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NUMBER 89 161
and the French Alps {L. m. helveticus Thienemann). Fossil
samples are from similarly scattered locations. Figure 1 gives
the geographical position within Europe of the various fossil
localities. An attempt also has been made to examine the species
through time, and the approximate ages of the samples are
detailed in Table 2.
A brief comment about the chronological framework is
worth making because there are problems with correlating
Pleistocene fossiliferous deposits across Europe that are too old
for C-14 dating. The "Rissian" age quoted for the La Fage site
(Chaline, 1975) is best interpreted as middle Pleistocene (oxygen
isotope stage 6 or 8) because there is no general agreement
as to the correlation of the Alpine stages with the detailed oxygen-isotope
chronology derived from deep-sea cores (Shackleton
and Opdyke, 1973). This more recently developed chronology
has shown the Alpine scheme to be oversimplified, and
more interglacial and glacial phases are now recognized, implying
that sites described as Rissian, for example, include
ones from different cold stages (Bridgland, 1994). Within the
northern European scheme, the Westbury-sub-Mendip sample,
from the rodent stratum (Andrews, 1990), is regarded as referable
to the early Anglian/Elsterian and probably equivalent to
oxygen isotope stage 12 (A.P. Currant, The Natural History
Museum, London, pers. comm., 1996). The Rebielice Krolewskie
material is late Pliocene in age according to the Mammal
Neogene (MN) chronology (Mein, 1990; Bocheriski, 1991).
The method of measurement for all skeletal elements of Lagopus
are as detailed in Kraft (1972) and were taken to the
nearest 0.02 mm with slide calipers.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I owe a great dept of gratitude to Adrian Lister, who has both
helped and influenced my work. I also thank Fred Owen, Simon
Parfitt, Fran Hernandez Carrasquilla, and Robert Moss for helpful
discussions concerning this study. Andy Currant and Roger
Jacobi provided useful information concerning the ages of sites
that have not yet been fully published. Thanks also are due to
FIGURE 1.—Distribution of sites containing important faunas of Lagopus mentioned in the text. (P=Pin Hole
Cave; M=Merlin's Cave; W=Westbury-sub-Mendip.)