Page:VCH Essex 1.djvu/62

 A HISTORY OF ESSEX name Bos glganteus was suggested by Sir R. Owen. Its remains have likewise been found at Clacton, Grays, Great Yeldham and Walton. In addition to its occurrence at Walthamstow, the wild boar has been recorded from Clacton, Colchester and Grays, although, curiously enough, none of its remains were obtained by Sir A. Brady from Ilford. Of the extinct European race of the hippopotamus {Hippopotamus amphibius major) teeth and bones have been found in considerable numbers at Chelmsford, Grays, Ilford and Walton. The wild horse (Equus caballus fossilis) appears to have been widely distributed over the county, its remains being recorded from Audley End, Clacton, Grays, Ilford, Saffron Walden and Walton. Of much greater interest are the remains of rhinoceroses from the Essex deposits, these being more varied and occurring in greater perfection than perhaps in any other English county. They have been assigned to three species. Of the woolly rhinoceros (Rhinoceros antiquitatis), which was a two- horned species closely allied to the so-called white rhinoceros of Africa, remains have been recorded from Chelmsford, Clacton, Ilford and Walton. The second species, R. leptorhinus, which differs by the form of its cheek-teeth but has a similar bony partition dividing the two nostrils, occurs at Clacton, Grays, Great Yeldham, Ilford and Walton. It is represented in the British Museum by no less than four Essex skulls, two of which are from Walton and the others respectively from Grays and Clacton. The Clacton skull, which is figured in Sir R. Owen's British Fossil Mammals and Birds, has been the subject of much controversy. The third form, R. mercki or R. megarhinus, has teeth very similar to the last, with which indeed some have thought it to be identical ; but, according to a recent publication by Professor H. F. Osborn, it is perfectly distinct. It appears to have no partition between the nostrils. Its remains occur at Grays, Ilford and Walton, many of the molar teeth from the two former localities having been described by Professor W. B. Dawkins. Teeth and bones of the mammoth (Elepbas primigenius), a near rela- tive of the Indian elephant, have been obtained in great numbers from the Ilford pits, which have likewise yielded a nearly entire skull, with the tusks, of the same species, which is now preserved in the British Museum. Mammoth remains have likewise been recorded from Chelms- ford, Clacton, Grays, Great Yeldham, Harwich, Hedingham, Ilford, Isle of Dogs, Walthamstow and Walton. Neither is evidence wanting of the former presence in the county of the straight-tusked elephant (E. antiquus), its remains, although less abundant than those of the mammoth, occurring at Clacton, Grays, Harwich, Ilford, Saffron Walden and Walton. Of the older southern elephant (E. meridionalis] no remains appear to have been obtained on land within the confines of the county, although its molar teeth have been dredged up off the coast. Vertebras provisionally assigned to the bottle-nosed dolphin (fTursiops tursio) are known from the brickearth at Grays. One bird alone appears to have been identified as occurring in the 28