On the Newer Tertiaries of Suffolk and their Fauna. 387 



been found in the Suffolk Bone-bed. Mr. Laukester suggested that 

 the association of the first two of these three groups of mammals in 

 Suffolk, and of the second two in Norfolk, might be explained by the 

 hypothesis that they succeeded one another in time, the first (late 

 Miocene)being confined to Suffolk, and dating from before the Dies tien 

 period, since he had obtained a Mastodon tooth of the M. tapiroides 

 form enclosed in a Diestien box-stone, the third having existed in 

 Norfolk at a period subsequent to the Coralline Crag, but before the 

 Norwich Crag was deposited, chiefly represented in the lower part 

 of the Forest-bed, but also in the Stone-bed, whilst the second 

 group of mammals had existed in both areas at an intermediate 

 period. Mr. Lankester maintained that this was the explanation 

 suited to the facts as they at present stand, and considered that the 

 question was not one to be shirked. All geological inferences from 

 paleontology rest on what is called negative evidence, and hypo- 

 theses must be used in investigation. It was shown that the London 

 clay had contributed very little indeed to the number of mammalian 

 remains found in the Suffolk Bone-bed. Six teeth of Coryphodon 

 and four fragments of Byracotherium were all that could be found 

 in the various collections. 



(2) The Suffolk Box-stones. — These nodules the author had pre- 

 viously described as being the remains of a deposit approximately 

 similar to the Diestien or Black Crag of Antwerp, which had pre- 

 ceded the Coralline Crag in Suffolk. An enlarged list of remains of 

 Mollusca from these nodules was given, and a large series of spe- 

 cimens collected by the author was presented to the Society's Mu- 

 seum. It was from the Diestien beds, containing Conns JDujardinii, 

 Voluta auris-leporis, Isocardia lunulata, &c., that the Cetacean re- 

 mains of the Suffolk Bone-bed were derived. 



(3) A new Ziphioid Cetacean from the Bone-bed of Suffolk. — The 

 rostrum (described in detail) was in the collection of the Ipswich 

 Museum. It indicated a Cetacean of the genus Choneziphius, differ- 

 ing from C. planirostris of Cuvier and C. Cuvieri (of Prof. Owen's 

 recent Monograph) in having a solid projecting apex to the rostrum, 

 and no trace of a bifid structure. Mr. Lankester had recently care- 

 fully examined Cuvier's original specimens in Paris, and suggested 

 that possibly Choneziphius planirostris, C. Cuvieri, this, and two 

 other Antwerp specimens are but varieties of one species, according 

 to age and sex. This form, however, was noted as Choneziphius 

 Packardi. 



(4) A new Mastodon from the Suffolk Bone-bed. — A Mastodon 

 tooth, enclosed in Diestien matrix, and indicating a form with open 

 and clear valleys, had been obtained by Mr. Baker of Woodbridge, 

 and noticed by the author a year ago. He had since, in various 

 collections, detected eight other fragments of a Mastodon, very di- 

 stinct from M. arvernensis, and approaching M. tapiroides. Possibly 

 the fragments indicated more than one such distinct species. The 

 condition of these specimens and other evidence tended to associate 

 them with the Rhinoceros Schleiermacheri, Hipparion, &c. forming 



