188 MR. E. T. NEWTON ON THE VERTEBRATE [May 1 894, 



15. The Vertebrate Fauna collected by Mr. Lewis Abbott from 

 the Fissure near Ightham, Kent. By E. T. Neavton, Esq., 

 F.R.S., F.G.S. (Read January 24th, 1894.) 



[Plates X.-XIL] 



Contents. Paffe 



I. Introduction 188 



IT. Eeview of the Species. 



Amphibia 189 



Reptilia 190 



Aves 191 



Mammalia 192 



III. Table of Distribution of the Vertebrata found in the Ightham Fissure. 203 



IV. Conclusions 204 



I. Introduction. 



The remains of vertebrate animals collected during the last two or 

 three years, with much care and in large numbers, by Mr. Lewis 

 Abbott, from one of the fissures in the Kentish Rag near Ightham, 

 in Kent, have been from time to time brought to me for exami- 

 nation and identification. The outcome of this study of many 

 hundreds of specimens is contained in the present paper. 



The occurrence of Pleistocene mammalian remains in Kent is 

 well known, and Mr. W. Topley 1 has noticed such remains in the 

 brick-earth filling long chasms in the Kentish Rag, which he alludes 

 to as ' Pipes,' varying much in size and very numerous in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Maidstone. In one such chasm at Boughton, 3 miles 

 south of Maidstone, numerous bones were found by Mr. Braddick 

 many years ago, and Dr. Buckland 2 was of opinion that these 

 ossiferous cavities were ■ caverns.' So far as I have been able to 

 ascertain, this is the only recorded instance of mammalian remains 

 being found in what appear to be caves or fissures in the Wealden 

 area. The species found at Boughton are enumerated by Prof. Boyd 

 Dawkins 3 in his paper on the ' Distribution of the British Post- 

 Glacial Mammals,' namely, Hyaena spelaea [ = //. crocuta], Cervus 

 tarandus, C. elaphvs, Bos primigenius, Equus caballus, Rhinoceros 

 tivJiorhinus, and Elephas primigenius ; all these species, with the 

 exception of Bos primigenius, have been found in the Ightham 

 fissure. The larger fossil mammalia of the South-east of England 

 have received much attention at the hands of many investigators, 

 and several valuable collections have been made, chiefly from the 

 Thames Valley, notably that of Sir Antonio Brady, now in the 

 British Museum, that of Dr. Cotton, preserved in the Museum of 

 Practical Geology, and that brought together by Dr. Spurrell, of 



1 ' Geology of the Weald,' Mem. Geol. Surv. 1875, p. 179. 



a Phil. Mag. ser. 2, vol. ii. (1827) p. 73. 



3 Quart. Journ. Greol. Soc. vol. xxv. (1869) p. 192. 



