GEOLOGICAL AGE OF MAST. AEVERNENSIS. 53 



by Cuvier 1 as belonging to that species ; but its specific 

 distinctness bas been clearly established by the French 

 palaeontologists, and its occurrence in the Crag or overlying 

 beds may yet be expected, if it has not been heretofore over- 

 looked by collectors. The species would seem to be exceed- 

 ingly rare in Italy, since tooth specimens referable to it are 

 either unique or nearly so in the public collections there. 



Next, as regards the ' Red Crag ' of Suffolk. Mammalian 

 remains were formerly so rare in the ' Red Crag ' that their 

 abundance in the Norwich Crag was seized upon by Mr. 

 Charlesworth as furnishing a significant designation for the 

 latter under the name of ' Mammaliferous Crag.' But lat- 

 terly the excavations for phosphatic nodules have led to the 

 discovery of these remains in abundance. Among others, 

 molars of M. {Tetraloplwdon) Arvernensis have been obtained 

 in very considerable numbers. By the liberal kindness of 

 Professor Henslow, I have been enabled to examine at leisure 

 those which are contained in the Ipswich Museum, presented 

 to that institution by Mr. George Ransome. They were 

 found in the Red Crag pits. Some of these remains are now 

 on the table before the Society. One, a very characteristic 

 specimen, consists of the greater part of the last true molar, 

 upper jaw, left side. It presents all the distinctive marks of 

 M. (Tetralophodon) Arvernensis, namely, the discs of the worn 

 tubercles decidedly alternate, and the valleys blocked up by 

 large outlying tubercles. These ' Red Crag ' molars differ in 

 no respect specifically from those found in the Fluvio-marine 

 Crag. They are highly impregnated with ferruginous infil- 

 tration, and present a vitreous polish, very much like that of 

 the Mastodon molars from Perim Island on the western coast 

 of India. They are mutilated by fracture, but do not present 

 the appearance of having been rolled. The fractured edges 

 of the enamel are sharp; and the only indications of abrasion 

 which the teeth present are the natural results of wear, from 

 long service as grinders. This is a point of some importance, 

 as indicative that they were not washed into the Red Crag 

 out of some older Miocene deposit. 



Mr. Charlesworth, in his memoir on the ' Crag of Suffolk,' 

 &c, after enumerating the genera of fossil fish that prevailed 

 hi the ocean of the Red Crag, adds—' It is here also that we 

 first meet with the higher orders of the animal kingdom. 

 The teeth of the Mastodon, Elephant, Hippopotamus, and 

 other Mammalia are deposited with the Mollusca of this 

 period, and in addition to them I may mention the bones of 

 Birds, which I have recently obtained from several localities.' 2 



1 Oss. Foss. 4th edit. torn. iii. p. 375. 2 Phil. Mag. 3rd. ser. vol. viii. p. 535. 



