i8o 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



and the highect 30 - o8 in. at the end of the week. 

 The mean temperature of the air was 67*9 deg., and 

 4*7 above the average. The general direction' of 

 the wind was S.W. Rain fell on four days of the 

 week to the aggregate amount of C26 of an inch. 

 The duration of registered bright sunshine in the 

 week was 55 # 2 hours, against 37*3 hours at Glynde 

 Place, Lewes. 



The mean temperature in London and vicinity for 

 August is 64 ; for S.E. coast 63 , forLand's End 62 , 

 Hull 6i°, and Sunderland 60°. 



The average rainfall for August is over the greater 

 part of England 2 inches, in a few places on the W. 

 coast it is 3 inches. 



exposure as a land surface, when it underwent great 

 denudation by weathering, began gently to subside. 

 Nothing definite can be said as to the extent of this 

 subsidence, but it is well known that that part which 

 forms now the south-east counties of England, was 

 gradually submerged, when sand banks and shelly 

 deposits were laid down in the shallow waters of the 

 North Sea, and it is these accumulations that are 

 termed "crag." Geikie, in his Text-book of Geology,, 

 says : " It is evident in these fragmentary accumula- 

 tions of the ' crag ' series, we have merely the 

 remnants of some thin sheets of shelly sands and 

 gravels, laid down in the waters of the North Sea > 

 while that great lowering of the European climate 



Fig. 99. — Pectit7Utdus 

 glycimeris. 



Fig. 100. — Nucula Cobboldia. 



Fig. 104. — Purpura ietra- 

 gona. 



Astarte Omalh. 



Fig. 102. — Fusus contrarius. 



Fig. 103. — Voluta Latn- 

 berti. 



Fig. 105. — Cyprcea Europaa. 



A VISIT TO THE RED CRAG AND 

 CHALK PITS OF SUFFOLK. 



LAST November, being in Suffolk with some 

 friends, I visited one of the red crag cuttings 

 and one of the chalk pits in the neighbourhood of 

 Ipswich. I had heard a great deal about the "crag " 

 formation, but it was all so new to me that I wished 

 much to see it and make a collection of its fossils for 

 myself. This desire was strengthened after seeing 

 the splendid collection in the museum at Ipswich — a 

 place which I would advise any lover of nature, in 

 most of her departments, to visit as soon as possible. 



We had a beautiful day, and after driving four 

 miles or so, through lanes bordered with hedgerows 

 on either side, over which the briony berries were 

 clustering in scarlet masses, while the tufts of wild 

 clematis seed clothed everything in a mantle of snow, 

 we arrived at Foxhall Crag Pit. 



A few words as to the nature of the ' ' crag " 

 formation will explain it at once. In the riiocene 

 period in geology, Britain, after a long time of 



was beginning which culminated in the glacial 

 period." Many of the "crag" shells still live in 

 Arctic seas. 



The " crag " series is subdivided into five groups, 

 of which the red is the second oldest, and it is 

 principally in Norfolk and Suffolk that all of these 

 groups are exposed. The cutting which we visited 

 seemed to be about six or eight feet thick; its natural 

 colour is a deep red, and in some parts it is stained 

 deeper still by a mixture of iron. The section here 

 is very good, and shows the " red crag" resting on 

 the London clay. 



The "crag" species of shells are 230 in number- 

 The Foxhall "crag" pit is worked for the purpose 

 of obtaining those valuable phosphatic nodules, called 

 " coprolites." They are gathered by the ton, after 

 being extricated from the " crag," and conveyed to. 

 the crushing and chemical works and converted into 

 manure. As there are various opinions as to what 

 those "nodules" really are, I will quote an extract, 

 from Dr. J. E. Taylor's book, " Nature's Bye-paths," 

 which gives his opinion. " The well-known red 



