818 EEV. 0. FISHER ON THE 0CCT7RREXCE OF 



46. On the OcctrEHENCE of Elephas meridioxalis at Dewlish, 

 Dorset. By the Eev. 6. Pisher, M.A., F.G.S. (Eead June 20, 



1888.) 



In" the year 1877 I saw in the Blackmore Museum at Salisbury two 

 molars of an elephant, labelled " Dewlish, Dorset." I at once 

 attributed them to E. meridionalis, and they interested me much, 

 because I had been lately engaged upon the geology of Norfolk*, 

 only in the pre-glacial Forest-bed of which county, so far as I was 

 aware, that species had been found in this country. It was not, 

 however, till the autumn of the year 1887 that I obtained any 

 information upon the subject, when Mr. E. Cunnington, of 

 Dorchester, told me that large bones had been lately found at the 

 same place ; and he gave me an extract from an old notice by the 

 late Mr. Hall, a local antiquarian, that a memorandum of the 

 original find of these remains was published in the 'Monthly 

 Magazine ' for May, 1814, in which Mr. Hall states that " there is a 

 hiU in the parish of Dewlish which was always supposed to be 

 formed of chalk only ; but last summer (1813), about 100 feet above 

 the level of the foot of the hill, some sand was observed to be drawn 

 out by a mouse. It was taken notice of, and General Michel [the 

 proprietor of the land] sent workmen to seek for sand." At about 

 5 feet below the surface they found the teeth of the elephant, of 

 which two are now exhibited. The section observed by Mr. Hall is 

 recorded below. His description of the fossil remains is diverting. 



Mr. Blackmore, of Salisbur}-, in reply to my inquiries, writes that 

 the specimens in their Museum were obtained by his grandfather, Mr. 

 Shorto, in 1814 ; and an exceedingly sensible letter, written by him 

 to Mr. HaU, was published in ' Flint Chips,' page 20t. Mr. Black- 

 more says that Dr. Falconer, from rubbings only, attributed these 

 teeth to E. antiquus. But Mr. Ashford Sandford, on seeing the 

 specimens themselves, at once said, ^'Elephas meridionalis without 

 doubt," adding, " I have just been looking over the specimens at the 

 British Museum, and can speak positively." And this identification 

 was published in ' Flint Chips ' in 1870. Mr. Boyd Dawkins also 

 saw the specimens, and mentioned them to Dr. Leith Adams, who 

 had sketches forwarded to him, but would not allow that they 

 could be E. meridionalis^ because that species had never been found 

 so far west ; he also mistook Dewlish for Dawlish, in Devonshire. 



Mr. Cunnington's information revived my interest in the subject ; 

 and I visited the locality on September 23rd, 1887, in company 

 with my brother-in-law, Mr. H. B. Middleton. We were received 

 by Mr. C. Kent, the tenant of the farm, and by great good fortune 



* See " On the Denudations of Norfolk," Brit. Assoc. Norwich meeting, 1868 ; 

 Geol. Mag. vol. v. Dec. 1868. Also other papers on Norfolk by the author in 

 the same magazine. 



t ' Flint Chips,' by Joseph Stevens. London, 1870. 



