Yol. 50.] PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS AT TWICKENHAM. 459 



(Nat. Hist.), the work of human hands. It is a curious fact that 

 only the marrow-bones had been so damaged, the more solid meta- 

 tarsal and metacarpal bones (devoid of marrow) being undamaged 

 and entire. The frontal bones of the Bos are all broken up in a 

 definite and peculiar manner, and the cranial bones fractured into 

 many small pieces, nor could any large toothmarks upon the bones 

 be found which might have explained the fracturing as due to beasts 

 of prey. Looking at the bones themselves, there would seem to be 

 very little doubt that these fractures indicate the presence of man, 

 were it not for the fact that Mr. Clement Reid has informed us that 

 the same thing is frequently seen in the long bones of the Cromer 

 Eorest Bed, where the agency of man is out of the question. 

 Nevertheless, it is exceedingly difficult for us to believe that so 

 many bones could have been fractured in so definite and apparently 

 purposeful a manner without enlisting the factor of human agency, 

 especially as the presence of man in England at a time anterior to 

 these deposits is not disputed. 



No flint-implements, however, have been found in the Twicken- 

 ham gravels, although carefully and constantly searched for. Yet 

 they have been found in fairly large numbers dredged from the 

 Thames in the immediate vicinity, along with the bones of animals 

 now living, and are all of the Neolithic type ; but the undisturbed 

 gravels are quite barren in this respect. 



Of the Twickenham seeds determined by Mr. Clement Reid, one 

 half of the species are the same as those discovered by Dr. Hicks in 

 Endsleigh Street (which were also determined by Mr. Clement Reid) 

 and declared to characterize marshy places and ponds. 1 The mol- 

 lusca are far more abundant at Twickenham, we having 8 species, 

 whereas Dr. Hicks had only 2. The vertebrates are very different, 

 Cervus elapfms being the only one common to both sections. 



In connexion with the fauna of the district, and as throwing some 

 light upon the conclusions at the end of this paper, we may mention 

 here that the bones of rhinoceros have been found at Twickenham, 

 20 feet below the surface, in sand, at Messrs. Bennett and Hawkins's 

 Nursery Grounds, in digging for a deep well ; and 8 feet above them, 

 that is 12 feet from the surface, were found the bones of the horse 

 (Equus caballus). These would be \ mile to the east of our present 

 section, while \ mile still farther east the original specimen of the 

 Saiga antelope {Saiga tartarica) was discovered in sand below 

 the superficial gravel, 7 feet from the surface, and presented to the 

 British Museum — it was the first evidence of the occurrence of this 

 animal in Pleistocene Britain. 



Conclusions. 



The gravels at Twickenham which, up to the time of this cutting, 

 have been regarded as uniform, indefinite, and almost destitute of 

 organic remains, are now shown to contain a varied fauna and 

 flora, suggestive of great climatic and other changes. 



1 Quart. Journ, Geol. Soc. vol. xlviii. (1892) p. 458. 



