Geological Remains 29 



ing to Withering, 1 large pieces still retain their 

 beautiful red colour. I have in my possession a 

 spear-head made of this wood, which was dug from 

 beneath the peat in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, 

 and which may be fairly regarded as at least three 

 or four thousand years old. 



Professor Ramsay 2 shows that it is of far greater 

 antiquity than this : ' In the forest bed which lies 

 underneath the glacial deposits on the shore at 

 Cromer, in Norfolk, Taxus baccata (yew), Pinus 

 sylvestris (Scotch fir), and a number of other plants, 

 are found associated with mammals, such as the 

 elephant, rhinoceros, bears (four species),' etc. etc. 

 ' This indicates a vast antiquity on the part of 

 the yew, dating from pre-glacial times, when this 

 country was united to the Continent, and a milder 

 climate prevailed than at present.' He says it is 

 also found in the Bristol Channel associated with 

 the same kind of fossils. 



Even this does not show its extremest age, since 

 Professor Heer finds the yew-tree cones in the coal 

 shale of Utznach and Diirnten, identical in form 

 with those of the living plant, only somewhat 

 smaller. 



' Der Eibenbaum (Taxus baccata, L.). Von die- 

 sem fand ich in Dlirnten das Samenniisschen 

 (Fig. 385), das in Form und Skulptur vollig mit 

 dem lebenden Eibenbaume iibereinkommt, nur ist 



1 English Botany. ~ Physical Geography of Great Britain. 



