8 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
(Cervus elaphus) found in Pleistocene deposits are so large,
that bases of antlers were once referred by Owen to a distinct
genus and species, Strongyloceros spelaeus ; but Sir Antonio
Brady's fine antler from Ilford, shown in figs. 1, 1a, proves
that the gigantic early form is merely an overgrown red deer,
with the peculiar "nest" at the apex of the antler (fig. ia.)
which distinguishes it from the large American form commonly
known as the wapiti. The Pleistocene reindeer is very variable
in size, but most of its antlers found in the Thames valley deposits
are relatively large and stout.19
Bison.—During the Pleistocene period there were fewer
forms of bison in Europe than in North America. They were,
however, very variable in size, and some of the drawings of this
animal made by Palaeolithic man in the Spanish and French caves
show a massiveness of the fore-quarters which suggests the sur-
viving American, rather than the surviving European species.
Some of the Pleistocene limb-bones are so small, and so much
like those of the ordinary modern Bos, that palaeontologists have
occasionally hesitated to which genus to assign them. An
especially small metapodial bone from Clacton has recently been
referred to Bison, with much probability of correctness, by Mr.
Hazzledine Warren.20 Years ago21 Sir William Boyd Dawkins
studied a somewhat larger metapodial found with the mammoth
at Mitcham, Surrey, and referred the specimen to Bison, although
it could scarcely be distinguished from the corresponding bone
of the later Bos longifrons. Quite lately, this determination has
been justified by the discovery of part of the frontlet of a small
Bison in the same gravel pit.
Bos.—All the undoubted remains of Bos found in Pleistocene
deposits belong to the large and stout B. primigenius. All the
bones are heavier and harder than those of domestic animals.
There is less variation in size than is exhibited by the bison.
The finest series of specimens from one locality illustrating the
species is that from Ilford in Sir Antonio Brady's collection in
the British Museum (Nat. Hist.). The size of the animal may
be estimated from the height of the fore-limb (Plate 2). The same
19 For figures of the variation in the antlers of the existing American races of reindeer, see
Madison Grant, "The Caribou," Seventh Ann. Rep. New York Zool. Soc., 1902.
20 Loc. cit., 1923, p. 615.
21 In G. J. Hinde, "Notes on the Gravels of Croydon and its Neighbourhood," Trans. Croydon
Micros. and Nat. Hist. Club, 1896-97.