Vol. 59.] 



THE ELK IN THE THAMES VALLEY. 



85 



Tibia. — The tibia found with the skull and lower jaw, which is 

 likewise referred to Alces machlis, is remarkable for its great length 

 and slenderness : for, while equalling in length the tibia of a large 

 Megaceros, its proportions are those of the red deer rather than 

 those of Megaceros, the limb-bones of which, it will be remembered, 

 are almost bovine in their stoutness and general proportions. The 

 limb-bones of the modern elk are characterized by similarly slender 

 proportions ; indeed, the comparison of a tibia with the one from 

 Staines leaves no room for doubt as to their identity. The following 

 measurements of three tibiae indicate these proportions, but do 

 not make them so obvious as an examination of the specimens 

 themselves : — 



Measurements of Cervine Tibiae. 





Staines 

 specimen. 



Modern Elk. 



Megaceros. 



Greatest length 



Millimetres. 

 515 



103 



71-5 



129 



Millimetres. 

 495 



114 



70 



114 



Millimetres. 

 500 



127 



86 

 156 



Width of proximal end 



Width of distal end 



Least circumference of shaft ... 



Age of Deposits in which Alces machlis has been found 

 in Britain. 



The elk-remains hitherto found in Great Britain have mostly 

 occurred in peaty ground, or in near relation with peat ; but the 

 evidence for the age of the deposit has been in many cases very un- 

 satisfactory. Only in a few instances have any other remains been 

 found, with those of the elk, which might indicate the age of the 

 deposit. In no case, so far as I can ascertain, have elk-remains 

 been found in a definitely Pleistocene deposit, or associated with 

 positively Pleistocene mammals. In a few instances, red deer, 

 roedeer, or Bos primigenius have been recorded as accompanying 

 the elk-bones ; and at Walthamstow, the deposit yielding the elk 

 also contained implements of the Bronze and Celtic ages, together 

 with beaver, reindeer, Bos longifrons, Bos primigenius, and a 

 number of modern species. Although Bos "primigenius is a 

 Pleistocene form, it is known to have lived in Europe in Roman 

 times : any deposit, therefore, in which its remains may be found is 

 not necessarily older than that period. 



The assemblage of remains found at Walthamstow would seem 

 to limit the age of the deposit yielding the elk to some period 

 between the Neolithic and Celtic times, for Bos longifrons is not 

 known from deposits earlier than Neolithic. Some confirmation of 

 this limit is found in the fact that in the bed immediately below 



