Page:Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man.djvu/234

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216
FOSSIL PLANTS AND MAMMALIA
CHAP. XII.
  1. Taxus baccata, yew
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Mundesley.
  1. Prunus spinosa, common sloe
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  1. Menyanthes trifoliata, buckbean
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  1. Nymphæa alba, white water-lily
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  1. Nuphar luteum, yellow water-lily
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  1. Ceratophyllum demorsum, hornwort
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  1. Potamogeton, pondweed
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  1. Alnus, alder
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Bacton.
  1. Quercus, oak
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"

The insects, so far as they are known, including several species of Donacea, are, like the plants and freshwater shells, of living species. It may be remarked, however, that the Scotch fir has been confined in historical times to the northern parts of the British isles, and the spruce fir is nowhere indigenous in Great Britain. The other plants are such as might now be found in Norfolk, and many of them indicate fenny or marshy ground.

When we consider the familiar aspect of the flora, the accompanying mammalia are certainly most extraordinary. There are no less than two elephants, a rhinoceros and hippopotamus, a large extinct beaver, and several large estuarian and marine mammalia, such as the walrus, the narwhal, and the whale.

The following is a list of some of the species of which the bones have been collected by Messrs. Gunn and King, and named by Dr. Falconer and other geologists:—

Mammalia of the Forest and Lignite Beds below the Glacial Drift of the Norfolk Cliffs.

Elephas meridionalis.
Elephas primigenius var.
Elephas antiquus.
Rhinoceros etruscus.