Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 35.djvu/810

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
674
REV. O. FISHER ON A MAMMALIFEROUS
(6.) 6 portions of antlers, 1 fragment of mandible.

(7.) 1 brow-antler, 1 base and burr, 1 tibia.

(8.) 1 astragalus and broken end of tibia, probably of a young animal. It is larger than Roebuck, but much smaller than Red Deer.

(9.) 1 fragment of skull, which fell to pieces, 1 horn-core preserved (3 feet long on the outer curve, and 1 foot 5 inches round the base), 33 vertebræ, 1 fragment of pelvis, 1 fragment of femur, 10 tibiæ, 9 calcanea, 10 astragali, 1 complete hind limb, 5 metatarsals, 4 portions of scapulæ, 9 fragmentary or complete humeri, 1 radius and ulna attached, 10 portions of radii, 4 ulnæ (olecranon portions), 9 metacarpals (belonging to two or three species of Bos), 26 detached bones of feet.

(10.) 4 horn-cores. (Probably some of the bones in the last list may belong to Bison.)

(11.) At least two individuals; one probably entire. 1 skull (fragments of), 4 pieces of jaws, 15 molars and a few fragments, 10 canines (or pieces of), 9 incisors (or pieces of), 24 vertebræ, several caudal belonging to a series, 2 pelves (portions of), 2 kneecaps, 4 femora (portions of), 2 tibiæ, 2 calcanea, 1 astragalus, 4 humeri (or portions of), 2 radius and ulna, 8 detached bones of feet.

(12.) Probably five individuals. 19 molar teeth and some fragments, 1 back of skull, 3 vertebræ, 1 fragment of femur, 1 kneecap, 1 tibia, 6 portions of humerus, 5 radii, 3 ulnæ, 13 detached bones of feet.

(13.) 4 molars of two individuals.

(14.) 1 portion of a molar was found, which the author saw, and believed to have belonged to E. primigenius. It fell to pieces.

There are likewise a few bones of birds hitherto undetermined. There is no river-deposit mentioned in Prof. Dawkins's paper on British Postglacial mammals[1], which is credited with so large a number of species, except Fisherton, where the number is likewise fourteen. The assemblage, however, is not the same.

The specimens have been compared at the University Museum of Comparative Anatomy, and determined by Mr. Tawney, who has labelled and catalogued the whole of them. There is a fine skull of Hyæna, which would have been perfect had it not been broken off by the pickaxe just behind the canines; it belonged to an adult, but not aged, individual. A magnificent pair of horn-cores of the Bos primigenius were found, with the forehead attached; but unfortunately the horn-cores were so decayed and permeated with mud that only one of them could be saved. The most remarkable fact observed was the abundance of the bones and teeth of the Hippopotamus, also abundant at the "Green." Some very fine specimens of the tusks have been, with much labour, built up out of the very numerous fragments into which they fell when removed. Four teeth of Elephas antiquus had been previously obtained in another pit in the same field, at a short distance up the course of the old stream, and were presented to the Museum by Mr. F. W. Smith. Mr. Griffith also gave his specimens. I saw only one tooth of Elephant in our working; it was so decayed that it could not be brought home. I believe it belonged to E. primigenius. Had I known at the time that the other specimens belonged to E. antiquus I should have examined it more closely.

Only one worked flint was found. It is of an oval form, extremely small, being about an inch and a half long by an inch wide. It is

  1. Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxv. p. 192.