246 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 



Buxton explained what liad already been done with regard to the planting of 

 this wide expanse of arable laml \\ ilh seeds of forest trees and bushes. Mr. E. 'SI, 

 Holmes, F.L.S., who was of the party, examined the grasses at present growing 

 on the land with the view to advising Mr. Buxton, and recommending what species 

 should be sown so as to reproduce as closely as may be the natural sward of this 

 part of the old forest . 



Some striking woodland plants that could not escape notice were the hand- 

 some \\'ood-si:)urge {Euphorbia amygJaloides), the P^arth Nut {Conopodhini 

 denudatuni), and the Yellow Archangel {Lamimn galeohdoloii), all of which were 

 very plentiful. Among the moths noticed were Dasychiia pudibiinda (the 

 " Ligiit Tussock ^Nloth '') and Emymene dulobran'a (the "Scorch Wing"),. 

 the latter uncommon insect being found by Mr. Dalton. 



Willi regard to the geology and physiography of these parts of Hainhault 

 Forest, Mr. W. H. Dalton, F.G.S., made some notes, which he has kindly 

 embodied in the following paragraphs : — 



" Proceeding north-eastwanl from Grange Hill station, the gentle slope of 

 London Clay is capped with a thin sheet of boulder clay, the most south-westerly 

 fragment of that deposit in the county. At the pathway turning from the high 

 road about a quarter-of-a-mile west of All Saint's Church, the boulder clay is 

 replaced by loam for a feM' hundred yards, but recurs yet further eastward for 

 nearly a mile. The route followed by the Club skirted this patch of drift on the 

 south, passing alternately from it to the subjacent London Chiy and back again, in 

 the sinuous woodland path, and fnially ascended a further rise of the London 

 clay surface to the top of Cabin Hill, 300 feet above Ordnance Datum. This 

 crowned by a spur of the Lower Bagshot Sands, extending from this point north- 

 M-artl for a mile and a half. The tine, somewhat loamy sand, contained thin 

 bands, cemented by oxide of iron into compact stone, whilst tlie bareness of the 

 ground, and the presence of abundance of sorrel, suggested the continuation of 

 the process by which iroupyiites in the sand is slowly converted by contact with 

 air and water to sulphuric acid and per-oxide of iron. A sample of this 'iron- 

 pan ' was secured for the Club's collection of rock-specimens." 



" The broad landscape visible from the commanding position near Cabin Hill 

 contained little to note of geological interest, except the sudden rise of Shooters' 

 Hill, due to the great fault which runs along the Thames Valley from Greenwich 

 to Erith, and thence by Laiudon Hill to Ti[)tree Heath. INIost of the mtervening 

 area, beyond the rather sharp tail of Cabin Hill, consists of gravel deposited by 

 the Thames at various stages of its descent from the level of Fairlop and 

 Barking Side to its present position, a lowering of its bed of nearly 150 feet. 

 The gravel of North Kent, of corresponding age and level, contains enormous 

 quantities of Palaeolithic flint implements, evidently manufiictured on the pebbly 

 banks of the river, and probably the same will be found to be the case with the 

 high-level river-gravels of Essex, when duly searched. But it must be laid down 

 as a point of the greatest importance, that such implements be found actually 

 embedded in the gravel, not merely lying in the surface-soil. Also, the level 

 of site is of supreme value as fixing the approximate date, the lower terraces being 

 necessarily far more modern than the higher." 



•&■ 



The ramble was then continued through the upper part of the woodlands to the 

 *' Beehive Inn" at Lambourne End, where tea was served. 



