I ^
•u CRANIA BRITANNICA. [CHAP. V.
CHAPTER V.
HISTORICAL ETHNOLOGY OF BRITAIN.
Britanniam qui mortales initio coluerint, indigent an advecti, ut inter barbaros, parum compertum.
TACITUS, De A^it. Agric., cap. xi.
THE consideration of the Historical Ethnology of a country naturally suggests a previous inquiry
as to its inhabitants in the pre-historic period, and also as to those revolutions in physical geography,
which may have more immediately preceded the appeai-ance of man, both as regards the
condition of the surface of the earth and the animals which existed on it.
1. GEOLOGICAL AND PAL^IONTOLOGICAL PRELIMINARIES.
It is now generaUy admitted that the plants and animals which cover the surface of the globe
are to be regai-ded as forming groups, each having a specific centre, from and around which,
within limits determined by natural laws as to chmate, temperatui-e, &c., the several species
have been diffused. The plants and animals composing the flora and fauna of the British Islands
are however not peculiar to them, but are almost without exception identical with those of
different parts of the continent of Eui-ope; and thus the existence of a specific centre for the
isolated area of these islands, or in other words, any special creation of plants and animals
within their limits, cannot with any probability be admitted.
The late distinguished Professor E. Eorbes, by a remarkably happy example of philosophical
induction, has shown, that the terrestrial animals and floweriug plants now inhabiting these
islands must have migrated liither over continuous land, which in the course of subsequent
geological changes was destroyed; and that this diGFusion by migration occupied extended
periods of time, having various climatal conditions, before, during and after the great Glacial
epoch*. The characteristic and aU the universaHy distributed plants and animals of these
islands belong to the Central European fawna and flora, or great Germanic type. But in addition
to this, the prevailing, it is shown that there are the remains of no fewer than four other
floras occupying more or less limited areas in Britaia, and each having its specific centre in some
part of the continent of Europe. Three of these belong to more southern, the fourth to a more
northern latitude or isotherme. The most ancient of oui- floras. Professor Eorbes considers to be
only pecuhar to the west and south-west of Ireland, and which is shown to be identical with
that of the north of Spain; a geological union or close approximation with which country, seems
to be the only method of explaining the presence of so characteristic a flora, including the
hardier Saxifrages and Heaths of the Asturias, and such plants as Arabis ciliata, Finguicula
grandiflora, and Arhutm unedo. The isolation of this West Irish flsra, or Asturian type,
probably took place by the destruction of the intermediate land in the glacial period. No traces
of any associated fauna remain.
* On the Connexion between the Distribution of the
existing Fauna and Flora of the British Isles, and the Geological
Changes which have affected their Area. By Edward
Forbes, F.R.S. &c. — Memoirs, Geological Survey, vol. i.
1841), p. ,336.
CHAP. V.] HISTORICAL ETHNOLOGY OE BRITAIN. 45
The next of these floras is limited to the south-west of England and south-east of
Ireland, and is undoubtedly a relic of that of the Channel Isles and the adjacent provinces
of Erance. This, the Devon flora, or Norman type, is part of that of the south of Europe.
With it are also a few terrestrial moUusca, Helix pisana, &c., evidently derived from the
same source.
The third of these limited subfloras is that giving a character to the south-east of England,
—Kent, and the adjacent counties, particularly the chalk districts. It is evidently derived
from the northern provinces of Erance; and, as no doubt can be entertained of the ancient
tmion of the two sides of the Channel, the course of its migration to Britain is sufiiciently
obvious. With this Kentish flora, or North Erench type, aie also found several terrestrial
moUusca of the same climatal stamp, as the edible snail, Selix pomatia, and other species
of the genera Helix, Clausilia and Biilimus, and which clearly belong to the corresponding
southern fauna.
It seems clearly probable that these three subfloras were communicated to the British Islands
in " the genial times preceding the glacial epoch." Dm-ing the same period likewise the fauna
was in great part identical with that of much warmer latitudes. Species of the Lion, Tiger,
Hysena and Bear ; of the Rhinoceros, Elephant and Hippopotamus; of the Wolf, Deer, Ox and
Horse, very similar to, but generally distinct from the existing species, were common in these
islands. A vast change however occurred; the surface subsided, and a great glacial ocean gradually
overspread the land. The temperature was much lowered, and many species of plants and
animals became extinct or were driven to the south. The glacial ocean, however, did not cover
the whole of the land; the higher mountain ridges of Scotland, Cumbria and Wales remained
uncovered, and the land of Britain was everywhere reduced to a series of islands. It is in these
mountain districts, that we find the remains of a fourth subflora identical with that of Scandinavia,
and which must have migrated from its specific centre in the extreme north of Europe.
Associated with it are traces of a Scandinavian fauna, presented by the Ptarmigan, Capercailzie
and Alpine Hare. These mountain districts, hke those of Scandinavia, are characterized by the
absence of any peculiar terrestrial moUusca. Some have thought that the high lands of North
Britain were at this time and previously continuous with the mountains of Norway, and in this
way the migration of an Alpine flora and fauna, or Scandinavian type, may be most easily
accounted for. Should this view be rejected, the method of transport by icebergs in the great
glacial sea no doubt affords an adequate explanation.
After a long period, the bed of the glacial ocean was gradually elevated, the island peaks
studding the icy seas became mountains, and the temperature at the same time was raised.
The bed of what is now the German Ocean and Irish Channel participating in this elevation,
what are now the British Islands became for a time, probably a long time, part of the continent.
In this way the migration to Britain, of its prevailing flora and fauna, became possible. The
majority of the j)lants and animals common to the country are certainly of a Germanic, or
central European type, and have habitudes, as to climate and temperatui-e, intermediate to those
of the fii'st three subfloras and faunas of the south and west, and those of the Alpine districts of
North Britain and Wales. At the same time that the land was gradually receiving its prevaUing
fauna and flora, some of the pre-glacial pachydermata and carnivora appear to have returned for
a time; though the animals, the remains of which we meet with in the earher post-glacial
strata, in peat, marsh, buried forests, and lacustrine deposits, are, principally, the great Irish
Elk, Cervus megaceros, the Bos longifrons, the Beaver, the Bear, the Red and Fallow Deer, and
H