Vol.  49.]  A  rOSSILITEEOUS  PLEISTOCENE  DEPOSIT  AT  SIOXE.  327 
It  will  be  observed  that,  besides  the  occurrence  of  Elephant- 
remains,  there  is  the  discovery  of  Hydrobla  similis,  now  confined  in 
Britain  to  the  Thames,  to  connect  this  deposit  with  the  one  at 
Selsey,  and  to  separate  the  fauna  from  that  of  the  existing  Hamp¬ 
shire  estuaries.  Melampus  myosotis  has  not  been  found  at  West 
Wittering  or  at  Selsey,  but  in  this  genus  the  species  are  so  often 
local  in  their  distribution  that  their  occurrence  or  non-occurrence  is 
of  no  importance. 
The  plants  are  all  species  found  at  Selsey  or  at  West  Wittering, 
but  among  them  is  one  of  great  interest,  for  it  distinctly  points  to  a 
mild  period.  The  fruit  of  the  South  European  maple,  Acer  mans - 
pessulanum,  occurs  not  uncommonly  in  the  Scrobicularia- clay  both 
at  Selsey  and  at  Stone ;  but,  owing  to  the  destruction  of  the  wing, 
the  Selsey  specimens  had  not  been  recognized  as  belonging  to  a 
maple  when  my  former  note  was  published.  Some  examples 
recently  obtained  from  Stone  have  part  of  the  wing  preserved,  and 
it  is  clear  that  they  are  quite  different  from  our  only  native 
maple,  and  different  also  from  the  introduced  sycamore-maple. 
Comparison  with  the  fruits  of  the  European  maples  in  the  British 
Museum  (Xat.  Hist.)  herbarium  shoAvs  that  our  fossils  agree 
with  one  only  of  the  species — the  South  European  Acer  mens  pessu¬ 
lanum,  which  does  not  at  the  present  day  range  nearer  to  Britain 
than  Western  Germany  and  Southern  Erance.  Both  the  maple 
and  the  oak  point  to  a  mild  climate,  very  unlike  that  of  the  cold 
periods  which  seem  to  have  preceded  and  succeeded  the  deposition 
of  the  Scrobi cularia-cl&ys. 
Overlying  the  fossiliferous  clays  just  described  is  a  mass  of  sub- 
angular  flint-gravel  like  that  of  Selsey,  but  less  worn,  for  Stone 
is  a  more  sheltered  locality.  At  the  base  of  this  gravel  I  found 
two  or  three  waste  flint-flakes,  lying  immediately  above  the  mass 
of  clay ;  but  no  good  implements  were  seen  at  this  spot.  About 
a  mile  and  a  half  to  the  north-east,  however,  a  Palaeolithic  flake- 
knife  was  dug  out  of  the  undisturbed  gravel  about  18  inches  from 
the  base,  the  gravel  being  about  15  feet  thick.  An  oyster-shell 
placed  in  the  small  hole  from  which  the  implement  was  removed 
forms  the  white  dot  in  the  photograph  from  which  Eig.  1  is 
taken :  the  arrow  pointing  to  the  exact  spot  was  cut  in  the 
underlying  Barton  (or  Upper  Bagshot)  Sands.  Though  so  many 
implements  have  been  found  on  the'  Hampshire  coast,  few  have 
been  observed  actually  in  place,  and  it  seems  advisable  to  show  the 
exact  conditions  under  which  they  occur — at  the  base  of  a  mass 
of  gravel,  apparently  of  estuarine  or  marine  origin. 
It  will  probably  be  asked  Avhat  is  the  exact  relation  between 
these  implement-bearing  gravels  and  the  wide  plateau  which  rises 
inland  till  it  reaches  a  height  of  300  feet  above  sea-level.  This 
question  I  am  unprepared  at  present  to  answer  ;  for,  though  the 
sheet  is  undoubtedly  continuous  and  must  be  mapped  as  one  mass, 
yet  slight  indications  make  one  suspect  that  in  reality  its  formation 
extends  over  a  period  of  considerable  length,  and  that  it  will  be 
