CHAPTER IV. 



PART V. 

 FOSSIL MAMMALIA OP STONESFIELD. 



THE STOXESFIELD OOLITE FOSSIL MAMMALIA OF STONESFIELD PHASCOLO- 

 THERIUM AMPHITHERIUM STRUCTURE AND AFFINITIES OF THE FOSSIL 

 MAMMALIA OF STONESFIELD GEOLOGICAL INFERENCES. 



THE STONESFIELD OOLITE. On the middle shelf of Wall- 

 case 6r, containing the fossil remains of the Bears of the 

 Caverns, described in the preceding pages, the visitor will 

 observe, in a mahogany tray, the lower jaw of a very small 

 quadruped, attached to a piece of limestone from Stonesfield, 

 which was presented to the Museum some years since by 

 the eminent naturalist, W. J. Broderip, Esq. F.R.S. 



This little fossil is one of the most interesting in the 

 whole Gallery, for it was the earliest proof obtained of the 

 presence of warm-blooded animals during that period of the 

 earth's physical history, the " Age of Reptiles," of which we 

 have treated so fully in a former part of this volume ; and, 

 consequently, carries back the existence of the highest class 

 of vertebrata, to a period of unfathomable antiquity. The 

 circumstances under which this fossil was discovered, and 

 on which its interest so much depends, require therefore par- 

 ticular notice, for Stonesfield is the only locality in which 

 mammalian remains have been observed in deposits more 

 ancient than the eocene. 



Stonesfield, a small village near Woodstock, about twelve 

 miles north-west of Oxford, has long been celebrated for the 



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