590 PRIMEVAL MAN, 



ossiferous caves in England and Wales referable to a fauna of a more 

 ancient geological date. 



' 3. That Elephas (Loxodon) meridionalis and Rhinoceros Etruscus, 

 ■which occur in, and are characteristic of, the " Submarine Forest-bed" 

 that immediately underlies the Boulder-clay on the Norfolk coast, have 

 nowhere been met with in the British caverns. 



'4. That Elephas antiquus with Rlunoceros hemitaichus and E. 

 primigenius Avith Rh. tichorhinus, though respectively characterizing the 

 earlier and later portions of one period, were probably contemporary 

 animals; and that they certainly were companions of the Cave-Bears, 

 Gave-Lions, Cave-Hyamas, &c, and of some at least of the existing 

 Mammalia.' 



The inferences arrived at were at least definite, in indi- 

 cating the fauna of the ossiferous caves of England to be 

 Post-Glacial. They were at the time unexpected, and, when 

 communicated, they encountered lively opposition in dis- 

 cussion as being opposed to the views then commonly enter- 

 tained regarding the age of the fauna of the caves, and of 

 the Quaternary deposits of the river valleys which yield 

 remains of the same Mammalia in corresponding association. 

 But their soundness has not been impugned since, and the 

 subsequent discovery by Mr. Prestwich, at Sudbury and Bed- 

 ford, of an analogous deposit containing bones of Hippopo- 

 tamus and other mammalian species characteristic of the 

 Thames Valley beds, superimposed upon the glacial drift, 

 proved that the brick-earths and gravels of the Thames 

 Valley were Post-Glacial ; while my own researches upon their 

 mammalian remains showed that their fauna was identical 

 with that of the caves, which I had inferred from another 

 class of evidence to be Post-Glacial. Mr. Prestwich had long 

 and consistently held the opinion that the Grays Thurrock 

 and Ilford beds were later than the Boulder-clay; 1 but it was 

 not until after many years of ineffectual search that the 

 Sudbury and Bedford sections enabled him to prove the case 

 stratigraphically. The conclusions above cited, regarding 

 the Gower caves — exclusive of the second, which is irre- 

 levant — are at the present time applicable categorically to 

 the Post-Glacial deposits of the Valley of the Thames, in so 

 far as their age and mammalian fauna are concerned. 



VI. 



These cave researches extended over several years, and 

 involved an examination of every cave district in England, 

 besides numerous caves on the Continent. They demanded 

 also the careful study of every accessible collection of 



' Mr. Joshua Trimmer held the same | opinion that the same fauna in the cavee 

 view, but coupled with it the erroneous | was prrglacial. (Supra, p. 583.) 



