Contents.
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§ 1. Introduction.
§ 2. Remains of Bison. § 3. „ Reindeer. § 4. „ Grisly Bear. § 5. „ Wolf. § 6. „ other animals.
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§ 7. The Remains mart the route of a Migration.
§ 8. The Bison in district in one season, the Reindeer in another. § 9. The Deposit of Pleistocene Age.
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§ 1. Introduction.—The caves and fissures of the Mountain-limestone district of Southern Derbyshire and North Staffordshire have long been known to contain the remains of the Pleistocene mammalia; and the discovery of a tusk of Mammoth in a fissure at Doveholes, near Buxton, showed that they ranged also into Northern Derbyshire. The exploration of the caverns in the neighbourhood of Castleton extends their range into the basin of the Upper Derwent; and that of Windy Knoll in particular has yielded the greatest number of mammalian skeletons which have, so far as I know, ever been found in so small an area. The number of bones of the limbs which I have determined in Mr. Pennington's collection amounts to no less than 1183, exclusive of small fragments and splinters; while the teeth and jaws amount to 429. The number of vertebræ was too great to be classified in the limited time at my disposal; they are to be counted by the hundred. All these were found in a space which, so far as we could estimate it, did not exceed 22 cubic feet. They belong to the following species:—
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1. The Bison (Bison priscus). 2. The Reindeer (Cervus tarandus). 3. The Grisly Bear (Ursus ferox). 4. The Wolf (Canis Lupus). |
5. The Fox (Canis vulpes). 6. The Hare (Lepus timidus). 7. The Rabbit (L. euniculus). 8. The Water-vole (Arvicola amphibia). |
§ 2. Bison.—The first intimation which I had of the presence of fossil mammalia in this locality was in October 1870, when Mr. Pennington brought me a portion of a tibia and some other bones which from their size I considered to belong to the Urus (Bos primigenius). Viewing them now by the light of the great variations in size and form of the remains of Bison from the same locality, they are most probably to be referred to that animal, and not to the Urus.
The skulls of Bisons are, as might be expected, in a very fragmentary condition; but the more solid frontal bones form a series in which all stages of the development of the horn-cores are to be observed—from the sprout of the young calf, not more than half an inch long, to the fully-developed massive horn-core of the adult, 14 inches in length; and it is worthy of remark that the calves were present in considerable numbers.
To pass over the 32 jaws, which present no character of impor-
