LIFE OF TIIE QUATERNARY PERIOD. 



5YB 



through them. It seems probable that they are mostly due to the ac- 

 tion of subterranean waters in Champlain times. At that time full 

 streams ran through and excavated them, partly by erosion, partly by 

 solution. Gradually, as the Terrace elevation came on, the great 

 streams into which these cavern tributaries ran cut down their beds to 

 lower levels, the subterranean waters sought lower levels, and the part 

 running through the caverns was reduced to drippings ; and stalagmitic 

 crusts covered the Champlain rubbish and preserved them. Thus, 

 then, the date of the caves is Champlain; of the bone-rubbish is 

 Champlain and early Terrace ; of the stalagmitic crust is later Terrace 

 and Kecent. 



2. Beaches and Terraces. — On these are found the remains of bodies 

 which have floated and become stranded. The most abundant of these 

 are remains of Elephas jprimigenius or Mammoth. It is believed that 



mmm. 



ft N. J, f. ( /' 



Fig. 947.— Skeleton of the Irish Elk (Cervus megaceros), Post-Pliocene, Britain. 



the bones of 500 individuals have been found on the coast of Norfolk 

 and Suffolk, and over 2,000 grinders have been dredged up by the fish- 



