tion to the section at Belaugh (mentioned by Mr. Samuel Woodward in his " Geology of Norfolk "), a mile distant from Horstead and Coltishall; and since then, having found that it presented such a different aspect, palæontologically, to the Norwich and Chillesford Crags, and such a resemblance to that of Weybourne, which extends along the base of the cliffs near Cromer, Mr. Wood, sen., has sifted a large quantity of material obtained from Belaugh, and the result proves it to belong to the newer deposit; and, with this conclusion, the stratigraphical evidence seems completely to concur.

Mr. S. V. Wood, Jun., has for some years maintained that the Crag at Weybourne (full of Tellina solidula) had no identity with the Norwich Crag. As this bed is often referred to by geologists as identical with the Norwich Crag, the author felt it important that the matter should be thoroughly investigated, and, the cause of confusion to all, and of error to one side or the other, removed.

The shells obtained from Belaugh and Weybourne, and identified by Mr. S. V. Wood, Sen., are as follows:

The important peculiarity of this fauna is the profusion, both at Belaugh and Weybourne, of the Tellina solidula, which does not exist either in the Norwich or Chillesford Crag. This shell, which

is now extremely common on our coasts, and in the higher latitudes throughout the whole Northern Hemisphere, literally swarms in these beds, as it always does wherever it is found; a handful of shells gathered at random either on Yarmouth beach, or in the Weybourne or Belaugh bed, consisting principally of it. It is also found throughout the whole Glacial Series, being common to the Till, the contorted drift, the middle Glacial sands, and the upper Glacial deposits at Bridlington. It also occurs in the Post-glacial deposits of the Nar Valley and of Kelsea Hill, in Yorkshire. Its first occurrence seems to mark a well-defined geological horizon, and it is that which Mr. Wood has adopted, as dividing the Glacial series from the Crag; the lower Glacial beginning with the Belaugh and Weybourne beds. All the rest of the shells found (with the exception of a univalve, not yet identified,) are forms occurring in the Crag, but they consist principally of the more boreal forms of the Crag Mollusca, some

truly arctic shells occurring in great profusion, no instance existing elsewhere in the Crag series of such a profusion of Astarte borealis as occurs at the base of the Belaugh deposit, which is literally paved with these shells.

Stratigraphically also these beds differ from those at Horstead, Coltishall, and Burgh. The strata resting on the Chalk at those places are as follows, in descending order :

:

(D.) Red sand with pebbles. (C.) Laminated micaceous sands and clays (the Chillesford Clay). (B.) Fine whitish quartzose sands. (A.) Chalk.

The shells at Horstead, Coltishall, and Burgh are found in the bed (B) within a few feet of the Chalk, overlaid by the Chillesford Clay (C).

At Belaugh, on the contrary, the bed which contains the Tellina solidula is not in these white sands, but in the red pebble beds (D), which at Horstead, Coltishall, and Burgh overlie the Chillesford Clay; and the shell-bed is from 10 to 15 feet distant from the surface of the Chalk, as determined by Mr. Gunn and the author, by sinking a hole down to the latter. These pebbly sands, which are a widespread deposit, appear, at this place, to have eroded the Chillesford Clay, and completely destroyed it. Mr. Wood and the author consider the thin irregular band of clay, at the base of the shell-bed at Belaugh, has been derived from the destruction of the Chillesford Clay hard by, during the formation of the slight trough in which the Belaugh sands repose; but although they think that this clay band does not represent any portion of the Chillesford Clay in situ, they feel no doubt that the shells at this place are in the bed (D), and not in the bed (B). At Weybourne the pebbly sands which contain the shells, and the base of which is called Crag, rest directly on the Chalk.

When sinking to the Chalk at Belaugh, a shell-bed (considerably lower than those exposed in the section in which the Tellina solidula occurs) was met with. This bed rested upon the thin clay-band before mentioned, and in it but very few specimens of Tellina solidula and Littorina littorea (so profuse in the upper part) could be detected, but it was almost exclusively composed of Astarte borealis in a continuous layer, with occasional valves of Astarte compressa and Cyprina Islandica, the shells forming a complete pavement to the fossiliferous pebbly gravels, and with the thin clay-band separating them from the bed (B).

