Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 35.djvu/809

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DEPOSIT AT BARRINGTON, NEAR CAMBRIDGE.
673

gravel is seen, well washed, with many small bean-shaped calcareous pebbles wholly soluble in acid. No shells were seen in it. The other section is given by a coprolite-pit in work, north of the corner of the road, not quite on so high a level as the Barrington pit, where there are shallow pocket-like patches of a fine flint-gravel; but they have not the appearance of a river-gravel, but rather of a trail or denudation gravel. Towards the station, however, the surface of the ploughed ground gives indications of a subsoil of flinty gravel, and there have been extensive pits of flint-gravel on the north side of the railway between Foxton and Shepreth stations. These pits are not far from on a level with the Barrington deposit, certainly not lower. We find, then, that the terrace-gravel of the same, or nearly the same, level on the south side of the alluvium of the pre- sent rivercourse consists of quite different materials from that under consideration on the north. The cause may probably be that the former occupy a line of drainage from the south, as may be seen by a small stream crossed by the railway between Foxton and Shepreth, in which direction lies the chalk escarpment, with its beds of flint and of capping flint-gravels. Whether these Foxton gravel-beds are of the same age as the Barrington deposit is a point on which I have no other evidence to offer; but the circumstance referred to may seem to remove any difficulty arising from their different composition. I have from these Foxton gravels what I believe to be a portion of a flint implement of the rudest type, similar to one which I have from Brandon Hill, given me by Dr. J. Evans, and to a portion of another which I found myself in a railway-cutting at Broomhill, near Brandon.

The shells which have been found at Barrington do not render much assistance towards fixing the age of the deposit. Though abundant enough, the species are few, and the number of strictly aquatic shells remarkably limited. By far the most abundant kind is Helix fasciolata (or caperata); Helix virgata is also common; Helix nemoralis also occurs, but is rare. The aquatic species are Succinea(?) oblonga, Limnæa palustris (one specimen), and Pisidium amnicum. This is a meagre list. No specimens or fragments of Unio or Cyrena have been met with.

The Mammalia hitherto discovered at Barrington are:—

1. Homo, probably (by a worked flint).

2. Ursus spelæus.

3. Meles taxus.

4. Hyæna spelæa.

5. Felis spelæa.

6. Cervus megaceros.

7. —— elaphus.

8. Cervus (? species).

9. Bos primigenius.

10. Bison priscus.

11. Hippopotamus major.

12. Rhinoceros leptorhinus.

13. Elephas antiquus.

14. Elephas primigenius.

Catalogue of Remains of above.

(2.) 1 canine, 1 portion of humerus, 1 metatarsus.

(3.) 1 ulna.

(4.) 1 skull and part of mandible, 1 detached tooth, 1 vertebra, 1 scapula, 1 rib, 2 metatarsals.

(5.) 1 portion of radius.