Yol. 59.] THE ELK IN THE THAMES VALLEY. 81 



Museum some mammalian remains from a cave at ' Lhandebie," 

 in Caermarthenshire, among which was a cervine jaw which he 

 referred to elk (' un maxillaire d'e'lan '). This determination was 

 given by J. A. Smith l as evidence of the elk in South Wales ; but 

 Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins 2 says that the specimen, which he saw 

 in the Oxford University Museum, is referable to the Irish Megaceros, 

 and not to the genus Alces. Up to the present I have not been 

 able to see the specimen, and accept Prof. Dawkins's correction. 



There is in the Natural History Museum at South Kensington 

 the left frontal and antler of Alces machlis (M. 3824), said to be 

 from Cleveland (Yorkshire), which was presented to the Museum by 

 the Trustees of the Christy Collection, in 1889. It appears that the 

 specimen was originally in the possession of the late Mr. Edward 

 Tindall, of Bridlington. Mr. Thomas Boynton, of Bridlington, who 

 knew Mr. Tindall and is much interested in the remains of fossil 

 elk, believes this specimen to be the one obtained by Mr. Tindall 3 

 from a lacustrine or peaty deposit on Carnaby Moor ; and in kindlv 

 answering my enquiries, says he thinks that some mistake has 

 crept in as to the locality on the label. He also says that he 

 himself possesses an antler of Alces machlis, found about 60 years 

 ago at Barraston, about a mile from Carnaby, in a similar lacustrine 

 deposit. It is not deemed necessary to allude specially to other 

 known specimens of fossil elk, as the references will be found in 

 the works noticed on pp. 88-89. 



I am now able to make known an interesting discovery of elk- 

 bones near Staines, on the River Thames. My colleague Mr. T. I. 

 Pocock, working in the district, found that some mammalian remains 

 had been discovered during the construction of the Staines Reservoir, 

 and wished them to be examined for the purposes of the Geological 

 Survey. By the Director's desire I examined these remains, which 

 included a skull with a pair of antlers undoubtedly belonging to 

 the elk, Alces machlis ; the range of which southward as far as the 

 Thames, was thus fully confirmed. It appears that some three or 

 four years ago, in connection with the construction of the large 

 reservoirs at Staines, an aqueduct was built leading from the Thames, 

 and at about 6 furlongs north-west of Staines the excavations for 

 this aqueduct were carried across the Wraysbury Kiver. Mr. W. 

 B. Duff, the resident engineer, to whom we are indebted for all the 

 particulars of this discovery, has kindly given me the following 

 information. It was at Youveney, on the right bank of the Wrays- 

 bury River, as it runs at the present time, and at a depth of 7 feet 

 below the surface, in a somewhat peaty soil, that the antlers and 

 bones were found. It appears that when this part of the Great 

 Western Line was constructed some years ago, the Wraysbury River 

 was diverted from its old bed, which is about 100 feet to the south- 

 west of its present course and of the place witere the elk-bones. 



1 Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. vol. ix (1872) p. 339. 



2 ' British Pleistocene Cervidse ' Monogr. Palseont. Soc. 1886 (1887). 



3 See Proc. Yorks. Geol. & Polytechn. Soc. vol. v (1870) p. 7. 

 Q. J. G. S. No. 233. G ' 



