18 NOTE ON ELEPHAS MERIDIONALIS. 



16. Several other molars of Eleplias ineridionalis have been 

 found, the whole number being seven, including three plates and 

 part of the fourth in which the digitations are worn down into 

 continuous ridges. 



17. Isolated plates of other molars are scattered in various parts 

 of the deposit. 



I am inclined to view the bed as Pliocene, deposited immediately 

 upon the Chalk after previous removal of the lower Tertiary beds, 

 (of which there are abundant proofs in- the neighbourhood), during 

 one of the many oscillations to which Europe was subject during 

 the Pliocene and Glacial ages. A denudation must have removed 

 the Pliocene bed after its deposition, of which there are no traces 

 left, as far as our present knowledge goes, except in the Dewlish 

 sandpit, which has no connection with the Dewlish river ; the 

 carrying force of the Pliocene stream appears to have come from 

 the north-east, and the deposit laid down before the present 

 features of the district were established. The angular flints of 

 the Dewlish bed are probably derived from the neighbourhood, 

 the sand and quartz pebbles from some distance, the latter from 

 an older bed invaded by the Pliocene flood bearing with it the 

 massive bodies of elephants. The age of the bed will be ascer- 

 tained with some certainty, if, on further examination next 

 summer, we find remains of other mammalia, molluscs, and plants. 



