198 BRITISH AND EUROPEAN FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 



not reached it. No Mastodon molars have yet been dis- 

 covered in situ in the fluviatile and lacustrine strata on the 

 Norfolk coast above the Crag ; but after a careful perusal of 

 the various recorded instances where teeth have been met 

 with on the beach, below undermined cliffs, I am not satis- 

 fied that they were in every case derived from the Crag and 

 not from the superincumbent Clay or Forest-bed. The age, 

 so long assigned to the Crag Mastodon, naturally disposed 

 geologists and collectors to refer the doubtful cases to the 

 oldest strata. 



The next beds in the order of superposition, yielding Ele- 

 phant remains, are the freshwater deposits composing the 

 mud-cliffs of Eastern Norfolk, which have been examined in 

 great detail by Sir Charles Lyell and other English geologists ; 

 while the mammalian remains have been investigated by Pro- 

 fessor Owen. I have had opportunities of studying a very 

 large number of the Proboscidean fossils of these beds, in the 

 collections at Norwich, and in the various collections, public 

 or private, in London, and I have lately been indebted to the 

 obliging kindness of the Reverend John Gunn for a fine 

 series which he has transmitted to me for illustration on the 

 present occasion. So far as my observation has gone, the 

 species have invariably proved to be either Loxodon meridi- 

 onalis or Euelephas antiquus, and among the associated pachy- 

 derms Rhinoceros leptorhinus and Hippopotamus major. A 

 vast number of Elephant grinders have been found along the 

 coast, near Happisburgh, Mundesley, and Cromer. The col- 

 lection of Miss Gurney has acquired a celebrity for its richness 

 in these remains. Molars of Euelephas primigenius, the Si- 

 berian Mammoth, are occasionally picked up upon the beach, 

 mingled with the other species, especially below the Cromer 

 cliffs ; but the admixture would seem to be merely adven- 

 titious, from the Mammoth grinders having fallen out of 

 the superincumbent drift or gravel. They are usually in a 

 different mineral condition froni the more ancient remains, 

 and readily distinguishable. 



The Elephant molars, from the Norfolk mud-cliffs, both of 

 Loxodon meridionalis and Euelephas antiquus, occur in two 

 very different states of mineralization. Those from the gravel- 

 banks of Happisburgh and Mundesley exhibit generally a 

 reddish-brown colour, from ferruginous infiltration; and 

 when they have been subjected to the action of the sea they 

 usually show more or less of a vitreous polish. They are hard, 

 heavy, and compact, with a specific gravity of 2 '73, as compared 

 with 2 - 08 in the recent molar of the Indian Elephant, while 

 grinders from the blue clay of Cromer adhere to the tongue 

 and give out a strong ammoniacal odour when burnt. I have 



