animal Kingdom — Zoological Relations of Man to other Mammalia — Systems of Classification — Term Quadrumanous, why deceptive — Whether the Structure of the Human Brain entitles Man to form a distinct Sub-class of the Mammalia — Recent Controversy as to the Degree of Resemblance between the Brain of Man and that of the Apes — Intelligence of the lower Animals compared to the Intellect and Reason of Man — Grounds on which Man has been referred to a distinct Kingdom of Nature — Immaterial Principle common to Man and Animals — Non-discovery of intermediate Links among Fossil Anthropomorphous Species — Hallam on the compound Nature of Man, and his Place in the Creation — Dr. Asa Gray on Gradations in Nature, and on the bearing of the Doctrine of Natural Selection on Natural Theology . . .

GEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN. CHAPTEE I. INTRODUCTORY. PRELIMINARY REMARKS ON* THE SUBJECTS TREATED OP IN THIS WORK — DEFINITION OF THE TEEMS RECENT, POST-PLIOCENE, AND POST-TER TIARY — TABULAR VIEW OF THE ENTIRE SERIES OF FOSSILIFEROUS STRATA. NO subject has lately excited more curiosity and general interest among geologists and the public than the question ofthe Antiquity of the Human Eace, — whether or no we have sufficient evidence in caves, or in the superficial deposits commonly called drift or ' diluvium,' to prove the former co-existence of man with certain extinct mammalia. For the last half-century, the occasional occurrence, in va rious parts of Europe, of the bones of Man or the works of his hands, in cave-breccias and stalactites, associated with the remains of the extinct hyæna, bear, elephant, or rhinoceros, has given rise to a suspicion that the date of Man must be carried further back than we had heretofore imagined.

On the other hand, extreme reluctance was naturally felt, on the part of scientific reasoners, to admit the validity of such B PRELIMINARY REMARKS. chap. I. evidence, seeing that so many caves have been inhabited by a succession of tenants, and have been selected by Man, as a place not only of domicile, but of sepulture, while some caves have also served as the channels through which the waters of occasional land-floods or engulfed rivers have flowed, so that the remains of living beings which have peopled the district at more than one era may have subse quently been mingled in such caverns and confounded together in one and the same deposit. But the facts brought to light in 1858, during the systematic investigation of the Brixham cave, near Torquay in Devonshire, which will be described in the sequel, excited anew the curiosity of the British public, and prepared the way for a general admission that scepticism in regard to the bearing of cave evidence in favour of the antiquity of Man had previously been pushed to an extreme.

Since that period, many of the facts formerly adduced in favour of the co-existence in ancient times of Man with certain species of mammalia long since extinct have been re-examined in England and on the Continent, and new cases bearing on the satae question, whether relating to caves or to alluvial strata in valleys, have been brought to light. To qualify myself for the appreciation and discussion of these cases, I have visited, in the course of the last three years, many parts of England, France, and Belgium, and have communicated personally or by letter with not a few of the geologists, English and foreign, .who have taken part in these researches.. Besides explaining in the present volume the results of this enquiry, I shall give a description of the glacial formations of Europe and North America, that I may allude to the theories entertained respecting their orioin, and consider their probable relations in a chronological point of view to the human epoch, and why throughout a great part of the northern hemisphere they so often interpose an abrupt CHAP. I, SUBJECTS TREATED OF IN THIS WORK. 3 barrier to all attempts to trace farther back into the past the signs of the existence of Man upon the earth.

In the concluding chapters I shall offer a few remarks on the recent modifications of the Lamarckian theory of pro gressive development and transmutation, which are suggested by Mr. Darwin's work on the ' Origin of Species, by Variation and Natural Selection,' and the bearing of this hypothesis on the different races of mankind and their con nection with other parts of the animal kingdom. Nomenclature. — Some preliminary explanation of the nomenclature adopted in the following pages will be indispensable, that the meaning attached to the terms Eecent, Post-pliocene, and Post-tertiary may be correctly understood. Previously to the year 1833, when I published the third volume of the ' Principles of Geology,' the strata called Tertiary had been divided by geologists into Lower, Middle, and Upper ; the Lower comprising the oldest formations of the environs of Paris and London, with others of like age ; the Middle, those of Bordeaux and Touraine ; and the Upper, all that lay above or were newer than the last-mentioned group.

"When engaged, in 1828, in preparing for the press the treatise on geology above alluded to, I conceived the idea of classing the whole of this series of strata according to the different degrees of affinity which their fossil testacea bore to the living fauna. Having obtained information on this subject during my travels on the Continent, I learnt that M. Deshayes of Paris, already celebrated as a conchologist, had been led independently, by the study of a large collection of recent and fossil shells, to very similar views respecting the possibility of arranging the tertiary formations in chrono logical order, according to the proportional number of species of shells identical with living ones, which characterised each of the successive groups above mentioned. After comparing 3000 fossil species with 5000 living ones, the result arrived at E DEFINITION OF THE TERMS CHAP. I. was, that in the lower tertiary strata, there were about 3§ per cent, identical with recent; in the middle tertiary (the faluns of the Loire and Gironde), about 1 7 per cent. ; and in the upper tertiary, from 35 to 50, and sometimes in the most modern beds as much as 90 to 95 per cent.

