THE 



GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE. 



NEW SERIES. DECADE III. VOL. IV. 



No. IV.— APRIL, 1887. 



0:ElXC3rTJ<TJ^Xj J^iaTIOXjES. 



I. — Note on some recent additions to the Vertebrate Fauna 

 OF the Norfolk " Pre-Glaoial Forest-Bed." 



By E. T. Newton, F.G.S., F.Z.S. 



(PLATE IV.) 



SINCE the publication of my last notes on the Vertehrata of the 

 Norfolk " Forest-Bed " in this Magazine,^ several new forms 

 have been identified,- and we are now under obligation to Mr. W. 

 Barker and Mr. A. Savin, whose diligent search in these beds has 

 brought to light four species not hitherto recorded ; three of them 

 are bones of Birds, and therefore especially interesting, as so few 

 remains of this class have been determined from British Pre-Grlacial 

 deposits. I have to thank Prof. Stewart and Dr. Garson for the 

 facilities they have afforded me on this, as on other occasions, when 

 comparing specimens in the Hunterian Museum of the Eoyal College 

 of Surgeons ; and for similar assistance at the British Museum I am 

 indebted to Mr. K. Bowdler Sharpe and Mr. Oldfield Thomas. 



LuTRA VULGARIS (Otter). (PI. IV. Figs. 1, 2.) 



A left ramus of a lower jaw has been found by Mr. A. Savin in the 

 " Forest-Bed " exposed on the shore at East Kunton, near Cromer, 

 which enables us to add the above-named species to the Pre-Glacial 

 fauna of the East of England. This specimen has the extreme front 

 and hinder part broken away ; but the alveolar margin is complete 

 from the socket for the canine to that of the hindermost molar, 

 leaving no doubt therefore as to the number of cheek-teeth, namely, 

 five, three premolars and two molars. The large sectorial tooth 

 (pm. 1) is well preserved, and agrees in all particulars with the same 

 tooth in the common Otter. The two anterior outer cusps of this 

 tooth are sharp and show slight facets due to contact with the upper 

 sectorial tootb ; while the inner cusp is not so high as the median 

 outer cusj). The hinder part of the tooth is low with the upper sur- 

 face concave; and a distinct cingulum extends along the lower part 

 of the outer surface of the crown. The rest of the teeth are absent ; 

 but the number, position, and size of the alveoli agree exactly with 



1 Geol. Mag. Dec. II. Vol. X. p. 433. 



^ Vtde Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. toI. xxxix. p. 575 ; Tol. xli. p. 243 ; and vol. xlii. 

 p. 316. 



DECADE IV. TOL. IV. — NO. IV. 10 



