112 FOSSIL MAMMALIAN REMAINS. 
2. Wixp Boar, Sus scrofa, Linn. 
Very few instances of the occurrence of the wild boar in a 
fossil state have, up to the present time come under my notice- 
This is perhaps the more remarkable, as so many traditional 
reports of its former existence during the historic period have 
been handed down to us. The following is, perhaps, the most 
remarkable, and may have been the source of all the brawn 
stories of this and neighbouring counties. ‘‘ A Roman altar 
is preserved at Stanhope Rectory, found on Bollihope Common, 
with this inscription :— Silvano invicto sacrum C. Tetius Veturius 
Micianus pref. Ala Sebosiane, ob aprumeximie forme captum, 
quem multi antecessores ejus predart non potuerunt. Votum 
solvens, lubenter posuit—(Hutchinson’s Durham, vol. i1., under 
Stanhope; Gent. Mag. Oct. 1749, p. 449.) But it is satisfac- 
tory to know that it has been found in one or two places in 
deposits which have some claim to be considered at least pre- 
historic. 
Teeth of the wild boar, associated with skeletons of the red 
deer, have been found in a lacustrine marl beneath a bed of peat 
at Middleton bog, near Wooler. This lacustrine marl, which is 
about eight feet in thickness, rests on the boulder clay and 
gravel of the district, and is covered by a deposit of peat two to 
four feet thick. Numerous remains of freshwater shells belong- 
ing to the genera, limnea, succinea, planorbis, valvata, and 
cyclas have contributed to form this bed of marl, which no 
doubt indicates the site of an ancient lake.* 
The Rev. Wm. Greenwell has obligingly reported to me the 
occurrence of the cranium of a wild boar, which was dug up at 
the depth of thirteen feet, in making the main drain in the 
North Bailey at Durham. It was embedded in alluvial sand 
with remains of red deer. 
The fine boar’s head on the table is of interest only from the 
circumstances under which it was found. It was discovered 
during the sinking of a well in the blown sand which covers the 
top of the Trow Rocks, near South Shields. On examining the 
* Proceedings of the Berwick Nat. Field Club, 1860. 
