Yol. 59.] THE ELK IN THE THAMES VALLEY. 89 



1877. Adams, A. Leith. ' Observations on the Remains of Mammals found in> 

 Fossil State in Ireland.' Journ. Roy. Geol. Soc. Irel. vol. iv, p. 248. 



1883. Smith, J. A. 'Notice of the Occurrence of the Elk (Cervus alces, Linn., 

 Alces malchis, Gray) recently found in Wigtownshire.' Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. 



l '~ n. s. vol. v, p. 325. 



1885. Ltdekkek, Richard. Catal. Foss. Mamm. Brit. Mus. pt. ii, p. 78. 



1887. Dawkins, William Boyd. ' British Pleistocene Cervid*.' [Pt. vi of ' Brit. 

 Foss. Mamm.'] Monogr. Pala?ont, Soc. vol. xl (for 1886). 



1898. Ltdekkek. Richaed. ' The Deer of all Lands ' p. 49. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE V. 



Remains of Elk (Alces n.achli-, Ogilby) from Thames alluvium near Staines. 

 (Figs. 1, 2. & 4 are about g- natural size ; fig. 3 is about f natural size.) 



Fig. 1. Skull and antlers viewed from above and in front. 



2. Left ramus of lower jaw seen from outside. 



3. Left ramus: cheek-teeth, grincling-surface seen from above. 



4. Left tibia, front view. 



Discussion. 



The President referred to the remains of the elk discovered in 

 the peat-bogs of the basin of the Tweed in the year 1871. 



Prof. Sollas expressed the hope that the specimens deposited by 

 Lartet in the University Museum at Oxford were not lost, but 

 mislaid, and assured the Author that every facility should be 

 afforded him if he would visit the Collection and look for them. 



Mr. E. Sloper. suggested that the introduction of the elk into 

 Britain was of later date than most persons imagined. The dis- 

 covery of the remains in Thames alluvium with mammoth, for the 

 first time, would scarcely afford evidence of the elk being older 

 than the alluvium, and the mention of its existence with Roman 

 remains and its deposit in peat brought to his mind a subject which 

 he had investigated and written on that might be worth mentioning. 

 He said that the notion that the City of London had been built upon 

 a marsh was entirely erroneous. The original floor of London was 

 situated on the brick-earth, which had been removed from time to 

 time, forming huge pits filled up subsequently by rubbish, and 

 through this rubbish up to the 17th century piles had been driven 

 into the gravel, on which buildings were erected. These pits 

 were the ancient 'leystalls,' consisting of all kinds of refuse, 

 among other things rushes and straw used for domestic purposes, 

 and this had been mistaken for peat. So much so, that the late 

 Gen. Pitt-Eivers (then Col. Lane-Fox) had in 1867 published an 

 article in the ' Anthropological Review ' detailing the discovery of 

 an early lake-dwelling in London Wall built upon piles, which are 

 figured in that Review. Remains of Bos longifrons, wild deer, and 

 wild goat were found. The particulars have since been embodied 

 in Dr. Munro's 'Lake-Dwellings of Europe'; but in justice to 



