xxx
Journal of Proceedings.
fungological and palaeolithic fame; the Rev. Nicholas Brady, M.A.,
and many distinguished members of the Society, lay and clerical,
including our indefatigable President.
We start in good order from the court-yard of the station, and
taking the lane on the right leading to Barking, we soon reach the
Uphall Brickfield on the banks of the Roding. By the kind orders
of Mr. Rawkins, the proprietor of the field, some workmen have been
engaged all the morning in clearing one of the pits, and making fresh
excavations. We stand with them in the old river bed, watching
the turning up of myriads of minute river shells which testify to the
fluviatile character of the sand and gravel in which they are
embedded. Soon the announcement of a "find" increases the
interest; a row of very large and bright molar teeth are first seen,
and gradually the lower jaw of the great fossil Ox (Bos primigenius)
is unearthed in almost perfect condition. It lay embedded in the
soil some ten feet from the surface. Some smaller bones are also
obtained, and plenty of the shells of Cyrena fluminalis which are so
characteristic of these deposits. With his accustomed kindness Sir
Antonio obtains from the workmen some bones of Mammoth and
presents them to the ladies of our party as a memento of their visit
to his hunting fields—now, alas ! quickly vanishing away and doomed
soon to be flooded over with the surging tide of Ilford building
operations. Sir Antonio tells us that it was from this, and the
adjoining pits a few furlongs south, that he obtained, during thirty-
five years' careful research, most of the specimens in his collection ;
viz., remains of at least 100 British Elephants, as well as bones and
teeth of Hippopotamus, Rhinoceros, Bison, and many other animals.
A list of some of the species found in the pits at Ilford had been
printed on the circular of the meeting, together with two sections
showing the geology of the district, kindly lent for the occasion by
Mr. Searles V. Wood, F.G.S., and the Editor of the "Geological
Magazine." * In response to the President's request Mr. Walker
then gives us an account of the former physical geography of this
interesting spot, as throwing light on the presence and former exist-
ence, in a wild state, of such strange animals in this country. Mr.
Walker illustrates his remarks with a series of most instructive maps,
showing the different geographical phases which Britain has presented
in pre-historic times, when these animals lived. The first map gives a
view of Britain rising from the waters of the Glacial Sea, presenting
the appearance of an icy archipelago, the higher hills and mountains
only being above the waters. The second map exhibits our island not
only completely emerged from the sea, but the German Ocean and
English Channel laid dry, so that the animals of the Europasian
Continent could travel over from the east and the south, even from
* See Mr. Walker's Lecture; Trans., Vol I., pp. 32 and 38.