Notices of Memoirs — Dr. A. Nehring — Origin of Loess. 177 



tichorlrinvs, and Bos primigenius, they (with habits similar to those of 

 their living congeners) may have visited the Steppes in those seasons 

 when vegetation had come to its full development there. 



II. Thiede. — The Quaternary deposits of this locality may he 

 divided into three horizons. The uppermost, about lift, thick, 

 begins immediately beneath the vegetable soil, and has the aspect of 

 a Diluvial loam (Loess). From 1 to 9 feet downwards it is more or 

 less dark-coloured by the admixture of carbonaceous substances, and 

 most of its lime has been washed away by percolating waters. Fossil 

 bones are scarce. Eemains of a large species of Bos have been found 

 at a depth of about 7 or 8 feet ; and the remains of Mammoth at 

 10 feet, close to where the skeleton of a Lion was met with, at a depth 

 of 12 feet, some years ago. At about 12 feet the loam is very calca- 

 reous, clear-yellow, fine-grained, and of tubular structure, without any 

 trace of stratification or of plasticity. Not unfrequently it here con- 

 tains Loess shells, as Pupa muscorum, Succinea oblonga, and species 

 of Helix. This uppermost deposit is so situated that the nearest 

 river (the Ocker) could reach it only when swollen exceptionally 

 high ; and wind-action must have been essential to its formation, 

 with occasional local floods after heavy rainfalls. 



In the second horizon, from about 14 to 22 feet depth, the material 

 is, for the most part, a highly calcareous Diluvial maid. This in- 

 cludes an abundance of flint pebbles, with both rolled and angular 

 fragments of siliceous schist, Planer limestone, granite, and quartz. 

 A block of granite weighing about 201bs. has been found at 16 feet 

 depth, — a subangular fragment of Beyrichia limestone, bearing a 

 distinct impression of Rhynchonella plicatella (Kloeden), — an Ostrea, 

 possibly from the White Jura north of the Hartz, — and a number of 

 small BeJemnites (B. ultimus or B. minimus), much worn, are met 

 with among these fragments. Most probably all these objects have 

 been brought to their present situation, together with the flint imple- 

 ments and fragments of charcoal, 1 by the swollen waters of the Eiver 

 Ocker. The rolled and angular fragments are derived from northern 

 Diluvials, and in part from the Hartz and its outposts. The second 

 horizon maybe palasontologically designated as a " Mammoth-deposit," 

 from the frequency of generally well-preserved remains of Elephas 

 primigenius. These and the bones of Rhinoceros tichorhinus are fre- 

 quently incrusted or agglutinated with calcareous concretions. 

 Remains of Syana spelcea and of Cervus tarandus are scarcer than 

 those of Equus caballus and of a species of Bos. 



The third horizon, called the " Lemming- deposit," from the preva- 

 lence of the remains of this Eodent, reaches from 22 feet depth down 

 to the clefts filled with gypsum, 30 to 35 feet, and at places 40 feet 

 deep. The second and third horizons are connected by palseontological 

 transitions. The prevalent fossil forms are Lemmings ; in the upper 

 portion Myodes lemmus. and in the lower part less frequently Myodes 

 torquatus. Arvicola gregalis is rather common. Bones of Beindeer 



1 Bough stone axes under the soil, and flint implements and charcoal in the lower 

 part of the Loess, were found at Thiede by Dr. Nehring, who also met with flint 

 flakes, bits of charcoal, and split bones at Westeregeln. 



DECADE II. VOL. VI. — NO. IV. ' 12 



