462 PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS DISCUSSION. [Aug. 1894, 



Mr. G. B. Laffan said that most of the bones referred to in the 

 paper had been collected by him personally, and he pointed out on the 

 section the position in which these bones were found. They all came 

 from the bottom of the cutting, either from the dark bed of loam itself, 

 or in close proximity thereto. In the first part of the section no 

 fossils were found, but immediately the dark bed was reached 

 organic remains were discovered in large quantities. For a con- 

 siderable distance through the cutting they were found, and always 

 at about the same depth from the surface. There was nothing in 

 the circumstances under which they were found to support the 

 suggestion of Prof Hughes that some, such as the bones of the 

 bison and reindeer, were from a layer different from that whence 

 the others, such as Bos longifrons, came. No difference whatever 

 was noticeable in the gravels, and the bones were found in every 

 instance either embedded in the dark layer itself or immediately 

 above it. Several sections have been made in the gravels in the 

 neighbourhood of Twickenham, and the London Clay is usually met 

 with at depths of 15 to 30 feet below the surface of the ground. 

 Organic remains are very rare in the gravels overlying the London 

 Clay. The large quantity of bones, seeds, and shells found in con- 

 nexion with this dark bed of loam makes the layer one of some 

 interest to geologists, an interest which is increased by a com- 

 parison with the dark bed discovered two years ago in Endsleigh 

 Street, described by Dr. Hicks at a previous meeting of this 

 Society, and in which very similar organic remains were found. 



Prof. Hull, having seen the sections near TJpminster, quite 

 concurred with Mr. Holmes that they showed old Thames Valley 

 gravel resting on Boulder Clay. He wished to refer to the changes 

 in relative levels of this part of England and of the outer sea, in- 

 dicated by the old river- gravels — both those of Essex and those of 

 Twickenham described by Dr. Leeson. It was probable that these 

 gravels were representative of each other on either side of the Thames 

 Valley, and as the surfaces of the terraces formed by them gradually 

 rose inwards to about 200 feet near Egham and Windsor, they must 

 have been deposited when the land was lower than at present by 

 about this amount. During the process of re-elevation, the river 

 cut back and deepened its channel until the present physical con- 

 ditions were established. 



Dr. Leeson said that the Saiga antelope had been found in the 

 gravels at Twickenham about \ mile east of the present section, 

 and that these gravels were continuous with those now described. 

 The Saiga was, however, much nearer the surface. With regard 

 to the bone of Bos longifrons, about which so much interest had 

 been excited, he could only say that it was brought to him by 

 the same workmen as those who had brought the reindeer and 

 bison, and that the bones were all mixed together in a sack. He 

 saw no reason to question the one occurrence more than the other, 

 and could vouch for the strata in which they are all said to have 

 been found being undisturbed ground. 



Mr. T. V. Holmes briefly replied to the remarks made on his paper. 



