152 Geological Society. 



containing bones sufficiently near. On the contrary, says Dr. 

 Moore, if the sea was at one time at the level indicated by the beach, 

 the Hoe must have been an island accessible by animals at low 

 water, and there appears no obstacle to the supposition that the 

 bears might have selected the beach to devour their prey ; and the 

 stranded whale may have added to the banquet. Whether the bones 

 were drifted or not, their occurrence on the top of the beach, and 

 not in it, prevents, the author says, any identity of time in their 

 origin ; but that the beach previously existed, and was of marine 

 origin, is proved by the resemblance of the deposit to a modern 

 beach, and its containing sea-shells of the existing period, although 

 few in number. 



That the deposit is not the result of glacial action, the author 

 observes, is probable from the want of any indication of such action 

 in the neighbouring district ; and though he does not presume to 

 assert that this may not be a cause of drift generally, and even of 

 the upper deposit in the same locality, yet he contends that the 

 dissimilarity in the composition of the lower deposit sustains him in 

 the supposition of its being of different origin, and really a deposit 

 from the sea. Lastly, Dr. Moore, in reference to the present posi- 

 tion of the beach far above any point attained by the sea during the 

 greatest storms, states that the deposit must have been elevated by 

 natural causes ; and that, however uncertain the exact period of such 

 an event, it seems to have occurred at a time probably more recent 

 than the epoch when the extinct animals disappeared. 



Appended to the paper, is a notice of a specimen of perforated 

 limestone taken from the Hoe Lake quarries, eighty- five feet above 

 the present level of high water, and Dr. Moore maintains his belief 

 that the perforations were formed by Pholades, and not by snails. 



" .Notice on the occurrence of Plants in the Plastic Clay of the 

 Hampshire Coast," by the Rev. P. B. Brodie, F.G.S., was then 

 read. 



The cliffs to the east and west of Bournemouth are composed of 

 horizontal strata belonging to the plastic clay formation. East of 

 the town they consist of white and yellow sands, the former con- 

 taining fragments of wood. Further along the shore the cliffs are 

 higher, and beds of clay full of vegetable remains appear under 

 the sands. About half a mile beyond, a stratum of fine white sand, 

 three or four feet thick, situated near the middle of the cliffs, con- 

 tains impressions of ferns ; and a layer of sand and clay is full of 

 small leaves. The subjacent strata of clay are separated by thin 

 layers of vegetable matter. Somewhat further, beds of white and 

 yellow sand and sandy clay abound with beautiful leaves, and the 

 surface of the strata is in some places covered with a thin layer of 

 iron-sand containing impressions of ferns. In most cases, the vari- 

 ous coloured sands are divided by beds of clay, and their fossil con- 

 tents are distributed in layers at rather distant intervals. Mr. Brodie 

 did not discover any shells. Several of the fossil plants are stated 

 by the author to belong to the Lauracea and Amentacece ; but he 



