THE 



GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE, 



No. LI.— SEPTEMBER, 1868. 



I. — Note on the Discovery of Bos Primigenius in the Lower 

 Boulder-clay of Scotland. 



By James Geikie, F.G.S., etc. 



IT will interest some of your readers to hear that remains of Bos 

 primigenius have recently been obtained from the true till or lower 

 Boulder-clay of Scotland. The specimens hitherto found appear to 

 have come eitiier from the fine Glacial brick-clays, which are posterior 

 in date to the larger portion of our Boulder-clay, or from deposits of 

 still later age. A few days ago I heard that the navvies employed 

 in making the new " Crofthead and Kilmarnock Extension Eailway " 

 had come upon what was described to me as a '* wonderful big bull's 

 head." I lost no time in visiting the locality, and saw the fossil in 

 the possession of Mr. John Strain, C.E., who allowed me to examine 

 it, and was afterwards kind enough to accompany me to the railway 

 cutting in order to point out the exact spot from which the relic was 

 taken. The skull is in rather an imperfect state, and only one of 

 the horn-cores remains, the other having been broken off near the 

 base. The perfect core measures 31 inches in length along the outer 

 curve, and gives at its base a circumference of 14 inches. The 

 breadth of the forehead between the horns is 10 inches. From the 

 character of the flat forehead, from the origin of the cores, and from 

 the direction and curvature of the remaining one, there can be no 

 doubt that the skull is that of Bos primigenius. The fossil was im- 

 bedded some few feet deep in a soft clay or mud, interlaminated with 

 lines and beds of sand, and occasional layers of fine gravel. In 

 some of the layers of clay, I detected a little vegetable matter, but 

 in such a state of decay, that I could not be certain as to the cha- 

 racter of the plant. It appeared to resemble the fibres of some 

 heath. These beds occupy a basin-shaped depression, and rest partly 

 on Boulder-clay and partly on rock. I do not know how thick they 

 may be towards the centre of the trough, for the cutting has not 

 been carried down to the rock or Boulder-clay ; but, at least, from 

 10 to 15 feet of stratified materials are there exposed, and the total 

 thickness is probably as much again. The strata are overlaid by 

 Boulder- clay in such a way as to leave no doubt on the mind that 

 they form an intercalated series. I was particularly careful to ascer- 



VOL. V. — NO. LI. ' 26 



