1872.] DAWKINS — CLASSIFICATION OF PLBISIOCENE STRATA. 41 7 



the South, of Erance, where the proximity of the Mediterranean 

 must have caused the temperature to be higher than in the north 

 of Prance and Britain. 



The evidence that Kent's Hole and Brixham Cavern had, at one 

 time, been occupied by an accumulation of cave-earth and stones, 

 which were sealed down with a coating of stalagmite, and that this 

 was subsequently destroyed before either was filled with the deposits 

 which it now contains, is clear and decisive. 



During the Middle Pleistocene in the Thames valley, and atClacton, 

 the Woolly Rhinoceros, Elephant and Mammoth, competed for the 

 same feeding-grounds with llhinoceros hemitoechus, li. megarJiinus, 

 Hippopotamus, and Eleplias antiquus. Although all the charac- 

 teristic Pliocene CervidEe had retreated, the Eeindeer had not yet 

 invaded that area : it was occupied by the Stag, the Roe, the Irish 

 Elk, and Cervus Browni. The whole assemblage of animals, the 

 Musk- sheep being excepted, implies that the climate was, at this time, 

 less severe than when the Reindeer spread over the same area in the 

 Late Pleistocene times, and was far more numerous than the Stag. 

 It may, indeed, be objected that the classificatory value of the 

 Musk-sheep is quite as great as that of Rhinoceros megarJiinus; 

 but in the case of the lower Brick-earths, the evidence of the latter 

 as to climate agrees with that of the whole assemblage of animals, 

 while that of the former is altogether discordant. 



6. The Eaely Pleistocene Mammalia. 



The fossil mammalia must now be examined which inhabited Great 

 Britain during the Early Pleistocene period, and before the maximum 

 severity of glacial cold had as yet been reached. The fossil bones 

 from the forest-bed which iinderlies the Boulder-clay on the shores 

 of Norfolk and Suffolk, have for many years attracted the attention of 

 naturalists and geologists. The magnificent collections of the Rev. 

 John Gunn and the late Rev. S. W. King gave Dr. Falconer the means 

 of proving that the fauna of that ancient submerged forest differed 

 from that of any geological period which we have hitherto discussed. 

 And the careful diagnosis of all the fossils from this horizon which 

 I have been able to meet with, shows thai: it was of a very peculiar 

 character, being closely allied to the Pliocene of the south of France 

 and of Italy, and yet possessing species which are undoubtedly 

 Pleistocene. The following list is necessarily very imperfect, since 

 the fragmentary nature of the fossils renders a specific identification 

 very hazardous ; and it only includes those which I have been able 

 to identify with any degree of certainty. 



Sorex moschatus. 



vulgaris. 



Talpa europffia. 

 Trogontherium Cuvieri. 

 Castor fiber. 

 Ursus spelaeus. 



arvernensis. 



Canis lupus. 

 vulpes. 



Machajrodus. 

 Cerrus megaceros. 



capreolus. 



elaphus. 



Polignacus. 



earn utor urn. 



verticornis. 



Sedgwickii. 



Bos primigenius. 



Hippopotamus major. 

 Sus scrofa. 

 Equus caballus. 

 Rhinoceros etruscus. 



megarhinus. 



Elephas meridionalis. 



antiquus. 



primigenius. 



