470 PEocEEDiNGS OP THE aEOtoGTCAL SOCIETY. [June 19, 



numerous portions of detached plates, in all probability belonging 

 to this tooth, occur in the collection, I conclude that the specimen 

 represents the last upper molar in a state of germ or nearly so. 



4. The third specimen is a nearly perfect upper molar, entirely 

 in the germ-state. It is about 3" long by 2"-2 wide, and exhibits 

 eight plates, and apparently had at least one or two more at the an- 

 terior end. It would therefore appear to be an m.m 4, or m 1, al- 

 though, if so, it is of rather unusual width. 



DESCRIPTION OF PLATE XXIX. 

 Figs. 1 and 2. Two fourth metatarsals of Hippopotaimis major. 



Discussion. 



Mr. Peestwich complimented Col. Lane Pox on the exactness and 

 completeness of his description of the classical district which he had 

 investigated, in which mammalian bones had been found and de- 

 scribed by Mr.Trimmer so early as 1815. In that case Hippopotamus- 

 remains, very fresh and unworn, had also been discovered. Prof, 

 Morris had also described a deposit near Brentford in which nume- 

 rous remains of Reindeer were present, showing how variable was 

 the distribution of mammalian remains even in a limited area, 

 and how unsafe it was to base theories upon merely negative evi- 

 dence. It was to be hoped that other investigators would extend 

 similar discoveries to other parts of the valley of the Thames. 



Mr. Godwin -Austen did not think that the presence of the young 

 Hippopotamus was absolutely conclusive of its having been born in 

 this country. "With regard to the presence of remains of Reindeer 

 and Hippopotamus in the same beds, not only might there have 

 been an overlapping of faunas such as has been pointed out by Sir 

 Charles Lyell, but there might also be an intermingling of the 

 included remains from two beds of different ages. He was not 

 altogether satisfied with the evidence as to the coexistence of man 

 with Elephas primigenius, nor as to the artificial character of some 

 of the presumed implements. He did not attach any great import- 

 ance to the merely fragmentary bones. 



Mr. Evans maintained that the implements exhibited were of 

 necessity artificial, and commented on the nature of the evidence as 

 to the coexistence of man vsath the Pleistocene fauna. Under any 

 circumstances the gravels containing the implements could only have 

 been deposited at a time when the Thames valley had not been exca- 

 vated to any thing like its present depth ; and they were therefore of 

 great antiquity. There was, moreover, a notable absence in them 

 of a number of the animals usually found associated with Neolithic 

 implements ; and if man had not subsisted on the animals the re- 

 mains of which were found associated with his handiworks in the 

 gravels, it was a question on what food he had had to depend. The 

 absence of implements in the low-level gravels seemed to him sig- 

 nificant of a diminution in the number of the human beings who 

 frequented the banks of the river. 



