THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
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taken during a period of over thirty years by the late Sir Antonio Brady. Some
thirteen years ago this Club had visited the pits under the guidance of Sir
Antonio himself, when fossil bones were still obtainable.
A full account of the first visit of the Club to the Uphall Pits, under the
guidance of the late Sir Antonio Brady, Mr. A. R. Wallace, and Mr. Henry
Walker, will be found in the "Journal of Proceedings," E.F.C, Vol. i. pp. xxviii.
—xxxviii. An excellent popular account of this celebrated locality is Mr, H.
Walker's "A Day's Elephant Hunting in Essex" (Trans. E.F.C, Vol. i., pp.
27-58), and reprinted as a pamphlet. Mr. Holmes gave some notes in the last
number of The Essex Naturalist (Vol. vii., pp. 47-48). Full details of
sections will be found in Mr. Whitaker's "Geology of London," Vol. i. pp.
410-15. The Geological Survey Map is Sheet 1, S.W. (Drift Edition).
In the course of his remarks Mr. Crouch alluded to the various "finds" in
the vicinity. In 1812 some bones of elephant, ox, and stag had been dug up at
Clements (these are noticed in Ogborne's "History of Essex," 1814, and one of
the teeth of the elephant is figured on page 53) ; and others found by Mr. Gibson,
of Stratford, in 1824. The Uphall pits, which are now quite "classic," were begun
about the year 1840 ; and it was from these that such extensive and important
remains were subsequently unearthed ; not only of the mammalia, but many
hundreds of land and river shells. Here, at a depth of 15 to 20 feet, were found
the bones of various species of such tropical animals as hippopotamus,
rhinoceros, bison, lion, and straight-tusked elephant (Elephas antiquus) ; associated
with the gigantic extinct ox, Irish elk, wild horse, bear, &c, and the mammoth
(Elephas primigenius), a huge hairy elephant with incurved tusks, a purely
northern and Arctic form. Perhaps the most interesting discovery was that
made in 1863 of a nearly perfect skull and tusks, some 10 feet in length, of this
animal, which, with the bulk of the Brady collection, is now in the British
Museum of Natural History. Mr. Crouch showed a sepia drawing he had made
of this skull, and said it was the only one that had been found in good condition
in this country, and, so far as he was aware, there were only three others preserved
—two in the museum at Brussels, and the first discovered one, in the Petersburg
Museum. The latter was found in 1799, near the river Lena, in Arctic Siberia,
the whole carcase being embedded in transparent ice. As the ice broke away the
frozen flesh was soon devoured by wild animals, so that when Adams visited the
spot in 1806, he could only rescue the head and some of the bones; but
fortunately secured a portion of the hide, with a quantity of the long woolly hair
a foot and a halt in length, and the eye and brain, which were well preserved.
Numerous remains have since been found in various parts of Siberia, and a large
number of valuable tusks, some over 12 feet in length, released from the ice, are
annually collected on the shores and sent for sale. That the mammoth was
contemporary with early man, we have undoubted evidence from the incised
bones found in the caves of Auvergne, on which this animal is clearly depicted.
In one of these it is shown with the trunk raised and open mouth in attitude
of charging.
The bones of the various species of British fossil elephants form the subject
of a monograph by Professor Leith Adams, published in 1877-81 by the
Palaeontographical Society ; and the privately printed catalogue of the Brady
collection is full of interesting information regarding the Uphall specimens.
Therein is figured the skull and jawbones of Rhinoceros leptorhinus, a fine adult