The position of the Belaugh deposit relatively to the Chillesford Clay seen in section at Horstead and Coltishall, a mile on the west, and again at Hoveton, near Wroxham Bridge, a mile on the east side of it, appears to be that it occupies a shallow trough excavated between the two places.

The excavation of this trough appears to have entirely removed the Chillesford Clay at Belaugh, so as to leave the shelly deposit of that place resting upon the white sands which contain the Chillesford shell-bed (a bed which is extremely inconstant so far as the presence of fossils is concerned, although the sand itself is always constant), and the thin band of clay down to which Mr. Fisher dug,

and which Messrs. Gunn and Harmer found in sinking to the Chalk. This band of clay, which forms the base of the Belaugh bed proper (i.e. of the trough thus excavated), was seen on a subsequent excavation, made by the Messrs. Wood and the author, to rest with an irregular line upon the white sands forming the bed (B).

The

The only doubt felt by Mr. Wood and himself in connexion with the beds of the Crag series in Norfolk is, whether or not the pebbly sands of Belaugh and Weybourne are identical with the pebbly sands and pebble beds which overlie the Chillesford Clay in the neighbourhood of Norwich, of Loddon, of Halesworth, and of Beccles, or whether they do not form a still later deposit. identity of the pebbly sands containing Tellina solidula at Belaugh, with the similar sands which form the so-called Crag of Weybourne, is sufficiently clear, not only on palæontological, but also on physical evidence, as they may be traced from Belaugh up the valley of the Bure, some distance above Aylsham, and though they disappear under the contorted drift (the upper part of that valley not cutting down sufficiently to reach them), they re-appear beneath the Till all along the base of the Cromer coast-section. This series of pebble beds, however, contains a number of quartz and quartzite pebbles, which do not seem to be present, at least in any quantity, in the beds which rest on the Chillesford Clay further south; moreover, the fossiliferous pebble-bed at Ditchingham, near Bungay, which, by its position, seems to belong to the latter beds, has not yet yielded the characteristic shell, Tellina solidula: so that for the present they do not express any opinion on the identity of the pebble-beds in these two areas. He mentioned, however, that like the Belaugh bed between Wroxham Bridge and Horstead, the pebble-beds around Halesworth have in many parts destroyed the Chillesford Clay lying up against it, and resting on the Crag sands beneath. Where this is the case the pebble-beds are usually of great thickness (thirty feet and more), and beached up in the continuous slope of oblique bedding, that results from material being thrown subaerially into the angle of repose.

Since writing the above, several more sections have been met with, in which the Tellina solidula shell-bed occurs. One pointed out by Mr. Gunn, between Belaugh and Coltishall, one at Wroxham, and another at Rackheath. There is, probably, an exposure of it at Crostwick, though the author had not been able to find it, as there is in the Museum a specimen of this shell said to have been found at that place.

After some remarks from Mr. John E. Taylor, the Honorary Secretary, on the geographical range of Astarte and Tellina; and from Mr. Bayfield on the Iron-pan of Norfolk; the President said, the most important feature of Mr. Harmer's paper was that it controverted a statement made by Sir Charles Lyell, in his "Antiquity of Man," in which work, at p. 213, he represented the Norwich Crag extending and rising above the Chalk in the direction of Weybourne, whereas Mr. Searles Wood and Mr. Harmer had proved that this is quite erroneous, that if ever the Norwich Crag existed

