194 



KNOWLEDGE 



[September 1, 1894. 



be added that remains of the southern elephant have been 

 met with in a remarkable deposit at Dewlish, in Dorset- 

 shire, which must consequently be correlated either with 

 the forest-bed or the upper crags. 



Among the smaller mammals we find the rodents well 

 represented in the forest-bed, some of the species still 

 existing in Britain, while others are now confined to the 

 Continent, and a few are extinct. In the former class we 

 have the squirrel, the wood-mouse (Mus si/Iraticus), and 

 the bank-vole (Microtus ijhin'olus) ; and in the second the 

 beaver, the continental field-vole (M. arvalis), and the 

 Siberian vole {M. ijreyaiis) ; while of the extinct forms the 

 giant beaver (Troijontherium cimeri) indicates a genus 

 characteristic of this formation and the upper Pliocene, 

 and a vole (ilf. intermi'diim) intermediate in size between 

 the water-vole and field-vole differs from both in having 

 distinct roots to the molar teeth. Li the insectivorous 

 order we have the mole, and the common and pigmy 

 shrews, as representatives of the existing British fauna ; 

 while the Eussian desman (Myogale tnoschata) is now found 

 only in the districts between the rivers Don and Volga, 

 where it leads an aquatic life, not unlike that of our 

 water-vole, save that its habits are insectivorous instead 

 of herbivorous. 



The few cetacean remains from the forest-bed appear 

 all referable to existing forms, and indicate the same 

 mixture of southern and northern forms as characterizes 

 the land fauna. Among these are the southern right 

 whale {liahvna amtralis), a large fin-whale (Balannptera), 

 the sperm-whale — which stUl occasionally straggles as far 

 north as Britain — the killer, or grampus {Orca </ladiator), 

 the false killer {Pseudorca crassidem) — originally described 

 from a skull from the fens near Stamford, but subsequently 

 found living in the North Sea, — the Arctic narwhal 

 (ilonodon monoceros), and white whale (Delphinaptenis 

 letteas), the common dolphin, the bottle-nosed dolphin, 

 and the porpoise. 



We now come to the shelly deposits of the east coast, 

 locally known by the term of " crags," a name which has 

 been adopted into geological nomenclature. These beds 

 admit of a three-fold division, namely the Norwich, 

 fluvio-marine, or mammaliferous crag, the red crag, and 

 the coralline, or white crag. The former, which is partly of 

 freshwater and partly of marine origin, shows a molluscan 

 fauna of a decidedly northern type, and has at its base a 

 bone-bed in which mammalian remains occur in con- 

 siderable quantities. The red crag takes its name from 

 the colour of its sandy beds, and likewise contains a 

 bone-bed in which the fossils are mainly converted into 

 phosphate of lime, and are thus valuable as a source of 

 artificial manure. Although its molluscs are generally of 

 a northern type, this feature is less marked than in the 

 Norwich crag. The lowest, or coralline crag, which is 

 generally of a light colour, takes its name from the 

 number of species of polyzoa found in these beds ; its 

 molluscan fauna indicating warmer conditions than those 

 prevailmg during the deposition of the upper members of 

 the series. 



One of the features of the mammalian fauna of the 

 crags is the occurrence of remains of mastodons, which 

 are quite unknown in the higher beds, and the comparative 

 rarity of true elephants ; while still more noticeable is 

 the abundance of the remains of cetaceans, referable to 

 many species and genera. Although some of the crag 

 mammals belong to existing species, the great majority are 

 extinct, and a small proportion belong to genera no longer 

 existing. It is probable that the greater number of the 

 mammals found in these beds belong to species which 

 were living during the time of their deposition, although a 



few may have been derived from antecedent Miocene beds. 

 Certain specimens are, however, met with which have 

 clearly been washed out from the London clay or other 

 older Tertiary formations ; and these, which may generally 

 be recognized by their water-worn condition, will be 

 omitted from our survey. Although the mammals obtained 

 from the difl'erent crags are by no means always the 

 same, it will be convenient to treat of the whole series 

 collectively. 



Among the most difficult fossils to determine specifically 

 are detached teeth of the cats, and certain such specimens 

 from the red crag, which have been regarded as in- 

 dicating an extinct species, are so like the corresponding 

 teeth of the leopard that it would be hazardous to say 

 they do not belong to that animal, although, on the other 

 hand, it would be equally rash to say positively that such 

 was the case. Whether a sabre-tooth occurs in these 

 deposits is uncertain ; but there is no doubt as to the 

 existence in that epoch of the striped hyjena (Hyana 

 striata), of northern Africa and India, as several well- 

 preserved teeth have been obtained from the red crag. 

 The occurrence of this species in the crag, and its 

 replacement in the forest-bed and cavern-period by the 

 spotted hysna, is one of those remarkable facts in distri- 

 bution which we have at present no means of explaining. 

 Both the wolf and the fox appear to date from the period 

 of the red crag, while the polecat apparently occurs in 

 the still earlier coralline crag. The common otter seems, 

 however, to be of more modern origin, since a member of 

 the same genus from the Norwich crag, and a second from 

 the red crag seem to be both extinct. By far the most 

 remarkable of the red crag carnivores is the giant panda 

 [Jihirus amiUcus), at present known only by an upper 

 molar and a fragment of the lower jaw with the last tooth, 

 since the genus to which it belongs is represented else- 

 where solely by the panda or cat-bear {.J^. fulgens) of the 

 south-eastern Himalaya. The existing panda, which is 

 an animal of about the size of a fox, with a bright red 

 coat and long bushy tail, is of especial interest as being 

 the sole Old World representative of the raccoons, and is 

 characterized by the peculiarly complex structure of the 

 upper molar teeth and the remarkably curved form of the 

 lower jaw. Since the crag fossils present precisely the 

 same character, there can be no doubt of their having 

 belonged to an animal of the same genus, which was, 

 however, double the size of its existing representative. 

 That a creature so isolated and peculiar as the Himalayan 

 panda should be represented by a 

 closely allied but gigantic species 

 which lived in Britain in company 

 with the wolf and the fox, is one of 

 the most unexpected facts revealed 

 by palffiontological investigation. 



So far as can be determined 

 there is no evidence of the exis- 

 tence of true bears in the crag, and 

 it is probable that both the cave- 

 bear and the brown bear do not 

 antedate the forest-bed, although 

 an extinct species occurs in the upper Pliocene of the 

 Continent. In the red crag the place of these animals 

 is taken by a huge carnivore known as the hysenarctus, 

 which was in many respects intermediate between 

 bears and dogs, the upper molar teeth, as shown in 

 the accompanying cut, being shorter and squarer than 

 those of the former, while the carnassial or flesh-teeth 

 were of a cutting type more like those of the latter. 

 Species of the same genus occur in the Pliocene and 

 Miocene formations of the Continent, as weU as in the 



Fig. 2. — Last upper molar 

 tooth of the Hysenarctus. 



