90 THE ELK IN THE THAMES VALLEY. [Feb. 1903, 



Gen. Pitt-Rivers, it is only fair to say that he remarks with regard 

 to the thickness of the supposed peat : — 



' It is difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile this enormous rise of 7 to 9 feet 

 of peat during the four centuries of Roman occupation.' 



The existence of the remains of the elk in peat and with the remains 

 mentioned, therefore excited the speaker's curiosity, and it seemed 

 to him that the many instances occurring in the North of Eugland 

 might lead to the possible conclusion that the introduction and 

 domestication of the elk took place during the period of the 

 Northmen and Danes, as that portion of the country was earlier 

 affected by their invasion than the South of England. The 

 domestication of the elk might have subsequently died out in 

 Britain, as he believed that it had at a recent date in Norway 

 and Sweden. 



The Authoe, in reply, called attention to the fact that, although 

 remains of Alces machlis had not been found with those of mammoth 

 in Great Britain, yet it was associated with that species and reindeer 

 in the frozen cliffs of Eschscholtz Bay — a fact noticed by Sir John 

 Kichardson in 1854, but which the Author thought was no proof of 

 the Pleistocene age of the elk. 



