Although we have no direct evidence to prove that a long interglacial epoch of mild conditions immediately preceded the advent of our local ice-sheets and large valley-glaciers, yet the indirect evidence is so strong that we seem driven to admit that such must have been the case. To show this I must briefly recapitulate what is now known as to the glacial succession on the Continent. It has been ascertained, then, that the Scandinavian ice has invaded the low-grounds of Germany on two separate occasions, which are spoken of by Continental geologists as the "first" and "second" glacial epochs. The earlier of these was the epoch of maximum glaciation, when the inland ice flowed south into Saxony, and overspread a vast area between the borders of the North Sea and the base of the Ural Mountains. This ice-sheet unquestionably coalesced with the _mer de glace_ of the British Islands. Its bottom-moraine and the associated fluvio-glacial detritus are known in Germany as "Lower Diluvium," and the various phenomena connected with it clearly show that the inland-ice radiated outwards from the high-grounds of Scandinavia. The terminal front of that vast _mer de glace_ is roughly indicated by a line drawn from the south coast of Belgium round the north base of the Harz, and by Leipzig and Dresden to Krakow, thence north-east to Nijnii Novgorod, and further north to the head-waters of the Dvina and the shores of the Arctic Sea near the Tcheskaia Gulf. The lower diluvium is covered in certain places by interglacial deposits and an overlying upper diluvium--a succession clearly indicative of climatic changes. In the interglacial beds occur remains of _Elephas antiquus_ and other Pleistocene mammals, and a flora which denotes a genial temperate climate. One of the latest discoveries of interglacial remains is that of two peat-beds lying between the lower and upper diluvium near Grünenthal in Holstein.[CA] Among the abundant plant-relics are pines and firs (no longer indigenous to Schleswig-Holstein), aspen, willow, white birch, hazel, hornbeam, oak, and juniper. Associated with these are _Ilex_ and _Trapa natans_, the presence of which, as Dr. Weber remarks, betokens a climate like that of western middle Germany. Amongst the plants is a water-lily, which occurs also in the interglacial beds of Switzerland, but is not now found in Europe. The evidence furnished by this and other interglacial deposits in north Germany shows that, after the ice-sheet of the lower diluvium had melted away, the climate became as temperate as that now experienced in Europe. Another recent find of the same kind[CB] is the "diluvial" peat, etc., of Klinge, in Brandenburg, described by Professor Nehring. These beds have yielded remains of elk (_Cervus alces_), rhinoceros (species not determined), a small fox (?), and Megaceros. This latter is not the typical great Irish deer, but a variety (_C. megaceros_, var. _Ruffii_, Nehring). The plant-remains