ON THE EANGE OF THE MAMMOTH. 
277 
Antonio Brady to the Uphall pit. At the top there was the 
surface soil from one to three feet deep, then an irregularly 
stratified layer of brickearth and gravel six feet ; and lastly, an 
irregular layer of flint gravel, underneath which was a fine 
reddish gray sandy loam, four feet thick. All these had been 
cleared away, leaving a platform exposed, on which was a most 
remarkable accumulation of bones carefully left in situ by the 
workmen. On the right hand was a huge tusk of Mammoth, 
eight feet long, with the spiral curvature undisturbed by the 
pressure of the superadjacent strata. Across it lay a remarkably 
fine antler of red -deer. At a little distance was the frontal 
portion of the skull of an Ur us, with its horncores perfect to 
the very tips, while around bones of various animals were 
scattered — of horse, Rhinoceros hemitoechus, Mammoth, urus, 
either brown or grizzly bear, and wolf. As we gazed down on 
this tableau we could not doubt for a moment, that the bottom 
of an ancient river with all its contents lay before our eyes — 
a river in which all these animals had been drowned, and by 
which they had been swept into the exact position which they 
then occupied. This inference was confirmed by the examination 
of the thin layer of sandy gravel on which they rested, for it was 
full of the shells of Corbicula fluminalis, with the valves to- 
gether just as in life. There were also specimens of the common 
Anodon of our rivers, and of the Helix nemoralis of our hedge- 
rows. On a continuation of the same platform, now cut away, 
the skull of Mammoth was discovered in 1864,*- perfect, with 
the exception of the tusks which had been broken away with 
their incisive alveoli. That of the right-side lay twenty feet 
away from the skull, while the left has not yet been discovered. 
Owing to the surprising skill of Mr. Davies, the skull and tusk 
were taken up and reunited, and now constitute by far the 
finest specimen of Mammoth in the British Museum. In some 
cases the Mammoth remains have not been deposited by a 
river. At Lexden | near Colchester, as the Eev. 0. Fisher well 
observes, they were overwhelmed in a bog, the small bones of 
the feet being found in their natural position, a fact which 
shows that they sank feet foremost through the peat into the 
subjacent clay. 
The Mammoth remains in Britain exhibit various stages 
of decay, and for the most part have lost their gelatine. 
There are, however, some few exceptions that remind us of 
analogous cases in Siberia. A tusk dredged up off Scar- 
borough was so slightly altered that it was sawn up and 
divided among the fishermen, to be applied to the ordinary 
* “ Geological Magazine/’ No. v. p. 241. 
t In Quart. Geol. Journal,” vol. xix. p. 393. 
