8 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



of variation to suit nature of food would not be 

 tenable. For this reason I examined adult specimens 

 of H. arbustorum which I had gathered from the base 

 of a waterfall (Hydraw Scar), where the herbage is 

 moist and tender ; the specimens did not develope a 

 single well-formed rib, being mere chitinous crenula- 

 tions. Some very young specimens taken on an 

 exposed situation last year by myself in Derbyshire 

 (High Tor, Matlock), yield 2, 3, and 4 bars. Two 

 half-grown specimens from Tadcaster yield 3 ribs 

 each. An examination of twenty full grown speci- 

 mens from different localities gives plain bases (no 

 ribs), and 1 up to 8 ribs. It is evident that the asser- 

 tion has not been practically taken up. 



An examination of some young specimens is ap- 

 pended : — 



From this table it is evident that the ribs on the 

 jaws have no relationship whatever with the age of 

 the Molluscs, and specimens which I have collected 

 on Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh, and in Fifeshire, clearly 

 support both in very young and adult forms this view. 



There is much matter that could be presented to 

 the naturalist from these examinations. We see that 

 an exposed situation on a Carboniferous formation 

 gives the greatest percentage of ribs ; an exposed 

 area on a limestone formation a moderate ; whilst a 

 protected or humid situation on the same formation 

 gives a minimum number of ribs. 



With two deductions, new (I trust) to science, I 

 conclude : — 



First. That the slight difference that exists between 

 the jaws of Helix nemoralis and H hortensis is due to 

 relational connection, and their specific divergence 

 not being of long date. 



Second. That the rib-variation of the jaws of these 

 types is due to the nature of their food, its modifying 

 influence involving formation (geological), locality, 

 situation (protected or not), and kind ; but having 

 no connection whatever with age. 



Beeston Hill, Leeds. Henry Crowther. 



Brazilian Birds. — In reply to G. A. K.'s query, 

 there is a work extant on the birds of Brazil published 

 just thirty years ago. The figures are life-size, or 

 nearly so, and beautifully coloured, although not so 

 highly finished as the figures in Gould's works. It is 

 in the French language, and was, I think, published 

 in Rio dejjaneiro; title, " Ornithologie Bresilienne, 

 par le Dr. J. T. Descourtilz." 



SUBMERGED FORESTS ON THE SUFFOLK 

 COAST. 



THE "Geological Magazine " for December con- 

 tains the following communication from Dr. J. E. 

 Taylor, on submerged forests which he has investi- 

 gated in the Orwell and at the mouth of the Deben. 

 Dr. Taylor writes : — 



In 1874-5, whilst the river Orwell was being 

 deepened, and a new channel cut, a bed of peat was 

 discovered. This was carefully]examined and worked 

 by myself and Mr. Thomas Miller, C.E., the Ipswich 

 Dock Engineer, and the published results appear in 

 the report of the British Association (Bristol) meeting 

 1875. This peat bed was as much as nine feet thick, 

 full of the trunks of trees, and from it we obtained 

 several grinders of the Mammoth. It was traced 

 down towards Harwich for a distance of six miles, 

 and, at the time, I pointed out that this ancient forest 

 could only have grown when the land stood relatively 

 so much higher than the present sea-level that the 

 bed of the German Ocean must have been marshy 

 land, probably characterised by similar extensive 

 shallow lakes to those which are so abundant in the 

 flat eastern parts of Norfolk, where they are known 

 as " Broads." 



Fishermen off the Norfolk and Suffolk coasts fre- 

 quently bring up lumps of peat in their trawl nets, 

 and that the bed of the German Ocean off these 

 parts must be occupied by extensive deposits of 

 this kind is shown by the unfailing supplies. Bones 

 and teeth of elephant, ox, deer, &c, are strewn 

 over the area, and are often dredged up. Those 

 who are acquainted with the magnificent collec- 

 tion of these remains made by Mr. Owles, of Great 

 Yarmouth, nearly all of which were dredged 

 up by Yarmouth fishermen, will be prepared to sub- 

 stantiate the statement that the floor of the 

 German Ocean is occupied by extensive post-glacial 

 deposits, with their characteristic organic remains. 

 A post-glacial forest-bed occurs at Holm Scarf, off 

 the Norfolk coast, and may plainly be seen at low 

 water. It is a bed of peat, in which trunks of trees 

 are imbedded. It was in one of these trunks that 

 Mr. Edwards found a flint implement sticking. 



Within the last few days I have come upon the 

 remains of another submerged forest or peat-bed at 

 Bawdsey, near Felixstowe. It is only visible and 

 accessible at low-water spring-tides, and even then 

 it is seen sloping down into the sea. The cliffs at 

 Bawdsey are formed of London clay, capped by 

 Red Crag, and they do not waste so rapidly as many 

 other parts of this coast. The London clay forms 

 the bed of the sea, except near the northern side of 

 the estuary of the Deben. There we find the peat- 

 bed, resting directly on the London clay. It is 

 about four or five feet thick at its thickest part, but it 

 has evidently been much denuded, and is now merely 

 a relic of what it once was. Remains of trees are 



