491 
REPORTS OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL 
SOCIETIES. 
Qbeenwicit Natural History Club.— On Saturday, August 21st, 1858, a 
Field-day Meeting of this club took place at Bexley, Kent, under the guidance 
and upon the invitation of Mr. Flasraan Spurrell. Tiie chief object of the 
meeting was to examine the extensive excavations between Crayford and Erith, 
from which a large nu uber of Mammalian remains have been obtained, many of 
tbem being in the possession of Mr. Spurrell, of Besley, and Mr. Grantham, of 
Cra5rford. Besides the members of the club, invitations were sent to some of the 
leading naturalists and geologists. The unfavourable state of the weather 
prevented a large attendance of members, and although the meeting wad 
not numerous, still it was very pleasant and instructive. The members 
and friends were kindly received and hospitably entertained by Mr. Spurrell, 
for, after viewing the extensive series of Mammalian bones and chalk 
fossils, collected and preserved with taste and care, they sat down to au 
elegant and substantial collation. Among the members present were J. F. South, 
Esq., Dr. Purvis, Dr. Bossey, Messrs. W. P. Lethbridge, IL T. Stainton. W. Groves, 
the Rev. J. H. Knox, &c. Much interest was excited by Mr. Spurrell's collection, 
vfhich contains some fine specimens of Echinodcrmata from the chalk, and a large 
series of fossil-remains of the elephant, horse, ox, deer, rhinoceros, cave-lion, &c., 
obtained from the brick-earth deposits of Crayford and Erith. 
The members also visited Mr. (irantham, at Crayford, who has for many years 
past taken considerable interest in the same ossiferous deposits, and has formed 
a valuable and interesting collection. Amongst these choice specimens was a tine 
example of the lower jaw and teeth of the Ekphas primigmius, which Mr. 
Grantham has since most liberally presented to the Hunteriau Museum, at the 
Royal College of Surgeons. 
Mr. Grantham's collection had been previously visited by Dr. Falconer, who 
identified remains of the following species — Elephas anliquus, Rhinoceros leptorhiims, 
Equas{a, large species), Cerous [Sl.rongyloceras ?), Bos, and Felis speli.ea, also Elephas 
primigenvis and Rhinoceros tichorhinus ; the two latter are considered by some to 
belong to a newer period than that of the other animals. 
The party subsequently visited the brick-earth pits where these remains have 
been found. 
The brick-earth or old river-deposits of this locality repose on an abraded or 
excavated surface of the lower tertiary sands and clialk. They consist of loam, 
sands, and gravels. The bones above enumerated occur with a number of 
Testacea. Most of the species of the latter ai-e still existing in the adjoining 
river; two only being found elsewhere, Unio Utloralis of the south of Europe, and 
a Cyrena, said to be identical with a species now living in the Nile. 
The interesting feature here to be noticed, namely, the occurrence of existing 
molluscs with remains of extinct mammals, has been already brought forward iu 
Sir C Lyell's works, as evidence of the comparative tenacity of existence showu 
by moUuscan species. 
Among the rarer bones are those of the great Cave-Lion (Felis spelcsa), which 
must have carried devastation amongst the herds of Herbivora, some of them of 
gigantic proportions, that pastured in the woods and wilds of this country, then 
probably not dissevered from Europe. 
The association of the two species of Elephant, and the two of Rhinoceros 
is here to be remarked, inasmuch as the E. antiquus and the R. leplorhinus are 
reg.arded as of an older date than the other species of the same genera here associated 
together. It is earnestly recommended, therefore, that as far as possible, in 
collecting the bones and teeth from these deposits, attention should be given as to 
the actual place of the specimens in the several layers of loam, &c., so that those 
occurring in the upper part should not be indiscriminately mixed with those taken 
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