Page:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol 1.djvu/479

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The greatest part of this account had, in fact, been drawn up by Mr. William Kirby Trimmer himself, for the purpose of communicating it, through the President, to the Society; so that very little has been added to what he had written, excepting the descriptive explanation of some sketches of several bones and teeth that accompany the paper.

The specimens had been collected at different times from two ﬁelds at some distance from each other, that have been dug for the purpose of making bricks. The ﬁrst of these ﬁelds is about half a mile north of the Thames at Kew Bridge, and its surface about twenty-ﬁve feet above low water-mark. The ﬁrst six or seven feet are sandy loam, rather calcareous towards the bottom, but containing no organic remains. The next tratum is sandy gravel, a few inches thick, containing shells of snails and of fresh-water ﬁsh, and a few bones of land animals. Under this is loam of variable thickness, from one to ﬁve feet, containing horns, bones, and teeth of oxen and of deer, with some shells also of snails and of fresh-water ﬁsh. The fourth stratum is gravel, from two to ten feet in thickness, covered at its surface with occasional thin patches of peat, and always thickest at those parts, and inhaling a disagreeable muddy odour. In this stratum were found teeth and bones of both the African and Asiatic elephant, of the hippopotamus, with bone, horns, and teeth of oxen. One tusk of an elephant measured as much as nine feet three inches, but was broken into small pieces in attempting to remove it. The ﬁfth and main stratum, which follows, is the same blue clay which passes under London and its vicinity to the depth of two hundred feet and more.

This contains many detached nodules of pyrites, principally at the depth of about twenty feet from its surface, and many of them of considerable size. The extraneous fossils in this stratum are entirely marine, with the exception of some fruits and pieces of wood, which, however, appear to have been in the sea, as they are always pierced with Teredines. The shells are those of Nautili, Oysters, Pinnae marinas, and Crabs, with a great variety of smaller shells, and some teeth and bones of ﬁsh.

The second ﬁeld mentioned by Mr. Trimmer is about a mile to the westward of the former, and at the distance of a mile from the Thames, from which it is elevated about forty feet. The ﬁrst stratum here is sandy loam, to the depth of eight or nine feet, without any appearance of organic remains. Next lies sand, varying in depth from three to eight feet, and in coarseness from ﬁne sand to sandy gravel at its lowest part. In this coarsest part are found a considerable quantity of teeth and bones of the hippopotamus and of the elephant; horns, bones, and teeth of deer and of oxen; with shells of river ﬁsh. The