File:The Quarterly journal of the Geological Society of London (13860096104).jpg

BED OP ALULAE DEIFT.
129
set in (see fig. 4, p. 130), and divide the mass into a lower light-
yellow coarser angular drift, and an upper whiter and finer drift,
but both alike in composition, and both consisting of irregular
roughly stratified beds. The works had extended to this point when
the discovery of elephant-remains was reported to me.
Fig. 3. — Section in Cutting at A, in fig. 1, enlarged.
"j Position of the
y Mammalian
I took an early opportunity of visiting the spot

but the cutting
had then gone beyond the place where the bones were found, and
the sides were sloped over. The bones proved to be those of mam-
moth, rhinoceros, horse, ox, and deer. They were mostly in a broken
and fragmentary state. Eut, though broken, they are not rolled
or waterworn. The state of preservation of some of the bones
is very remarkable

they have lost so little of their animal matter
that the bone hardly adheres at all to the tongue, and looks almost
as fresh as a recent bone. Dissolved in dilute hydrochloric acid,
they leave a mass of flocculent gelatinous matter. This is more
especially the case with some of the Bison bones, one of which
comes from near the base of the cutting at point B (fig. 1)

• .

The
specimens now in the Oxford Museum consist of —
Elephas primigenius
Rhinoceros
, Some fragments of large bones.
Distal end of femur and other
bones, all broken.
Equus Teeth and fragments of bones.
Bison priscus? Eight metatarsal, distal end of
metacarpal, left humerus, and
right tibia.
Cervus tarandus Tooth and fragments of antler .
But a larger number have been found, including portions of two
lower jaws and of tusks of Mammoth, teeth of Horse, end of humerus
and 4 teeth of Rhinoceros tichorhinus, fragment of horn of Bed Deer,

A recent analysis of this specimen on the chemical side of the Museum
shows this bone to contain 17 '35 per cent, of organic matter. Recent bones of
Ox contain about 30 per cent. Mr. Fisher also informs me that the bone con-
t ained a notable "proportion of