The southern group consists of the following animals:-- Lion. Caffir Cat. Spotted Hyæna. Striped Hyæna. Serval. Hippopotamus. African Elephant. Porcupine. At the present day the lion ranges over the whole of Africa, with the exception of Egypt and the Cape Colony, whence it has been driven out by the hand of man. In Asia, the maneless variety inhabits the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates, and the districts bordering on the Persian Gulf; and in India, according to Mr. Blyth, the province of Kattywar in Guzerat. Although now only found in these hot regions, it is proved, by the concurrent testimony of Herodotus, Aristotle, Xenophon, Ælian, and Pausanias, to have inhabited the mountains of Thrace, and of Asia Minor, and it probably became extinct in Europe before the end of the first century after Christ.[259] We may therefore infer that it possessed a sufficient elasticity of constitution to endure a considerable degree of cold, although its present distribution implies that it is better fitted to thrive in a tropical than in a cold climate. The Caffir cat (_Felis caffer_ of Desmarest) is an African species, which has been discovered by Mr. Ayshford Sanford and myself, in Somersetshire; it also occurs in the caves of Germany, France, and Gibraltar. The spotted hyæna now lives only in South Africa, while the striped species ranges through Africa and the warmer regions of Asia. It was extremely rare in Europe in the pleistocene age, and has not been identified in any deposit further north than Lunelviel, in southern France. The hippopotamus, now found only in middle and southern Africa, is proved by its fossil remains to have formerly dwelt in the region of the Lower Nile, as well as in Algeria. The serval and African elephant have been found in the Iberian peninsula, and the latter in Sicily. The evidence afforded by the animals, as to the pleistocene climate of those portions of Europe which they inhabited, differs considerably in point of value, but on the whole indicates that it was temperate, or comparatively hot; for although the elasticity of constitution which we know to have been possessed by the lion, was probably shared by the spotted hyæna, it is very unlikely that so aquatic an animal as the hippopotamus could have ranged from southern Europe, as far north as Yorkshire, under any other than temperate conditions. It could not have endured a winter sufficiently severe to cover the rivers with a thick coating of ice, without having its present habits profoundly modified; and such an alteration of habits would certainly leave its mark, in other modifications in the fossil skeleton than those minute differences which have been observed, when it is compared with that of the living _Hippopotamus amphibius_. The porcupine of southern Europe has been found as far north as the caves of Belgium (Schmerling). _The Northern Group._