364) M. A. Milne-Edwards un the former Existence 



to my examination. I have been'struck at finding among them 

 a humerus which evidently proceeded from a Pelican. 



This bone, which belongs to the Woodwardian Museum, was 

 obtained from the peat-bogs of the marshy districts, the Fen- 

 lands, which cover the northern part of Cambridgeshire. These 

 deposits have been studied with much care by Mr. Seeley*, who 

 with his usual kindness has furnished me with some valuable 

 information on the subject. 



Beneath the peat in course of formation, which is of variable 

 thickness, and contains some freshwater shells as well as living 

 plants, there lies a clay filled in places with marine shells such 

 as Tellina ohliqua, Cardium edule, and Scrohicularia piperita, and 

 enclosing also some remains of marine mammals, such as the 

 Walrus, Porpoise, and Whale. This clay rests on a bed of peat 

 in which occur trunks of yew-trees [Taxus baccata), some placed 

 vertically and reaching to the surface of the peat, but rotted off" 

 in the clay above. This is the deposit in which the remains of 

 land-vertebrates are found; and, though the exact position whence 

 the Pelican's humerus was obtained was not noted, its colour 

 and nature indicate that it came from this layer of peat. The 

 mammals which have been recognized from the same layer be- 

 long to the following species : — Bos frontosus, B. primigenius, 

 Cervus megaceros, C. elaphus, C. capreolus, Ursus arctos, Lutra 

 vulgaris, Canis lupus, Sus scrofa, and Castor europaus. I have 

 also been able to recognize several species of birds, such as the 

 Whooper-Swan(C?/^nws/erMs), Wild Duck {Anas boschas) , Ga.r- 

 ganey {A. querquedula) , Crested Grebe [Podiceps cristatus). Bit- 

 tern [Ardea stellaris), and Coot {Fulica atra). 



The remains of Swans were very numerous there, and belonged 

 to many individuals. Among them occur fragments of the 

 sternum with the deep cavity which, in this species, lodges the 

 fold of the wind-pipe. Bones of the Grebe also were sufficiently 

 common, though there were but few coming from the Duck, the 

 Bittern, or the Coot. All these species still dwell numerously 

 in the eastern part of England ; their presence, therefore, in its 

 peat-bogs has nothing in it which can surprize us : but with the 



* " Theoretical Remjirks ou the Gravel and Drift of the Fenlands." 

 Geol. Mag. 18G8, iii. p. 495. 



