Femur 



166 Dr. R. P. Cotton on the Pliocene Deposits 



number of the bones being in sand, a humerus, tibia, portions of 

 femur and tusks, some bones of the carpus, one metacarpal bone, 

 a patella, and the teeth could only be preserved, and these are in 

 my possession. I have obtained several bones of the Bos primi- 

 genius, including the head and horns, from what appeared to be 

 the entire skeleton, and the lower and part of the upper jaw of a 

 Rhinoceros ; several teeth of the young Elephant, one of which 

 had only just cut the gum, are in my collection, besides a canine 

 tooth and metacarpal bone of a Bear, the lower jaw and several 

 teeth of the Beaver, and portions of three lower jaws of the Irish 

 Elk. The following table shows the size of three bones of the 

 Mammoth, and a comparison with those of the Mastodon and 

 recent Elephant : — 



Mammoth. Elephant. Mastodon, 

 ft. in. ft. in. ft. in. 



("Length 3 6 3 3 6£ 



Humerus \ Width of condyles 11 11 11 



I Diameter of head 10 7 10 



J Circumference of head 110 1 8 111 



* \ Length of outer condyle ...0 10 8 10* 



Patella / Len g th ° 6 ° 5 * ° 7 



rdteJla '"T. Width 4 3 6 



The large Elephant in the collection at the College of Surgeons, 

 and the Mastodon in the British Museum, were selected for com- 

 parison. It is seen from the above how much larger was the 

 Ilford Elephant than its modern representative, and how little 

 inferior in size to the gigantic Mastodon, which it probably even 

 sometimes exceeded, as I have seen fragments from bones appa- 

 rently much larger than those in my collection. From a similar 

 comparison of the bones of the Bos primigenius with the recent 

 Ox, I have ascertained that those in my possession belonged to 

 an animal more than one-half as large again as the largest living 

 species I could measure. The Rhinoceros leptorhinus appears to 

 have been a small animal, not larger than the living one from 

 Sumatra, and much inferior in size to the Indian, with both of 

 which I have compared several fossil specimens ; the R. tichorhinus 

 has not yet been found at Ilford, and seems almost limited to 

 the caves. The absence of carnivora, as the Tiger, Lion and 

 Hysena, in these deposits is remarkable : amongst the hundreds 

 of bones already examined, not one belonging to these animals 

 has yet been discovered ; it is possible that they may not then 

 have existed in such numbers, or borne the same proportion to 

 the herbivora, as at present, or were generally able to avoid being 

 submerged with their less active contemporaries by escaping to the 

 hills, where their remains might soon become decomposed, or de- 

 stroyed by other carnivora, or within fissures and caves, which are 

 known to have often served them both as dwellings and tombs. 



The nodules termed by the brickmakers " race " are of various 



