106 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 9, 



• from the latter by the enormous development of the nasal bones and 

 the absence of the cloison or long partition between the nostrils. 



Of the Wild Boar there is nothing to be said, except that it ranges 

 from the forest-bed of jN'orfolk up to the present day, and is pro- 

 bably the lineal ancestor of that still alive in the wilder parts of 

 Europe. It was, however, comparatively rare in the Pleistocene 

 period, occurring only in 4 out of 26 ossiferous caverns, and in 4 out 

 of 35 stratified deposits, which constitute my Tables of distribution of 

 British mammalia, which I hope shortly to publish in the works of 

 the Palseontographical Society. 



The Hippopotamus major is to be placed in precisely the same 

 category as the Eleplias antiquus — as a Pliocene species that passed 

 northwards over the Alps into France, England, and Germany, into 

 what must have been the area in which the Northern and Southern 

 faunae met. Its occurrence in association with the remains of 

 northern animals may be explained in the same way as that of 

 Elephas antiquus, and is probably due to oscillation of climate — a view 

 that Sir Charles Lyell has adopted in his 6th edition of 'The 

 Elements,' in 1865. " 



The last two species, the Beaver and the Water-Eat, present no 

 points that are useful for my present purpose relative to the Brick- 

 earths in question. 



y. Relation to PrcEglacial and Postglacial Faunas. Such is the 

 brief epitome of the fossil species, and their range in space and 

 time ; let us now pass to the consideration of the value of their 

 evidence in stamping the relative age of the deposits in which 

 they occur, as compared with the Preeglacial forest-bed, the Post- 

 glacial river-beds, and the ossiferous caverns which are probably of 

 Postglacial age. The following Table is an abstract of the larger 

 one bearing on this question, which was constructed after an exami- 

 nation during more than five years of British and Irish collections of 

 mammalia. 



A study of this Table enables us to draw important inferences as 

 to the geological age of the Lower Brick-earths. Passing over all 

 the species which are common to the 4 columns, and, therefore, of 

 no classificatory value, the presence of Eleplias priscus and Rhino- 

 ceros megarhinus indicates the affinity of the group to the Prseglacial 

 deposits of Norfolk and to the foreign Pliocene strata. The tichorhine 

 and leptorhine Rhinoceroses, on the other hand, point towards deposits 

 of clearly defined Postglacial age. It was probably this peculiar clash 

 of evidence that led Dr. Falconer* to believe that the organic 

 remains must represent two geological epochs, and especially because 

 these animals had never before been found in association. For any 

 other fact in corroboration of his hypothesis I have sought in vain. 

 The beds under consideration are also as remarkable for the absence 

 of some as for the presence of others of the Pleistocene mammals. 

 The Prseglacial Trogonthere, Rhinoceros Etruscus, Elephas meridio- 

 nalis, Sorex moschatus and Cervus dicranios are absent on the one 

 hand, the entire group of Postglacial Arctic mammalia, the Glutton, 



■5J Op. cit. 



