Mr Crane said that a small black band in the Cavern, 

 four inches thick, consisting chiefly of minute frag- 

 ments of charred wood, covers about 100 square 

 feet, and rests on the cave earth, and indicates the 

 position of the domestic hearth of the cave-dwelling 

 man of that period. 



Mr Crane then proceeded to draw the atten- 

 tion of the members to another series of fossils 

 from the newer Pleistocene of Selsea, in this County, 

 lately presented to the Museum by Mr Henry 

 Willett, F.G.S. It comprises a tarso metatarsal, 

 a right phalange, an astralagus, a portion of the 

 left scapula, one cervical vertebrse, two frag- 

 mentary vertebra;, and a part of the left ramus of the 

 lower jaw of Bos primigenius. They were found in 

 the same locality and horizon as these splendid remains 

 of the leptorhine rhinoceros, another gift of Mr 

 "VVillett's. 



Continuing, Mr Crane said I wish also to bring 

 under your notice some very interesting casts of 

 teeth of two extinct species of dwarf elephants, 

 from the bone caves of Malta, discovered by 

 Admiral Spratt, and described by Professor Busk, 

 F.R.S., in the "Transactions of the Zoological 

 Society " : One (E Mditensis) when adult stood 4^ feet 

 high ; another, a lesser, pigmy elephant I E Falconeri), 

 averaged only 3 feet in height. Remains of these 

 pigmy species are very abundant in the caves of Malta. 

 Here are casts of some bones of Argilornis longipennis, 

 a large bird of flight, exceeding the Albatross (Diomedia 

 exnlans) in size. This genus occurs in the Eocene of 

 the Isle of Sheppey, and has been fully described by 

 Sir Richard Owen. The large size of the pneumatic 

 cavity, the texture of the bone, and other characters 

 recall those of the large flying reptiles ( Pterodactylm ) 

 of the cbalk period. 



I have reserved for the last the lower jaw of the Port 

 Jackson Shark (Cestracion PhillipU), of the Australian 

 seas, which attains the length of five feet only. It is 

 of very ancient lineage, has numerous representatives 

 in the primary and secondary strata, and is closely 

 allied to the genus Pti/chodus, the teeth and fin 

 rays of which are so abundant in the chalk at Lewes 

 and elsewhere. There is but one living species 

 known of the ray (Aetobatis wvrinari) to which this 

 dental plate belongs. The lower dental lamina, 

 with its flat broad teeth, which are much worn in this 

 specimen, project beyond the upper, and are renewed 

 horizontally instead of vertically. The upper jaw acts 

 like a roller, crushing the shell fi9h upon which the ray 

 chiefly subsists. It occurs in all tropical seas, and this 

 well-preserved fossil specimen proves that the genus 

 was represented in the Eocene Beds of Bracklesham, 

 Sussex. 



These specimens and the casts of elephant and bird 

 remains above referred to, were kindly presented by 

 my friend Mr William Davies, F.G.S. 



