Large Fossil Horns, in Essex. 163 



bundance of these remains, undoubtedly referrible to a period considerably 

 nearer the present era, than that during which any one of the above-named 

 formations were deposited. 



In the absence of more definite information from Mr. Clarke, these ob- 

 servations will probably apply to the inland locality, Tattingstone. The 

 bones were doubtless found in the quarry, but not, therefore, in the crag. — 

 At this spot the red crag- has been cut through, and the coralline reached; 

 the whole being capped by a thick covering of sand and pebbles, probably 

 of the same age as the common diluvium of the county, but the junction of 

 which with the beds beneath, it is, perhaps, impossible to define; a circum- 

 stance which might readily occasion a casual visitor to suppose, that mam- 

 malian remains occurring in the upper part of the quarry, belonged to the 

 crag, more especially if, like Mr. Clarke, he laboured under the impression 

 that such remains are abundant in this formation. 



In stating that bones of terrestrial Mammalia do not occur in the red and 

 coralline crag, we simply put forward the result of some years' intimate ac- 

 quaintance with the tertiary deposits of Essex and Suffolk, particularly of 

 those localities mentioned by Mr. Clarke, a result confirmed by the expe- 

 rience of all geological observers in that part of the country, whose cabi- 

 nets we have had the opportunity of consulting, or with whom we have had 

 personal intercourse. Under these circumstances we feel sure that Mr. 

 Clarke will admit the probability of his having entertained an erroneous o- 

 pinion, unless he is quite satisfied, that a bone, taken by himself from an 

 undisturbed bed of crag, has been positively identified as that of some ter- 

 restrial mammiferous animal. — EdJ] 



Discovery of a large pair of fossil horns in Essex. — Though 

 the geological features of the county of Essex may not be of 

 that highly interesting character, exhibited by the mining 

 districts of England; and though the facts respecting the phy- 

 sical history of our planet are not developed in such quick 

 succession here, as they are found to be in some localities, 

 owing in a great measure, to the mineral properties of our 

 tertiary beds, not being of that quality to warrant expensive 

 excavations ; still as the constant action of the sea upon the 

 blue clay cliffs of our coast, washes those cliffs down, and 

 brings to our notice the fossils which they have so long con- 

 cealed, or if by any of our artificial removals of soil, those re- 

 lics are brought to light, the facts are as worthy of being re- 

 corded, as if the organic remains were of still higher antiquity. 



I am induced to make these observations, by my having 

 just received from a friend the two bony portions (commonly 

 called the core, or slug of the horn), of the interior of a pair 

 of very large horns of the ox, lately discovered at Clacton, on 

 the Essex coast, about 10 miles south of Walton. They were 

 found in a mass of drift sand, overlying the London clay, and 

 in consequence of the cliffs slipping down, they were disen- 

 tombed : many portions of the skull were found with them, 

 and the os frontis was attached to them. By measurement, 

 I find them to be three feet long on the outer curve, from the 

 base to their tips ; they are curved about 8 inches, and are 