there, it had been denuded and replaced by a more recent bed containing Tellina solidula (or Balthica), which had never yet been found below the Chillesford Clay. They had a most perfect section along the coast. The same beds do not appear in all places, but their order is never inverted. He (Mr. Gunn) concurred with Mr. Harmer that the Chillesford Clay had been very much eroded in places, and much disturbed, particularly at Belaugh. It had been confounded with the banded laminated clay, which was very persistent, and formed a good horizon in relation to the Forest Bed and other deposits. The best section was to be seen at Aldeby, where they had, immediately above the Upper Norwich Crag, these banded laminated clays; then a bed of sand, some few inches thick, supporting the brown Chillesford Clays. He believed this matter was very important, for in the laminated clays they had occasionally the same shells as in the Upper Norwich Crag; whereas, in the pure brown Chillesford Clay, none had been found, and only the bones of a whale. This was important as indicating the increasing depth of the waters, and proved the arctic character of the beds.

Mr. Harmer, in replying, remarked that he had found the presence of mica to be an almost invariable criterion of the Chillesford clay. The President then read a brief paper in reference to the statement made by sailors, etc., that the ruined church of Shipden was to be seen about half a mile out at sea off Cromer, or its foundations, still standing in situ. The absurdity of the idea does not strike one, unless it is borne in mind that the cliffs rose to a higher eminence than the present (nearly 200 feet), and that, therefore, it is quite impossible that the foundations of the Church can be standing at four fathoms depth beneath the level of the water. That fragments and large detached masses of walls are to be seen, in clear water, can scarcely be questioned, and Mr. Gunn had frequently seen masses of masonry, at low water, near the Cromer Jetty rolled down from the height at which the buildings stood upon the surface of the land. The President then referred to the Old Cromer Lighthouse, or Beacon, which disappeared in a landslip in 1865. The building was 50 feet in height, and of considerable circumference, but after searching amongst the débris of the landslip, and along the shore, there was not a vestige of it to be seen. It was the opinion of residents on the spot that it fell perpendicularly down, and was engulphed in the slip below. At the present time the débris is nearly washed away to the site of the Beacon, and, consequently, its remains, at least, ought to be detected at the foot of the cliff. The hardness of the beach forbids the idea that it could have buried itself beneath its level.

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE TO PROF. OWEN'S PAPER ON

STROPHODUS MEDIUS (pp. 193-6).

By the courtesy of Messrs. A. and C. Black, of Edinburgh, we are enabled to add a figure of the lower jaw and teeth of Cestracion Philippi, the Port Jackson Shark,'1 (half natural size); the recent type referred to in Prof. Owen's paper as elucidating the characters of the dentition of Strophodus.

1 Copy of Cut 41, p. 127 of "Owen's Palæontology," 1861, 2nd edition.

The block unfortunately arrived too late for insertion in its place in the article.-EDIT.

proper

Lower jaw and teeth of Cestracion Philippi, half natural size. The letters indicate the corresponding rows of teeth seen in Strophodus medius, Owen; figured in Plate VII. herewith. (See Prof. Owen's article, p. 193.)

CORRESPONDENCE,

GEOLOGICAL NOTES ON NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, &c.

He

SIR,-I am glad to see that Professor Morris, in his recent Paper on the Oolites of the Midland Counties in the March number of the GEOLOGICAL MAGAZINE, has confirmed an opinion I long ago maintained, that some of the beds which he describes in Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire belong rather to the Inferior than the Great Oolite, to which they have been hitherto referred by the Geological Surveyors, and with whom, if I remember right, Mr. Morris then agreed. seems to have forgotten, or probably was not aware, that I had written a short paper on the geology of the neighbourhood of Grantham, for the Cotswold Club, in 1850, since printed in their Proceedings; and a short notice on the Inferior Oolite in parts of North Hants, in the Annals of Natural History in 1857. In these I stated, in effect, that, after a careful examination of the sections, and comparison of the fossils with those of the Cotswold area, with which I was familiar,' I had arrived at the conclusion that certain strata, immediately overlying the Lias to which he refers should be more properly assigned to the Inferior Oolite, and I added that they required a further and closer examination. I have visited most of the localities in Lincolnshire, 1 Proceedings of the Geol. Soc., 1850, vol. vi. pt. 1 and 1851.