1869.] DAWlilNS BRITISH POSXeLACIAL MAMMALS. 207 



jpMlus eryihrogenoides, Arvicola pratensis, A. agrestis, and A. am- 

 phihius. None of these are of any special value in classification 

 except the Machairodus, to the discussion of which animal we shall 

 return. On the other hand, out of 31 mammals found in the river- 

 deposits there is only one, the Musk- Sheep, which has not been 

 found in the caves. There can, therefore, be no doubt that the 

 deposits in the caverns are palseontologicallj synchronous with those 

 in the river-beds. 



§ 6. Predominant Animals. — Fossil remains indicate the compara- 

 tive numbers of the animals to which they belonged, only when their 

 destructibihty and size are taken into consideration. Thus the 

 stone-like molars of the Mammoth would survive the destruction of 

 all traces of the bones of the smaller animals, and remain in many 

 instances as the sole evidence that Postglacial mammals ever dwelt 

 in the area where they were found. The carnivores also must neces- 

 sarily be fewer in number than their prey, the herbivora; and 

 therefore their remains must also be more rare. Moreover the 

 ruminants that shed their antlers annually cannot be compared 

 with those of their order with persistent horns, because out of equal 

 numbers of each the former will leave far more abundant traces. 

 Keeping these facts in mind, it is not at all remarkable that the 

 Mammoth should be more abundantly found in England than any 

 other mammal ; but when it is compared with Elephas antiquus it 

 will be seen that their relative numbers stand in the proportion of 

 82 to 30 *. Had all the cases of the isolated occurrence of the 

 former animal been noted, the numerical dLfferenee would have been 

 far greater. The tichorhine Rhinoceros stands in relation to the 

 leptorhine in the proportion of 54 to 18 ; the Eeindeer to the E,ed- 

 deer and Roedeer as 44 to 30 and 8. The numerical proportion of 

 the Bison to the Urus was as 49 to 27 ; that of the Hycena spelcea 

 to the Cave Lion as 29 to 28 ; that of the Wolf to the Fox as 27 to 

 22. The few traces of the Musk- Sheep show that it was a stranger, 

 and very rare in Britain, as compared with Bisons and Uri. 



The comparatively few traces of man that have been found, when 

 the indestructibility of his implements of stone and chert is taken 

 into consideration, prove that he was not only few in numbers, but 

 also that for a very long period he did not use flint implements in 

 Britain f. 



§ 7. Postglacial Mammals of Scotland and Ireland. — The number 

 of the localities in England and Wales that have furnished Post- 

 glacial mammals is at the least 148. We will proceed now to the 

 examination of those found in Scotland. The earliest recorded dis- 

 covery is that made in 1817, of the Mammoth in the parish of 



* The 36 caves added to 112 river-deposits furnish the common denomi- 

 nator, 148, to thes? numbers. 



t I am indebted to Mr. John Evans, F.R.S., for the following additional 

 localities that have furnished palaeolithic implements — Bournemouth, Fording- 

 bridge, Isle of Wight, Swalecliff, Canterbury, Highbury, King's Lynn, Bury 

 St. Edmunds, Brandon, Shrub Hill ; and to Mr. Whitaker, F.G^.S., for the fol- 

 lowing — Horton Kirby, in the valley of the Darent, Luton, Shefford, Valley of 

 Med way south of Rochester (Kent). 



