1872.] DAWKrNS — P0EEST-BT5IJ CEEVIDiE. 405 



melting snow from the mountains, and by a few hot or warm springs 

 along its banks. In August 1870 it was fordable with difficulty, 

 except about 9 a.m., when it is usually at its lowest. I suppose 

 that the rise and fall of the river alternately fills and empties the 

 bottoms of the pits, and the water left in these pits gradually gets 

 concentrated by evaporation, I am not aware how much salt the 

 water contains ; but there is saline efflorescence all along its banks, 

 and the prevalence of tamarisks shows that the water or soil, or 

 both, contain salt. It is difficult to account for the extreme 

 regularity in the shape and size of the pits. Mr. Shaw gives 

 four to seven yards as the diameter of those he noticed ; those seen 

 by me were not above four to seven feet as a rule. Possibly we have 

 both observed correctly ; and in some localities they may be large, 

 and in others small. Mr. Etheridge has suggested to me that these 

 pits may be analogous to the sand-pipes and swallow-holes in the 

 Chalk noticed in the ' Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Middle- 

 sex,' pp. 11 and 12, or more probably to some natural pits on the 

 heaths of Dorsetshire, described by the Rev. Osmond Fisher in this 

 Journal, vol. xv. p. 187; but on these points I feel I am not competent 

 to give an opinion, 



DlSCTTSSION. 



Mr. PREsrsviCH pointed out that the pits seemed due to quite 

 another cause than the pipes in the Chalk and other calcareous 

 rocks, as they did not appear to arise from erosion by carbonic acid. 



Mr. Thoep suggested an analogy between the phenomena in 

 Yarkand and those at Kantwich, and thought that the pits might 

 be due to solution of rock-salt below the surface. 



2, On the CBEviDiE of the Foeest-bed of Nokeolk and Sxjfeolk. 

 By W. Boyd JDawkins, Esq., M.A,, F.R.S., F.G.S. 



Contents. 



1. A new species. 



2. Other species in the Forest-bed. 



3. Classiiicatory value of the Ccrvidce. 



1. A New Species. 



Among the very remarkable and little-known Cervldce from the 

 Forest-bed of Norfolk, there is one form which is certainly new to 

 Britain, and which I cannot identify with any of the Continental 

 species. It is represented by a series of antlers in the Museums of 

 Norwich and of the Geological Survey of England and Wales, in the 

 British Museum, and in the collection of Mr. Jarvis, of Cromer. The 

 clue to the restoration of the perfect antler is afforded by a specimen 

 which was obtained by my friend the late Rev. S. "W. King from 

 Happisburgh. 



The series of antlers in question is characterized by the sudden 



