60 Geological Society. 



the Ruminantia, and thus exhibits another of those extraordinary 

 unions of characters which m existing mammaha belong to distinct 

 orders. In the Dichobune the posterior molars begin to exhibit a 

 double series of cusps, of which the external present the crescentic 

 form, so that the teeth of the Dichobune mxtrina might be mistalcen 

 for those of true Ruminantia. In the lower jaw of the Dichobune 

 the antepenultimate and the penultimate grinders have two pairs of 

 cusps, and last grinder three pairs, of which the posterior are small 

 and almost blended together, so that when worn down they appear 

 single. 



In this respect, as well as in the form of the ascending ramus of 

 the lower jaw, Cuvier states, in the Ossemens Fossiles, that tiie Dicho- 

 bune " prodigiously resembles" the young Musk Deer. 



Now with respect to Mr. Pratt's specimen. Professor Owen ob- 

 served, there is undoubtedly a close resemblance to the Musk Deer, 

 but the differences are sufficientlj' great to forbid its being placed 

 among the Ruminantia, while there is a still nearer resemblance be- 

 tween it and the genus Dichobune. The Isle of Wight specimen being 

 somewhat larger than the D. leporinvm, and the ascending ramus 

 differing in form and approaching that of the true Anoplotheria, Mr. 

 Owen considers that it indicates a new species, which until the form 

 of the anterior molars and incisors are known, may be referred to the 

 genus Dichobune, under the name of Dichohime cerviimm. 



A memoir on the drift from the chalk and strata below the chalk 

 in the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridge, Huntingdon, 

 Bedford, Hertford, and Middlesex, by James Mitchell, Esq., LL.D., 

 F.G.S., was then read. 



The drift which is so extensively distributed over the above coun- 

 ties, consists chiefly of stiff blue and yellow clay, varying from 4 feet 

 to above 70 in thickness ; and it contains masses and small fragments 

 of chalk, chalk flints, primary, secondary and other rocks, and fossils 

 from nearly every secondaiy formation in England. In some local- 

 ities the clay forms the mass of the drift, but in others it contains 

 or rests on beds of sand and gravel ; and it is often overlaid by a 

 deposit, occasionally exceeding 50 feet thick, of sand, gravel, and 

 chalk flints. 



The principal locality in Norfolk, mentioned by the author, is 

 Cromer, the cliffs near which vary in height from 100 to 150 feet ; 

 the lower half consisting of blue clay charged with masses and frag- 

 ments of chalk, unaltered chalk flints, and secondary and primary 

 rocks ; and the upper half of sand and gravel, capped by 2 feet of 

 ferruginous sand, in some places black. The same general descrip- 

 tion, it is stated, will applj"^ to the cliff's for 1 2 miles east and west 

 of Cromer ; but thej' occasionally present most extraordinary con- 

 tortions of the beds. The other localities in Norfolk, alluded to 

 by tlie author, are in the parishes of Pulham St. Mary Magdalen, 

 Pulham St. Mary the Virgin ; and a pit one mile from Harleston 

 towards Diss, where 4 feet of blue clay, abounding with chalk peb- 

 bles, are overlaid by 2 feet and underlaid by 10 feet of gravel and 

 flints ; the author also states, that the clay with chalk pebbles ex- 



