284 BISHOP'S STORTFORD SUB-FOSSIL HORSE SKELETON,
described in the masterly paper which he gave to the
Geological Society (vol. xlviii.) in 1892. The recognition of
this "rubble-drift" age of the deposit has opened up a new
chapter in the investigation of this upper Stort Valley, with
some very interesting results.
The inferred position of the two sub-formations of the
"London Clay" behind these landslides has since been demon-
strated by four borings into the shoulder and cap of the hill,
which Mr. Featherby executed under my direction in May
1910
Professor Ewart's presentation of the question in Nature
(19th August, 1909), in the light of the evidence then to hand,
was absolutely fair. He left the question open, as he has done
in his correspondence with me since that date ; while he pointed
to a difficulty which arose from the general assumption of the
naturalists that "the native British horses, up to the coming
of Caesar, were too small to carry men." Further investigation
(see Report of the BA. for 1910, Sheffield Meeting, Sections C
and H) has led to the recognition of a high degree of
probability that this horse was a survival of a race which may
or may not have been domesticated by the Neolithic men (as
Nehring opine ; the horse was in Germany): and moreover it is
fair to remark that one has seen with one's own eyes a whole
troupe o some 33 ponies attached to Sanger's circus, about 11
hands high, who, as they trotted along in procession in beautiful
sleek condition, seemed not to suffer the slightest inconvenience
from the stud-grooms jumping astride first one and then
another of them. Perhaps the later Celts (the Brython) were
bad riders, and preferred to harness their steeds to chariots on
that account, as I am not aware that they were a race of any
greater stature than the Bulgar of the present day; possibly
they were of less stature.
As to the non-acquaintance of Mr. W. H. Dalton (whose
help in former years I gratefully remember) with what has
come to light in recent years, through the more extensive
opening-up of the district, it is impossible to attach any
evidential evidence to that.
Mr. Newton will forgive me for pointing out what appears to
me a slight technical inaccuracy in his paper. He speaks of the
Steppe variety of horse (represented by Equus prejwalskii) as