For the sake of clearness and brevity, I proposed to give short technical names to these sets of strata, or the periods to which they respectively belonged. I called the first or oldest of them Eocene, the second Miocene, and the third Pliocene. The first of the above terms, Eocene, is derived from ijtoj eds, dawn, and xaivo'j kainos, recent ; because an extremely small proportion of the fossil shells of this period could be referred to living species, so that this era seemed to indicate the dawn of the present testaceous fauna, no living species of shells having been detected in the antecedent or secondary rocks. Some conchologists are now unwilling to allow that any Eocene species of shell has really survived to our times so unaltered as to allow of its specific identification with a living species.

I cannot enter in this place into this wide controversy. It is enough at present to remark, that the character of the Eocene fauna, as contrasted with that of the antecedent secondary formations, wears a very modern aspect, and that some able living conchologists still maintain that there are Eocene shells not specifically distinguishable from those now extant; though they may be fewer in number than was supposed in 1833. The term Miocene (from peicov meion, less; and xaivo'j kainos, recent) is intended to express a minor proportiori of recent species (of testacea) ; the term Pliocene (from ttAsiW pleion, more; and xulvo; kainos, recent), a comparative plurality of the same. It has sometimes been objected to this nomenclature that certain species of infusoria found in the chalk are still existing, and, on the other hand, the Miocene and Older RECENT, POST-PLIOCENE, AND POST-TERTIARY.

CHAP. I. 5 Pliocene deposits often contain the remains of mammalia, reptiles, and fish, exclusively of extinct species. But the reader must bear in mind that the terms Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene were originally invented with reference purely to conchological data, and in that sense have always been and are still used by me. Since the first introduction of the terms above defined, the number of new living species of shells obtained from different parts of the globe has been exceedingly great, supplying fresh data for comparison, and enabling the paleontologist to correct many erroneous identifications of fossil and recent forms. New species also have been collected in abundance from tertiary formations of every age, while newly discovered groups of strata have filled up gaps in the previously known series.

Hence modifications and reforms have been called for in the classification first proposed. The Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene periods have been made to comprehend certain sets of strata of which the fossils do not always conform strictly in the proportion of recent to extinct species with the definitions first given by me, or which are implied in the etymology of those terms. These innovations have been treated of in my ' Elements or Manual of Elementary Geology,' and in the Supplement to the fifth edition of the same, published in 1859, where some modifications of my classification, as first proposed, are introduced ; but I need not dwell on these on the present occasion, as the only formations with which we shall be concerned in the present volume are those of the most modern date, or the Post-tertiary.

It will be convenient to divide these into two groups, the Eecent and the Post-pliocene. In the Eecent we may comprehend those deposits in which not only all the shells but all the fossil mammalia are of living species ; in the Post-pliocene those strata in which, the shells being recent, a portion, and often a considerable one, of the accompanying DEFINITION OF TERMS. CHAP. I. 6 fossil quadrupeds belongs to extinct species. I am aware that it may be objected, with some justice, to this nomenclature, that the term Post-pliocene ought in strictness to include all geological monuments posterior in date to the Pliocene ; but when I have occasion to speak of these in the aggregate, I shall call them Post-tertiary, and reserve the term Post pliocene exclusively for Lower Post-pliocene, the Upper Post pliocene formations being called ' Eecent.' Cases will occur where it may be scarcely possible to draw the line of demarcation between the Newer Pliocene and Post pliocene, or between the latter and the recent deposits ; and we must expect these difficulties to increase rather than diminish with every advance in our knowledge, and in proportion as gaps are filled up in the series of geological records.

In 1839 I proposed the term Pleistocene as an abbreviation for Newer Pliocene, and it soon became popular, because adopted by the late Edward Forbes in his admirable essay on ' The Geological Eelations of the existing Fauna and Flora of the British Isles;'* but he applied the term almost precisely in the sense in which I shall use Post-pliocene in this volume, and not as short for Newer Pliocene. In order to prevent confusion, I think it best entirely to abstain from the use of Pleistocene in future; I have found that the introduction of such a fourth name (unless restricted solely to the older Post-tertiary formations) must render the use of Pliocene, in its original extended sense, impossible, and it is often almost indispensable to have a single term to compre hend both divisions of the Pliocene period.

The annexed tabular view of the whole series of fossiliferous strata will enable the reader to see at a glance the chronological relation ofthe Eecent and Post-pliocene to the ante cedent periods. * Geological Relations of the Survey of Great Britain, vol. i. p. 336. existing Fauna and Flora of the London, 1846.) British Isles. (Memoirs of Geological TABULAR VIEW OF FOSSILIFEROUS STRATA. 7 CHAP. I. ABRIDGED GENERAL TABLE OF FOSSILIFEROUS STRATA 1. RECENT. ) [ POST-TERTIARY. 2. POST-PLIOCENE. J 3. NEWER PLIOCENE. 1 I PLIOCENE. \ 1h O 4. OLDER PLIOCENE. f 1 S i=i 3 o 5. UPPER MIOCENE. ■, 5 •- N I MIOCENE. r £-< °? 6. LOWER MIOCENE. pj !z< pa 5 7. UPPER EOCENE. . J O 8. MIDDLE EOCENE. [ EOCENE. 9. LOWER EOCENE. 10. MAESTRICHT BEDS. II. UPPER WHITE CHALK. 12. LOWER WHITE CHALK. S 13. UPPER GREENSAND. |» CRETACEOUS. -, O I w 14.