PALEONTOLOGY 



AS regards the past history of vertebrated animals (with which 

 alone we are concerned on the present occasion) interest in Essex 

 is chiefly concentrated on the wonderful series of mammalian 

 remains which have been obtained from the Pleistocene gravels 

 and brickearths of various localities in the Thames valley, and more 

 especially at Ilford and Grays, as well as those from approximately 

 contemporaneous deposits in other parts of the county, notably Clacton. 

 From the brickearth at Grays has been obtained the sole evidence of the 

 former occurrence of monkeys in the British Isles ; the so-called Macacus 

 eoccenus from the Eocene of Suffolk being described on the evidence of a 

 tooth which was subsequently ascertained to belong to the undermen- 

 tioned Hyracotherium leporinum. A considerable amount of interest like- 

 wise attaches to the remains of mammals from the valley of the Lea at 

 Walthamstow ; but as these, on account of their later age, belong to 

 existing species, their importance is far less than the remains from the 

 brickearths. In this connection it may avoid confusion to mention that, 

 in addition to this particular series of remains, certain other mammalian 

 fossils, notably teeth of the mammoth, have been obtained at Waltham- 

 stow which appear to belong to an older deposit, approximately equivalent 

 to the valley gravels and brickearths of other parts of the county. 



Another important element in the palaeontological history of the 

 county is represented by the vertebrate remains from the London Clay of 

 Harwich, the majority of these belonging to extinct types of turtles, 

 although at least one species of mammal has been recorded from this 

 locality, while a second is represented by a specimen dredged off the 

 coast between Harwich and St. Osyth. Although the Red Crag occurs 

 in the county, it has very few vertebrate fossils in comparison with those 

 found in the same formation in Suffolk. 



Since the nature of these various Tertiary formations, as well as the 

 localities where they occur, are mentioned in the chapter on geology, no 

 further reference is required in this place. 



The mammalian remains from the alluvium of the marshes at 

 Walthamstow were first described by Dr. H. Woodward, 1 but some 

 emendations on the list of species then given have been made subse- 

 quently. The species include the dog (Canis familiar -is), horse (Equus 



1 Geological M agazint, vi. 385 (1869). 

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