236 Royal Society. 



One very remarkable instance has already been brought under the 

 author's notice by Mr. Evans since their return from France. In 

 the 13th volume of the ^Archaeologia,' published in 1800, is a paper 

 by Mr, John Frere, F.R.S. and F.S.A., entitled "An Account of 

 Flint- Weapons discovered at Hoxne in Suifolk," wherein that gentle- 

 man gives a section of a brick-pit in which numerous flint-imple- 

 ments had been found, at a depth of 1 1 feet, in a bed of gravel con- 

 taining bones of som.e unknown animal ; and concludes from the 

 ground being undisturbed and above the valley, that the specimens 

 must be of very great antiquity, and anterior to the last changes of 

 the surface of the country, — a very remarkable announcement, 

 hitherto overlooked. 



The author at once proceeded in search of this interesting locality, 

 and found a section now exposed to consist of — 



feet. 



1. Earth and a few flints 2 



2. Brown brick-earth, a carbonaceous seam in middle and one of 



gravel at base ; no organic remains. The workmen stated that 

 two flint-implements (one of which they shortly picked up in 

 the author's presence) had been found about 10 feet from the 

 surface during the last winter 12 



3. Grey clay, in places carbonaceous and in others sandy, with recent 



land and freshwater shells (Planorbis, Valvata, Succinea, Pisi- 



dium, Helix, and Cyclas) and bones of Mammalia 4 



4. Small subangular flint-gravel and chalk pebbles 2\ 



5. Carbonaceous clay (stopped by water) ^H- 



The weapons referred to by Mr. Frere are described by him as 

 being found abundantly in bed No. 4 ; but at the spot where the 

 work has now arrived, this bed is much thinner, and is not worked. 

 In the small trench which the author caused to be dug, he found 

 no remains either of weapons or of bones. He saw, however, in the 

 collection of Mr. T. E. Amyot, of Diss, specimens of the weapons, 

 also an astragalus of the elephant from, it was supposed, this bed, 

 and, from bed No. 3, the teeth of a horse, closely resembling those 

 from the elephant-bed of Brighton. 



The specimens of the weapons figured by Mr. Frere, and those 

 now in the British Museum and elsewhere, present a singular simi- 

 larity in work and shape to the more pointed forms from St. Acheul. 



One very important fact connected with this section, is that it 

 shows the relative age of the bone and implement-bearing beds. 

 They form a thin lacustrine deposit, which seems to be superimposed 

 on the Boulder Clay, and to pass under a bed of the ochreous sand 

 and flint-gravel belonging to the great and latest drift-beds of the 

 district. 



The author purposely abstains for the present from all theoretical 

 considerations, confining himself to the corroboration of the facts : — 



1 . That the flint-implements are the work of man. 



2. That they were found in undisturbed ground. 



3. That they are associated with the remains of extinct Mammalia. 



4. That the period was a late geological one, and anterior to the 

 surface assuming its present outline, so far as some of its minor 

 features are concerned. 



