410 THE BLAOKMORE MUSEUM. 



Modern bone-<irmed weapons — British Guiana, New Guinea, Islands of the Pacific, 



Esquimaux, &c. 

 Modem iron-armed weapons — Africa, &c. 

 Personal ornaments, fisliin}i:-tackle, &c., made from seeds, shell, bone, horn, ivory — 



New Zealand, Islands of the Pacific, Esquimaux, «fcc. 

 Clubs, spears, paddles, &(i. — New Zealand, Australia, New Guinea, Islands of the 



Pacific, British Guinea, Esquimaux, &c. 



Fauna of the Drift. 



The collection commences with remains of those (chiefly) extinct animals found 

 in beds of sand, clay, or gravel, which cap hills, occur in patches on their sides, 

 or constitute the sub-stratum of valleys in certain districts. For the purpose of 

 this notice it may be sufficient to state that these beds are popularly known as 

 ''the Drift," and that the materials forming them have been derived from the 

 wearing-down by water of the neighboring up-stream district. This wearing- 

 down does not appear to have been entirely or even chiefly due to ordinary river 

 action, but it was probably effected, in great degree, by torrents arising from the 

 thawing of ice and snow, which accumulated under more rigorous conditions as 

 to climate than is experienced in the same localities within the historic period. 



In the series from our local drift (brick-earth) at Fisherton, attention is par- 

 ticularly called to some unique remains of one species of pouched marmot {Sper- 

 mophUus stiperciliosus.) From a careful examination of several skeletons of 

 these little rodents, it appears that the animals all perished during their winter's 

 sleep — each being in the usual position assumed during hybernation. Possibly 

 in this we see the effect of some unusually high flood. There are also exhibited 

 remains of two species of lemming, (Lemmus torquatus and L. Norvegicus,) 

 likewise unique in beds of this age. In the collection are portions of egg-shells 

 from the brick-earth at Fisherton : these are unique. 



AECnJiOLITniC PEIUOD. 



Flint implements from the Drift. 



The interest felt in '' the Drift" aiises chiefly from the fact that in it are 

 found implements made by the simple processes of flaking and chipping, which 

 afford the first evidence we possess of man's existence upon the earth. The 

 series of these implements in the Blackmore Museum is extensive and good, 

 particularly so as regards those obtained from the drift of England, at Thetford, 

 Icklingham, Bury St. Edmunds, and nearer Salisbury, at Hill Head, (near 

 Farehani,) Bournemouth, Fordingbridge, and Lake, as well as those found close 

 to this city, at Bemerton, and "jMilford Hill. Mr. Evans, F.ll.S., of Hemel 

 Hempsted'; Mr. Flower, F.G-.S., of Croydon; Mr. Wheaton, of Salisbury ; and 

 ;Mr. Toomer, also of this city, have contributed specimens. Many of the local 

 flint implements collected by Mr. James Brown, and the important collectioa 

 formed by Mr, Henry Prigg, jr., of Bury St. Edmunds, are also included in 

 this series. 



Cave series. 



These objects consist of flint scrapers and implements — of harpoons carved 

 from antlers of the reindeer — of bone needles — and of pieces of bone and 

 horn upon which animals and other objects have been delineated. The speci- 

 mens exhibited from the Dordogne caves (France) were chiefly presented by the 

 trustees of the Christy jMuseum, London, and by M. Lartet, of Paris ; many of 

 the rarer specimens are represented by casts, the originals being in the museum 

 at St. Germain. The specimens from the caves of the Pyrenees were obtained 

 during excavations conducted by Dr. Garrigou, of Tarascon, at the expense of 

 Mr. Blackmore ; whilst the series from the caves at Gibraltar was presented by 

 Colonel Henry Hope Crealock (Vienna) and Captain Bronie, (Gibraltar.) 



