PALEONTOLOGY 



British Museum. It was described by Sir Richard Owen in 1846 under 

 the name of Macacus pliocenus. 



Of Carnivora, the first on the list is the cave-lion (Felis leo speleca), 

 of which remains have been obtained both at Ilford and Clacton, the 

 specimens obtained by Sir A. Brady from the former locality including 

 part of the lower jaw and one of the bones of the foot. The wild cat 

 (F. catus) is known by a lower jaw from Grays preserved in the museum 

 at Oxford. The extinct European race (Hyana crocuta spelaa) of the 

 spotted hysena, a species now restricted to Africa, has been met with in 

 the Pleistocene deposits of Grays and Walton ; and remains of the wolf 

 (Cams lupus) occur at Grays, and those of the fox (C. \Vulpes~\ wipes) 

 both at Grays and Ilford. Bones of the otter (Lutra lutra) have 

 likewise been discovered at Grays. Remains of bears are recorded from 

 Grays, Great Yeldham, Ilford and Walton ; some of these certainly be- 

 long to the common European brown bear (Ursus arctus), but others 

 have been assigned to the American grizzly bear. In view however of 

 the numerous forms more or less closely allied to the typical brown bear 

 which have recently been recognized in northern Asia and North 

 America this determination is extremely doubtful. In his British Fossil 

 Mammals and Biro's Sir R. Owen expressed the opinion that certain 

 ursine remains from Clacton and Grays might pertain to the great -cave- 

 bear (7. spelaus), but this also requires confirmation. 



A jaw of some species of shrew (Sorex) from Grays seems to be the 

 only known representative of the Insectivora in the Essex Pleistocene. 

 Allusion has already been made to the occurrence of remains of the 

 beaver at Walthamstow, and evidence of the presence of the same 

 animal at Ilford and Grays has likewise been obtained. The beds at the 

 former locality have yielded remains of two other rodents, namely the 

 water-vole (Microtus amphibius) and the common field-vole (M. agrestis). 1 

 The common mouse (Mus musculus) is recorded from Copford, where 

 have likewise been obtained molar teeth of a large undetermined beaver- 

 like rodent. 



The list of Ungulate, or hoofed, mammals from these deposits is 

 very large indeed. From Clacton have been obtained antlers of a 

 fallow deer which has been regarded as distinct from the ordinary 

 European species and named Ceruus browni, in honour of the late Mr. 

 John Brown of Stanway, who did so much to advance our knowledge of 

 the fossil mammals of the Essex coast. Remains of the giant fallow 

 deer (C. giganteus), so constantly miscalled ' Irish elk,' have been obtained 

 from Audley End, Grays, Ilford and Walton-on-the-Naze. Of the red 

 deer remains have been recorded from Clacton, Colchester, Grays, Great 

 Yeldham and Walton, and those of the roe from Grays and Great 

 Yeldham. The bison (Bos [Bison] priscus) is known from the coast, 

 Ilford, Walton and possibly Chelmsford. Magnificent skulls of the wild 

 ox were obtained by Sir Antonio Brady from Ilford, so large indeed that 

 they were regarded as belonging to a peculiar species, for which the 



1 Sec Hinton, Entx Naturafut, xi. 169 (1899). 

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