132 On the Mammalian Drift of Wiltshire and its Fossil contents. 



At this village the Drift gravel has 'been extensively dug for 

 ballast for the Wilts, Somerset, and Weymouth Railway. 



On minute examination of the Drift sand from Broughton Gif- 

 ford I have discovered several species of Rhizojwds, or Foramen- 

 iferous shells. (These are the very minute, though exceedingly 

 beautiful shells of a low form of polypi.) They have probably been 

 washed out of other strata, as they exhibit traces of having been 

 rolled. Professor Rupert Jones has kindly assisted me in the deter- 

 mination of the species, and the following is a list of these fossils. 



1. Textularia concinna. 



2. Bulimina Murchisoniana. 



rd I,- • A 1 These have been 

 o. (jrlobigenna cretacea. \ 



/,! • • 1 1 , X ) derived from the 



(this IS abundant.) / 



4. Rosalina ammonoides. 



5. Cristellaria rotula. 



6. A variety of C. rotula, with raised ribs, and translucent, 



(perhaps Robulina cultrata) occurs in many recent seas, 

 and fossil from the Oolites to the Tertiaries. 



7. A pretty little Operculina which occurs recent on the coast 



of Norway and Skye. 



Rhizopods occur also at Melksham ; as yet they have not been 

 found in the other localities in the county.^ 



We now come to the most remarkable feature of the Drift, viz. : 

 its wonderful fossil remains of mammalian animals. 



The common occurrence of large fossil bones was noticed by 

 Camden in his "Britannia," 1607. He suggested that they might be 

 some of the Elephants brought over to this country by Claudius, 

 A.D. 43.^ They were for ages popularly believed to be the bones 

 of giants, and this is not surprising, when we consider how slow 

 has been the progress of Comparative Anatomy ;. and we learn from 

 Professor Owen, that the thigh bone of the Ursus SpelcKus or Great 



1 At the base of some of our Chalk hills, as at Roundway and Manningford, 

 beds of white earthy clay are deposited which have been washed out of the 

 chalk. They contain numerous fresh water and land shells, and at Manningford 

 are covered with a layer of peat. Athough they are most probably of the same 

 age as the Drift, their exact relation to that deposit has not yet been determined, 



2 Camden's Britannia, Vol. I. p. 138, Gough's edition. 



