September 1, 1894.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



193 



^y^ AN ILLUSTRATED •^^ 



MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE 



SIMPLY WORDED— EXACTLY DESCRIBED 



LONDON: SEPTEMBER 1, 1894. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



The Ancient Mammals of Britain.— II. By R. Ltdekkke, 



B.A.Cantab., F.R.S 193 



Insect Secretions —V. By E. A. Butleb, B.A., B.Sc. ... 196 

 The Wanderings of a Sunspot. By E. Walter 



M.IUNDEK ... ... ... ... ... ... ■.. 19S 



On the Origin of the Gold in Quartz Veins. By 



Henrt LoFi?, Assoc. E.S.M., &c 201 



What is a Star Cluster? By A. C. Ea>-t.4Ed 204 



Notices of Bool<s 206 



Letters : — A. M. Cleeke ; Geo. II. PETHTBEiDaE ; 



W. T. Ltxx 206 



Antarctic Birds. By Wiiliam S. Beuce 208 



Types of Floral Structure. — II. BytlieRev. A. S. Wilsox, 



M.A., B.Se 2!0 



The Water-Hen. By Haeet P. Withebbt 212 



The Face of the Sky for September. By Hbsbeet 



Saelee, F.R.A.S 214 



Chess Column. By C. D. Locock, B.A.Oxon 21.5 



THE ANCIENT MAMMALS OF BRITAIN. 



II. — The Forest-Bed .^^^d Crag Periods. 

 By R. Lydekker, B.A.Cantab., F.R.S. 



THE freshwater deposit on the eastern coast of 

 England known as the forest-bed, of which the age 

 is preglacial, occupies a somewhat intermediate 

 position in regard to its mammaUan fauna between 

 the cavern and crag periods ; some of the species 

 characterizing the former epoch extending downwards to 

 the forest-bed, while others are replaced by those of the 

 crag. Still, however, the percentage of existing species 

 is high, and as but few of the genera appear to be extinct, 

 we prefer to assign the formation in question to the 

 Pleistocene rather than to the Pliocene epoch. 



Commencing with the carnivores, we have evidence that 

 the forest-bed possesses a sabre-toothed tiger apparently 

 specifically distinct from the cavern species, and not im- 

 probably identical with one (Macharodus cultridrfns) from 

 the upper Pliocene beds of the Yal d'Arno in Tuscany ; 

 while the hyiBna is identical with the cavern form, that is 

 to say, the existing South African species. The wolf, and 

 probably the fox, as well as the marten and the glutton, 

 are likewise existing species ranging as far down as the 

 forest-bed ; and the occurrence of the last-named is some- 

 what notable, as showing that even at this early epoch 

 northern types were capable gf existing in England before 



we have any endence of the incoming of strongly-marked 

 glacial conditions. The other land carnivores of the forest- 

 bed are the otter and the cave-bear ; while the teeth of a 

 smaller bear have been tentatively assigned to the American 

 grizzly, although we should think it more probable that 

 they pertained to the brown species. Of marine forms, a 

 walrus which has been regarded as specifically distinct 

 from the living representative of the genus, and the bearded 

 seal (Phoca harhata), now inhabiting the North Atlantic, 

 have been recorded from the formation under consideration. 

 In the hoofed order we find the bison and the musk-ox, 

 as well as a large sheep iOvis sarini) apparently allied to 

 the Himalayan argali, inhabiting East Anglia during the 

 deposition of the forest-bed ; while the roebuck, an extinct 

 kind of elk (^te-.s- latifrons), and the red deer likewise lived 

 at the same time. There appear also to have been several 

 species of extinct deer, among which Savin's deer [Cervus 

 savini) is remarkable for the flattened form of the brow-tine, 

 while in the magnificent species (C. xethpncki) named 

 after the well-known professor of geology at Cambridge 

 the spreading antlers attained a complexity of structure 

 unknown in any other member of the genus. Of other 

 ungulates, the hippopotamus, the wild boar, and the horse 

 date from the forest-bed ; and the occurrence in this 

 formation of the former species in association with the 

 musk-ox, glutton, and walrus, presents us with another 

 of the puzzles which almost break the heart of the 

 paleontologist. In addition to the common horse, there 

 was an extinct species known as Steno's horse (EquuK 

 stenonis) and distinguished by the small size of the so-called 

 front irmer pillar of the upper molar teeth, or the portion 

 occupying the middle of the lower 

 border of the annexed figure. In this 

 respect the species in question was 

 less specialized than the modern 

 horse, and makes a step in the 

 direction of the under-mentioned 

 hipparion. On the Continent Steno's 

 horse occurs in beds of upper PUocene 

 age, where it was accompanied by 

 the Etruscan rhinoceros {Rhinoceros 

 etuscus), as was also the case in the 

 forest-bed. This Etruscan rhino- 

 ceros differs from the leptorhine 

 and megarhine cavern species by the much lower crowns of 

 its molar teeth, and is likewise, therefore, a more 

 generalized type. So far as can be determined, the 

 mammoth does not appear to have come into existence at 

 the period of the forest-bed; but the so-called straight- 

 tusked elephant (Elephas antiquus) was abundant, as 

 well as a third species (B. meridionalis), unknown 

 in the higher deposits. This southern elephant, 

 which takes its name from its occurrence in the upper 

 PUocene strata of the Yal d'Arno, attained enormous 

 dimensions, and is characterized by the smallness of the 

 height of the crowns of the molar teeth in comparison 

 with their width, as well as by the large size and lozenge- 

 like form of the discs of ivory enclosed by the enamel- 

 plates on their grinding surface, and the width of the 

 intervening spaces of cetnent. The enamel-plates them- 

 selves are very thick and smooth, being almost completely 

 devoid of the puckeringa characterizing those of the 

 mammoth. Although anyone can see the dilYerenee 

 between a typical molar of the southern elephant and one 

 of the mammoth, some teeth of the former are very like 

 certain of those of the straight-toothed elephant, while 

 some of the latter come very close to those of the mam- 

 moth. It is, therefore, advisable in determining the teeth 

 of fossil elephants to seek the aid of a specialist. It may 



Fia. 1. — Kight upper 

 molar tooth of Steno's 

 Horse. 



