Page:The Ancient Stone Implements (1897).djvu/653

Rh towards the bottom of the valley. This deposit, leaving the superficial soil out of the question, has usually in its upper part a rubbly gravel, with angular and subangular flints, fragments of chert, ironstone, and chalk, mixed with clay and brick-earth, to a thickness of 4 or 5 feet; below that is from 10 to 18 feet of brick-earth mixed with variable masses of flint and chalk rubble, and containing bones and shells, principally in its lower part; below this again, from 1 to 2 feet of fine marl, full of well-preserved shells and a few bones; and at the base, flint and chalk rubble, with sand and clay.

The following species are recorded by Dr. Blackmore as having occurred in these beds:—Canis lupus, Canis vulpes, Hyæna spelæa, Felis spelæa, Bison minor, Bos primigenius, Ovibos moschatus, Cervus tarandus, Cervus (Guettardi?), Cervus elaphus, Equus (four varieties). Rhinoceros tichorinus, Flephas primigenius, Spermophilus (superciliosous?), Lemmus torquatus, Lemmus (norvegicus?), Arvicola (sp. nov.?) and Lepus timidus.

Of birds, some bones of the wild goose, Anser segetum, have been found, and portions of the shells of eggs corresponding to those of the same bird, and of the wild duck, Anas boscas.

The land and freshwater shells consist of Ancylus, Limnæa, Planorbis, Bithinia, Valvata, Pisidium, Acme, Carychium, Succinea, Helix, Limax, Pupa, Zonites, and Zua.

It is worthy of notice in passing, that the presence of the musk ox, the marmot, and the lemming, to say nothing of the reindeer, seems, to point to a colder climate having prevailed at the time of the deposit of these beds, than now. The egg of the wild goose, if such it be, is also suggestive of a more arctic climate; as the breeding-place of this bird is presumably in the far north. This question of climate will come under consideration farther on.

The discoveries at Milford Hill have already been placed on record by Dr. H. P. Blackmore. This hill, the name of which has on the old Ordnance Map been by error assigned to Cricket Down, forms a spur between the valleys of the Avon and the Bourne, and is in fact a continuation of Mizmaze Hill, from which, however, it is cut off by a transverse valley about 30 feet in depth. The summit of the hill rises to an elevation of about 100 feet above the waters of the Avon and the Bourne, which flow on either side of it, and unite below the point of the spur. At the summit of the hill the gravel attains its greatest thickness, which is about 12 feet. It rests on an irregular surface of chalk, occasionally running down into pipes, and thins out towards the sides, ceasing altogether rather more than half way down the hill. In places, there is chalk rubble or gravel in a chalky matrix at the base. The gravel consists principally of subangular flints, a few Tertiary pebbles, and blocks of sandstone, and contains a larger proportion of Upper Green sand chert than the Bemerton gravel—the whole mixed with a variable proportion of sand and stiff clay, and for the most part deeply stained by iron. Many of the large flints are said to present