THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 93 



taken during a period of over thirty years by the late Sir Antonio Brady. Some 

 thirteen years ago this Club had visited the pits under the guidance of Sir 

 Antonio himself, when fossil bones were still obtainable. 



A full account of the first visit of the Club to the Uphall Pits, under the 

 guidance of the late Sir Antonio Brady, Mr. A. R. Wallace, and Mr. Henry 

 Walker, will be found in the "Journal of Proceedings," E.F.C., Vol. i. pp. xxviii. 

 — xxxviii. An excellent popular account of this celebrated locality is Mr. H. 

 Walker's "A Day's Elephant Hunting in Essex " (Trans. E.F.C., Vol. i., pp. 

 27-58), and reprinted as a pamphlet. Mr. Holmes gave some notes in the last 

 number of The Essex Naturalist (Vol. vii., pp. 47-48). Full details of 

 sections will be found in Mr. Wnitaker's " Geology of London," Vol. i. pp. 

 410-15. The Geological Survey Map is Sheet i, S.W. (Drift Edition). 



In the course of his rernarks Mr. Crouch alluded to the various "finds" in 

 the vicinity. In 1812 some bones of elepiiant, ox, and stag had been dug up at 

 Clements (these are noticed in Ogborne's " History of Essex," 18 14, and one of 

 the teeth of the elephant is figured on page 53) ; and others found by Mr. Gibson, 

 of Stratford, in 1824. The UpliuU pits, which are now quite " classic," were begun 

 about the year 1840 ; and it was from these that such extensive and important 

 remains were subsequently unearthed ; not only of the mammalia, but many 

 hundreds of land and river shells. Here, at a depth of 15 to 20 feet, were found 

 the bones of various species of such tropical animals as hippopotamus, 

 rhinocero?, bison, lion, and straight-tusked elephant {^Elephas anliqiius) ; associated 

 with the gigantic extinct ox, Irish elk, wild horse, bear, &c., and ihe mammoth 

 QEkphas primigenhts), a huge hairy elephant with incurved tusks, a purely 

 northern and Arctic form. Perhaps the most interesting discovery was that 

 made in 1863 of a nearly perfect skull and tusks, some 10 feet in length, of this 

 animal, which, with the bulk of the Brady collection, is now in the British 

 Museum of Natural History. Mr. Crouch showed a sepia drawing he had made 

 of this skull, and said it was the only one that had been found in good condition 

 in this country, and, so far as he was aware, there were only three others preserved 

 — two in the museum at Brussels, and the first discovered one, in the Petersburg 

 Museum. The latter was found in 1799, near the river Lena, in Arctic Siberia, 

 the whole carcase being embedded in transparent ice. As the ice broke away the 

 frozen flesh was soon devoured by wild animals, so that when Adams visited the 

 spot in 1806, he (ould only rescue the head and some of the bones; but 

 fortunately secured a portion of the hide, with a quantit}^ of the long woolly hair 

 a foot and a halt in length, and the eye and brain, which were well preserved. 

 Numerous remains have since been found in various parts of Siberia, and a large 

 number of valuable tusks, some over 12 feet in length, released from the ice, are 

 annually collected on the shores and sent for sale. That the mammoth was 

 contemporary with early man, we have undoubted evidence from tht- incised 

 bones found in the caves of Auvergne, on which this animal is clearly depicted. 

 In one of these it is shown with the trunk raised and open mouth in attitude 

 of charging. 



The bones of the various species of British fossil elephants form the subject 

 of a monograph by Professor Leith Adams, published in 1877-81 b}' the 

 Pakeontographical Society ; and the privately printed catalogue of the Brady 

 collection is full of interesting information regarding the Uphall specimens. 

 Therein is figured the skull and jawbones of Rhinoceros leplor/iiniis, a fine adult 



