Geological Society. 151 



January 5, 1842. — " A Notice on the Fossil Bones found on the 

 surface of a raised Beach at the Hoe near Plymouth/' by Edward 

 Moore, M.D., F.L.S., was first read. 



At the Meeting of the British Association at Plymouth, Dr. 

 Moore read a paper on the same subject as that which forms part of 

 the present communication*. In this notice he first alludes to the 

 discovery of the beach by the Rev. R. Hennah in 1827 f, and to 

 Mr. De la Beche's account of numerous anciently raised beaches in 

 Devon and Cornwall J ; he then briefly describes the characters of 

 the beach, its position in a hollow in the limestone rock, 100 feet 

 wide, 70 feet deep, and, at its base, 35 feet above the present high 

 water mark. He also notices a projecting ledge of limestone stretching 

 several hundred feet southward from this spot, and which sustained a 

 mass of sand, with rolled pebbles and blocks, some of them two or 

 three feet in circumference, and forming a hill twenty to twenty-five 

 feet high, containing patches of loose sand with fragments of Patella 

 and Buccinum. It was, says the author, easily traced by several 

 patches along the rocks, and proved, by its structure and contents, 

 to be a continuation of the same beach. Dr. Moore likewise briefly 

 describes another deposit 100 yards westward of the beach, and at a 

 greater elevation, being 88 feet above high water, 50 feet in extent, 

 and 10 in thickness, covered irregularly by soil. 



The animal remains more particularly enumerated by Dr. Moore 

 consist of a molar and part of the jaw of a young elephant ; a femur 

 of a rhinoceros ; maxillary bones of a bear, with the malar and pala- 

 tine processes, and two teeth in each ; an entire right lower ramus 

 with teeth and tusks, the latter much worn ; four separate tusks ; 

 several fragments of long bones ; fragments of jaws of the horse con- 

 taining teeth, numerous loose teeth, portions of long bones, and two 

 caudal vertebrae ; likewise portions of a deer's jaw containing teeth. 

 The quantity of the bones which has been found is stated to be equal 

 to several bushels. The vertebrae of a whale, much rounded, were 

 also discovered, with undeterminable portions of ribs. The animals 

 to which the above remains belonged, are considered by Dr. Moore 

 to have coexisted with those which inhabited the caves of Devon- 

 shire. 



The author then enters upon a defence of the opinions contained 

 in his paper read at Plymouth, respecting the mode of accumulation 

 of the bones. He states that these osseous remains cannot have 

 been derived from the emptying of some cave, because the mass of 

 superincumbent matter which has been removed from above the 

 beach proves that the bones must have been deposited where they 

 were found at a very ancient period, and long before they could have 

 been affected by human agency. There are also no known caves 



* Athenaeum, No. 721, and the volume of Reports of the British Asso- 

 ciation for 1841, Trans, of the Sections, p. 62 (published 1842). 



t See also " A Succinct Account of the Lime Rocks of Plymouth," by the 

 Rev. R. Hennah, 1822, p. 58. 



X Manual of Geology, 3rd Edition, p. 173, 1833 ; also Report on the 

 Geology of Cornwall and Devon, p. 423, 1839. 



