In the Pleistocene six glacial and five in terglacial stages have been distinguished of which, however, only the second (the Kansan of America) and third (corresponding to the Wisconsin) deserve special mention. At the time of its largest extension the Scandinavian glacier reached the northern foot of the Mit telgebirge from the lower Rhine southeast ward into Silesia. The terminal moraines are well developed along this line and the whole lowland is covered with till and strewn with erratic boulders. Another inland glacier stretched northward from the Alps, covering the Bavarian plateau with its moraine mate rial. The Black and Bohemian Forests and the Sudeten (Riesengebirge) had local glaciers of smaller size.
Palaeontology.— The geological description indicates the old faunas and floras. Special mention deserve: Devonian : Eifel limestones : Brachiopods, crinoids, corals.
The Rotliegende of Chemnitz: cycads, coni fers, especially treeferns; of the Saar valley and the Plauen Grand (Dresden) : Stegoce phales (larva and adults).
Zechstein shales of Mansfeld: Ganoid fishes.
Buntsandstein rocks have few fossils but contain footprints of various animals (Thurin gia, Franconia).
Muschelkalk limestone (Thuringia, Wiirt temberg) are packed full with fossils, few spe cies, many specimens: molluscs, besides brachi opods, ammonites, crinoids. Terebratula vul garis is very common, the stalks of Encrinus form whole beds. Ceratites nodosus, practically confined to Germany, is common everywhere.
Keuper sandstones of Wurttemberg: well preserved amphibia and reptilia; gigantic Mas todonsaurus, Capitosaurus; huge Belodon, Zancloden. Famous is a slab with 24 speci mens of Aetosaurus (Stuttgart Museum).
The Jurassic rocks, especially of Swabia and Franconia, show a marvelous wealth of beauti fully preserved fossils of all kinds; sponges, corals, jelly-fish, sea-urchins, crinoids, brachio pods, molluscs (ammonites and belenmites es pecially), crustaceans, insects, many fishes (ga noids especially), and above all the reptiles: Ichthyosaurus, Plesiosaurus, Teleosaurus, the Pterosaures, the unique Campsognathus, finally the two specimens of Archaeopteryx so far known. Holzmaden (Wurttemberg), Solnhofen and Eichstatt (Bavaria) are the famous lo calities. The finds fill the collections of Banz, Stuttgart, Munich, Berlin. Tiibingen has a slab (15 X 24 feet) with 24 Pentacrinies (some measure three feet across).
The flora of the Wealden formation (north western Germany) looks like Jurassic.
Suddenly the dicotyledons appear in the upper Cretaceous beds.
The Tertiary climate was warm, the flora had a tropical or subtropical character. Dur ing the Oligocene epoch corals could grow. The dense forests and swamps resembled those of Florida and Louisiana of to-day, although plants of a former more Indo-Australian flora survived: Conifers (sequoias, cypresses), ever green oaks, gardenias, fig trees, cinnamon trees, palms, magnolias, laurels, but also poplars, alders. Several oscillations during the Oli gocwne and Miocwne favored the formation of extensive soft coal measures. The amber (East Prussia), the fossil resin of pines and especially one spruce (Picea Engleri) contains a rich in sect fauna related to those of North America and East Asia of to-day.
The Miocxne flora much resembled the modern North American and Japanese floras: sequoias, bamboo, palms, laurels, camphor and cinnamon trees, fig trees, evergreen oaks, chest nuts, magnolias, myrtles, acacias, mimosas; but also poplars, maples, elms, walnuts, hazel nuts, willows, birches. The fauna likewise shows many specimens found now only in warm coun tries: elephants, Mastodon, Dinotherium, Rhi noceros, Hippopotamus, tapirs, antelopes, mon keys, together with wild boars, deer, large and small carnivores, and the ancestral forms of the horse.
In the Pliocxne epoch the climate became temperate, animals and plants resembled those of modern North America.
The ice masses of the Pleistocame advanced and many animals and plants were extermi nated, some, however, adapted themselves. The narrow belt finally left between the north ern and southern ice sheets had an arctic fauna and flora that had come in from the north. The glacial and interglacial periods caused plants and animals to migrate back and forth. Survivors of the Tertiary were: Hippopotamus, hairy elephants, the mammoth, hairy rhinoce roses; arctic forms: the musk-ox, reindeer, lemming; others: horses, deer, fallow deer, elks, the aurochs, the urus, wild boars, bears, tigers, hyenas. The ice retreated, a wide pla teauland or rolling country was exposed. Ani mals and plants found to-day in the steppe of southeastern Russia and southwestern Siberia came in and mixed with the others: jerboas, bobacs, marmots, altaic gophers, voles, calling hares, ermines, the Saiga antelope, wild horses, bustards.