252 Prof. Sedgwick on the Origin [April, 



beds at Hinxton. 5. Innumerable fragments of the bones of 

 various animals from the beds of small flint-gravel, north-vyest 

 of Cambridge. 6. Eight or ten fragments of mammoth's grind- 

 ers, from the thick gravel beds behind Barnwell, 7. Three or 

 four large and perfect grinders of the mammoth, from the tine 

 flint-gravel south of Cambridge ; along with which were found 

 several bones- of the horse, and teeth of various graminivora. 

 8. Many teeth of various graminivora ; humerus of a very large 

 mammoth ; several teeth of the rhinoceros ; horns and portions 

 of two enormous skulls of the urus or buffalo; an atlas (probably 

 belonging to one of the preceding species), in linear dimensions 

 about twice as large as the atlas of a full grown ox ; several 

 perfect bones of the horse ; fragment of the horn of the cervus 

 giganteus; &c, &c. all derived from the gravel beds at the north- 

 west end of Barnwell,* 



Such are the organic remains contained in a small part of the 

 diluvium of this country; all of them ditfering in condition, and 

 many of them differing in kind from the corresponding spoils of 

 the alluvial beds of the same district; and the distmction is 

 rendered still more complete by the fact, that not one work of 

 human art, and not one fragment of a human skeleton, have yet 

 been discovered in any part of the numberless excavations which 

 are conducted in the lower and more ancient deposit. When 

 we properly estimate these facts (which are but the counterpart 

 of some of the admirable details given in the " Reliquiae Dilu- 

 vianag"), and consider how very small a portion of the superficial 

 gravel has yet been turned over even in the most populous parts 

 of our island. We are compelled to admit that annuals almost 

 without number must have inhabited all the lower parts of 

 Europe before the commencement of those destructive opera- 

 tions which produced the diluvial gravel.f A further examina- 

 tion of the facts already stated leads us also to conclude, that 

 many pre-existing species of animals must have perished during 

 the operation of the same destructive causes ; because we do 

 not find their remains in any more recent deposit. 



It is in vain for any one to attack these conclusions by 

 demanding how it came to pass that one class of animals 

 perished during the formation of the diluvial gravel, and another 

 class survived it. The same difficulty meets us in classing 

 many of the regular strata of the earth. The suite of fossils 

 derived from one formation may be widely different from the 

 suite derived from another; yet we know by experience that 

 both suites may contain many individuals of a common species. 



• Most of die specimens from tliis locality are in the possession of J. Okes, Esq. of 

 Cambridge, 



f This conclusion had been completely demonstrated, in the opinion of most geolo- 

 gists, from the number, the nature, and the condition of the organic remains of the 

 gravel : had any doubt remained on the subject, it is now set at rest by the details con- 

 nected with the Kirkdale cavern given in the " Reliquia Diluvianw." 



