186 ADDRESS. |>ect. 



both present, but the former was by far the most abun- 

 dant. The reindeer, again, was fifty times as numerous 

 as the red deer ; but, perhaps, the most surprising case 

 is that of the foxes. About eighty individuals were re- 

 presented, and of these more than forty-five belonged to 

 the Canis fulvus, or North American fox ; more than 

 twenty to the Arctic fox (Canis lagopus), which has also 

 been met with in England by Mr. Busk under similar 

 circumstances, and will, probably, be found to have been 

 sometimes mistaken for the common fox ; while of the 

 common European fox, only two or three could be deter- 

 mined. In other respects, the fauna of this ancient period 

 is interesting, as tending to connect forms now distinct. 

 Thus, according to Mr. Busk, than whom there is no 

 higher authority on the Pleistocene mammalia, some re- 

 mains of bears found in the bone caves are identical with 

 those of the American grizzly bear ; and the ancient bison 

 was intermediate between the existing bison of America 

 and the European aurochs. 



The next consideration on which the antiquity of these 

 remains depends, is the nature and position of the river 

 gravels in which they are found. These gravels have 

 evidently been formed and deposited by the rivers them- 

 selves, when they ran at a higher level, that is to say, 

 before they had excavated their valleys to the present 

 depth. Even at that time, the areas of drainage, at least 

 of the principal rivers in question, for instance the Somme, 

 the Seine, the Oise, the Thames, &c, were the same as 

 now. This is proved by the fact that the pebbles which 

 constitute the gravels are always such as might have 

 been derived from the area of drainage. Thus the 

 gravels of the Somme are made up of flint pebbles, the 



