75 



rather abundantly bones of the mammoth and other animals, associated 

 with extinct and recent freshwater shells. The latter, found in the sands 

 and clay, show no signs of having been violently washed up to their 

 present positions, or they would have been broken, if not entirely 

 destroyed. This proves that when the waters prevailed in the valleys 

 they must have been at times comparatively tranquil, and certainly 

 long enough for the lives of several generations of the species. 

 The remains of the mammals belong chiefly to the families Ruminantia 

 and Carnivora, the former abundantly, the latter rather more 

 sparingly distributed. The bones are not much rolled or broken, are 

 generally well preserved and often perfect, but seldom indicative of a 

 perfect skeleton having been entombed upon the spot. At Ilford, in. 

 Essex, in 1868, in a pit of brick earth, the following interesting assem- 

 blage of bones was found : — To the right a huge tusk of mammoth, 8 -ft. 

 long, across which lay a fine antler of red deer, at a little distance the 

 frontal portion of the skull of urns, with bones of various animals scattered 

 around — horse, rhinoceros, hear, and wolf. The place was evidently the 

 bed of an ancient river, as shown by the sand upon which they rested 

 being covered with shells of corhicula fluminalis. A similar assemblage 

 of bones is related by Camden to have been discovered at Chartham, at a 

 depth of 17-ft. below the surface. 



Only two species of elephants are now known to exist, (both 

 inhabitants of tropical climates), and from the habits of these animals it 

 was originally inferred that their former presence in England demanded 

 similar conditions, but the remains of the mammoth have not been found 

 so near the equator, whereas from the 40th to the 60th degxees of 

 latitude they are abundant ; ranging thi'oughout England, France, and 

 Germany, as far south as Rome, and to the eastward through Russia 

 and Siberia. 



In 1803 the famous Adams' mammoth was discovered at the mouth 

 of the Lena, with its flesh so well preserved by the ice in which it was 

 imbedded, that it was eaten by bears, wolves, and dogs. Mr. Adams was 

 able to obtain the whole of the skeleton, which is now in the museum 

 of St. Petersburgh. Another was found between the Obi and Yenesei 

 near the arctic circle. These animals differ from our present elephant 

 in theii' peculiarly shaped head, strongly curved tusks, and their covering 

 of long black hair with an undercoat of reddish wool, as though to fit it 

 for the rigour of an arctic climate. A rhinoceros was supposed also to 

 inhabit only warm countries, but the tooth of one found in Siberia 

 - showed in its interstices fi-agments of pine leaves and coniferous wood 

 which had been chewed by the animal and still remained ; and pine 

 trees are indicative of subarctic circles, so that these creatures evidently 

 lived in the regions where their remains are now found. These two 

 animals were of vast size compared with those of the present day as were 

 also the extinct bear and liyasna ; the former equal in bulk to a large 

 horse, and the latter much greater than any of the hyajnas of the present 

 day. W^ith these are associated the remains of animals of an opposite 



