EXTINCT ANIMALS OF EAST YORKSHIRE.* 
T. SHEPPARD, F.G.S., F.S.A. (ScoT.). 
PARTLY as a result of the construction of railways, 
cuttings for drains, excavations for gravel for road re- 
pairing, for making railway embankments, for concrete 
for dock works or ion building lighthouses, but principally 
from the inroads of the sea along the thirty miles of coast 
between Bridlington and Spurn, we have been able to 
ascertain the geological structure of East Yorkshire fairly 
well. Incidentally it has been possible to gather quite a 
large series of bones, teeth, antlers, horns, and other remains 
of animals which once existed in the district. These occur 
in various ways. Sometimes they can be found in the old 
sand-dunes where they have been left by the hyaenas or 
other carnivorous animals. In these cases the bones 
usually occur close together, though in a more or less frag- 
mentary condition, and several species may be found within 
a small radius. At other times they are found singly, in 
the Boulder Clay, where they have been left as erratics by 
the ice; or they may exist in the gravel mounds, in a more 
or less water-worn condition; or the whole skeleton of a 
red deer or other animal may be found just as it had died 
in the peat bog, centuries ago. 
As regards age; the bone-bearing deposits of East York- 
shire may be placed under three heads, viz., (1) Pre-Glacial ; 
(2) Glacial, and (3) Post-Glacial, and it is noticeable that, 
as we might expect, the earliest deposit contains a great 
proportion of animals very different from those with which 
we are now familiar, whilst the most recent bed includes 
the remains of animals more approaching those living 
in the district to-day. 
With regard to the Pre-Glacial beds; we must carry 
our minds back to that far-off time before England was 
invaded by glaciers during the great Ice Age. At that 
period there was no Holderness. A line of chalk clitfs, not 
discoloured by any glacial material, extended from Brid- 
lington, through Driffield, Beverley and Cottingham to 
Hessle, and on into Lincolnshire. It was cut through by the 
Humber, which was then an important outlet. This cliff 
line averaged one hundred feet in height, and at its foot 
was a sandy beach which then at any rate, was above the 
reach of the water; sand dunes were formed, and upon 
these the hyaenas had their meals. Whilst there are no 
sections inland, sections have been exposed at each ex- 
tremity of this cliff line, with interesting results. At 
Sewerby, near Bridlington, excavations were made over 
* Read before the Vertebrate Zoology Section of the Yorkshire 
Naturalists’ Union. 
Igir June I. 
