QUADRUPEDS. 269 



marine animal. Charlton, in his History of Whitby, p. 355, states, 

 that the skeleton of a horse was found in the alum shale at Saltwick, 

 in 1762; but the correctness of that statement, and of his accounts 

 of a complete human skeleton, said to have been discovered here in 

 1743, may be fairly questioned. We have heard similar accounts, of 

 the discovery of bones of horses and of men in our alum shale a few 

 years ago ; but not from persons whose judgment could be relied on. 

 The remains of the elephant have been discovered in our allu- 

 vial beds ; particularly the grinders, and the tusks, the most durable 

 parts of that huge animal. Two grinders were found in the alluvium 

 near Robin Hood's Bay about sixteen years ago. The largest is in 

 the possession of Jonathan Sanders, Esq. It corresponds with the 

 grinder of the Asiatic elephant; the masticating surface displaying 

 twelve or thirteen double plates of ivory, alternating with a yellow 

 bony substance. This surface is more than six inches long and three 

 broad ; the depth of the root, from that surface, is nine inches ; and 

 the diagonal or greatest dimension of the tooth, twelve inches. It 

 weighed above thirteen pounds when found, but has lost a little of 

 its weight and its compactness. The roots and angular parts had 

 been rounded off by friction; and were further mutilated by the 

 person who found it. Some of the plates nearest the root, as in the 

 living elephant, do not run quite across, but display only their digi- 

 tated processes in lines of rings; and the rudiments of newer plates 

 appear in similar round processes, on the sloping surface descending 

 towards the root; as may be seen in the drawing, Fig. 1, PI. XVH. 

 The small grinder found with this, is very compact, and has the 

 roots ; but its shape has also been injured by attempts to improve its 

 appearance. It has belonged to a younger elephant, having fewer 

 plates on the upper surface, and a greater proportion of them dis- 

 playing rows of circles. Another grinder of a larger size, but less 

 compact, was found some years ago near Lofthouse; and a larger 



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