Flora and Fauna. 359 



geton (Pondweed), together with fronds and rhizomes 

 of ferns. 



In the Forest bed and the overlying gravel the fol- 

 lowing land mammalia have been found : Elephas 

 antiquus (the ancestor of the African Elephant), E. 

 meridionalis, Rhinoceros megarrhinus, JR. Etruscus, 

 Hippopotamus major, Equus caballus (the common 

 horse), Mackairodus (a tiger ?), Bison prisons (?), Bos 

 primigenius (Aurochs), Sus Arvernensis ; four species 

 of bears, Ursus Arvernensis, U. Spelceus (Cave bear ?), 

 U. EtruscuSy U. arctos (White bear) ; six species of 

 deer, Cervus megaceros (often miscalled the Irish elk), 

 C. elaphus (Ked deer), C. Sedgwickii, C. Poligniacus, 

 C. capreolus (Roedeer), Mygale moschata (Musk 

 shrew), Sorexfodiens and S. remifer ( Shrews), Arvicola 

 amphibia (Field-mouse), Castor Europceus (common 

 beaver), Trogontherium Cuvieri (a great Beaver), two 

 species of whales, and fish. 1 The whole speaks of a 

 past physical geography, at least during part of which, 

 with a mild climate, our country seems to have been 

 joined to the Continent. It must, however, be confessed 

 that this assemblage of mammalia is not quite devoid 

 of the appearance of being a little too miscellaneous, 

 and several authors have declared that some of the 

 bones, having been picked up on the shore between 

 high and low water mark, may have been washed up 

 from the neighbouring sea-bottom, and thus got mixed 

 with others of later geological date which really belong 

 to the Forest bed. However this may be I have given 

 the list as it originally stood, with some slight corrections 

 by Professor Boyd Dawkins, and whichever theory be 



1 The above list is taken from Mr. Prestwich < On the Crag Beds 

 of Suffolk and Norfolk ; ' < Quarterly Journal of the Geological 

 Society,' vol. xxvii., p. 466. 



