208 
DEPOSITS OF DOUBTFUL AGE. 
in that direction, and the present stream is probably of much 
later date. Some details of the contours are suggestive of an 
ancient valley trending east and west; that is to say, at right 
angles to the present lines, but nothing more can be said about 
this until the whole country has been gone over in detail 
A considerable number of bones and teeth of elephant have 
been found, but as yet no other fossils. Some of the molars are 
considered by Mr. Mansel-PleydelP and Mr. E. T. Newton to 
belong to Elephas meridionalis. Others correspond closely with 
specimens from the Cromer Forest-bed, often referred to the 
broad-plated variety of Elephafi antiqmis. 
The occurrence of Elephas meridionalis, elsewhere in Britain 
confined to Upper Pliocene strata, and perhaps of another 
elephant characteristic of the Cromer Forest-bed, suggests that 
the Dewlish gravels may be of Forest-bed age. At present, 
however, the evidence is insufficient definitely to decide this 
question, for Elephas meridionalis perhaps occurs in later 
deposits in France and in Italy. 
This completes the account of the British Pliocene strata. 
Tlie so-called “ Bridlington Crag ” is not Pliocene, but Pleistocene, 
though it contains some extinct Crag shells, like Tellina ohliqiia 
and Nucida Cohboldioi.-f In Scotland no Pliocene strata have 
yet been discovered in place, though specimens of Voluta 
Lamherti, Tnrvitella incrassata, Nassa reticosa, and Astarte 
mutahilis occur in the glacial deposits of the Aberdeenshire 
coast; pointing, apparently, to some deposit of Bed Crag age, 
lying beneath the North Sea, from which they were derived, "f 
Certain deposits around Lough Neagh, in Ireland, have been 
called Pliocene, but there is no evidence to justify their reference 
to this Series. In the next chapter an attempt will be made to 
trace the Pliocene strata beyond the limits of these Islands. 
* Note on Elephas meridionalis, found at Dewlisli. Proc. Dorset Nat. Hist, and 
Antiq. Field Club, vol. x., pp. 1-18. (1889.) * * * § 
t See Crag Mollusca, 4to., Palceontograph. Soc.; Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., 
vol. xl., pp. 312-328; and Creology of Holderness, {Mem. Geol. Survey), pp. 8-26. 
(188.5.) 
X See Jamieson, On the Crag Shells of Aberdeenshire .... Quart. Journ. 
Geol. Soc., vol. xxxviii., pp. 145-159. (1882.) 
§ See Hardman, Fossiliferous Pliocene Clays overlying Basalt, near the Shore of 
Lough Neagh. Geol. Mag., dec. II., vol. iii., p. 556-558, and vol. vi., pp. 211-216 ; 
also Swanston, On Supposed Fossiliferous Pliocene Cla 3 \s overlying Basalt, near 
the Shore of Lough Neagh, Ibid, vol. vi., pp. 62-65. 
