Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 35.djvu/188

9. On the Range of the Mammoth in Space and Time. By W. Boyd Dawkins, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., Professor of Geology and Palæontology in Owens College. (Read November 6, 1878.)

Contents.

1. Introduction. 2. The Mammoth Preglacial in the South of England.
3. The Mammoth Preglacial in Scotland.
4. The Mammoth Preglacial in Cheshire.
5. The Mammoth a member of the Fauna of the Forest-bed.
6. The Mammoth Postglacial and Glacial in Britain.
7. Range in Europe, Asia, and America.
8. Relation to Indian Elephant.

1. Introduction.

The Mammoth is one of the most important animals for purposes of classification, on account of the large size and abundance of its remains, and because of its range in ancient times over more than one half of the land-surface of the world. According to some authorities, among whom may be reckoned M. Lartet^[1], it is taken to characterize an early stage in the history of the Palæolithic caverns of France and Belgium, and according to others, among whom may be reckoned Dr. James Geikie^[2], to have found its way into Europe after the Glacial period; it is supposed to have disappeared from Europe before the close of the Glacial period. In Dr. Falconer's^[3] opinion it was a Pre- as well as a Postglacial inhabitant of Britain, a view which I was unable to accept on the evidence offered at that time^[4]. The new materials, however, accumulated during the last ten years render it advisable to reexamine the evidence by the light of a wider experience. The results of a reexamination which are brought before the Society this evening show that Dr. Falconer's conclusion as to the Mammoth being Preglacial in Britain is fully justified; and the additional details brought together since his death merely serve to fill in to some extent the picture of the life and times of the mammoth, without affecting the outlines drawn by the hand of the master^[5]. They show that the animal lived in Cheshire and the South of England, and probably also in Scotland, before the deposition of the Boulder-clays by glaciers and icebergs, and that it roamed over the region now covered by the North Sea, in company with the Elephas meridionalis, Cervus Sedgwickii ( = C. dicranios, Nesti), and other animals of the forest-bed of Norfolk and Suffolk.

 

2. The Mammoth Preglacial in the South of England.

The first case to be examined is that of the elephant found in Sussex. The memorable paper of Mr. Godwin-Austen, on "The Newer

1. Comptes Rendus, xlvi. Séance 22 Février, 1858.
2. 'Ice Age.'
3. Palæont. Mem. ii. p. 240.
4. Popular Science Review, 1868, p. 275; Geological Magazine, July 1868.
5. Palæont. Mem. ii. p. 239.