re could have existed no mountains to speak of. The climate was
mild and damp. Now as the country rose, and a formidable mountain range
took the place of a hilly island, the whole fauna was lifted up and
transferred to entirely different conditions. A modification of their
structure to suit the new surroundings was therefore to be anticipated,
and that is exactly what occurred, though not in all cases.

Take, for example, the goats which are of Asiatic origin. Every one has
heard of the "Steinbock,"--the Alpine mountain goat (_Capra
ibex_)--though very few have seen it in its native haunts, where it is
now on the verge of extinction. A closely allied species (_Capra
sibirica_) inhabits the Altai and Himalayan Mountains; a third species
(_Capra sinaitica_) lives in Palestine, and has entered Egypt by way of
the Sinaitic peninsula. Another (_C. aegagrus_) occurs in Asia Minor,
Persia, the island of Crete, and some of the Cyclades. This exemplifies
what I remarked in the last chapter about the former land-connection
between Greece and the Asiatic continent. Finally, we have the Pyrenean
Goat (_Capra pyrenaica_), which is found in the Pyrenees, the higher
ranges of Central Spain, in Andalusia, and Portugal, thus indicating
that it probably reached the Spanish peninsula from the south by means
of the old Sicilo-Algerian highway, especially as remains of the species
occur in the cave deposits of Gibraltar. The ancestors of the goat-like
Antelope--known as the Chamois (_Rupicapra tragus_)--no doubt also came
from Asia. The genus is not represented there, but _Nemorhoedus_ and
_Budorcas_ are allied Asiatic genera, while the Rocky Mountain Goat
(_Haploceros montanus_) also has certain affinities with the Chamois.
Besides the Alps, the latter occurs in the Caucasus and the Pyrenees.
The Alpine Marmot (_Arctomys marmotta_) is sometimes quoted as owing its
origin to the Siberian pleistocene migration, but it does not occur in
Siberia now, nor is there any palaeontological evidence that it was ever
found there. The genus _Arctomys_ is an ancient Asiatic genus, to judge
from its general range. Only two species occur in Europe, one of which,
the true Siberian Marmot (_A. bobac_), just enters our continent in the
east--or rather, it is one of those species which came to us in
pleistocene times and are now gradually retreating towards their native
land. The genus, however, is probably not of Siberian origin. No less
than seven other spec