l66 NOTE ON A SMALL SHARK. 



(fresh-water) had excavated a small channel ; that this stream 

 was accustomed to carry boats was evident, because in its own 

 mud and not in the peat itself, the boat was found. The surface 

 of the peat was the shore of that day, and the existence of the 

 stream must have been prolonged to the later part of that period 

 which was occupied in the accumulation of the tree's growth 

 and their debris. Therefore, the stream was apparently in full 

 run about 1700 years ago, and the boat apparently belongs to 

 that age. Since the boat was lost, the deposit of tidal mud had 

 almost obliterated any sign of the channel " 



Mr. Spurrell records in his paper on " Early Sites and 

 Embankments on the Margins of the Thames Estuary" 

 [Archceological Journal, vol. xlii., p. 302, note) that near a spot in 

 the Erith Marshes by Belvedere Station where moor-logs of the 

 old foreL;t might then (1S85) ^^^ ^^^n projecting into the ditch, a 

 "dug-out" boat was found. It was low down in the peat, 

 which rises to zero O.D. and was cut through in making a ditch, 

 the ends of the boat being left in either bank. " From out of 

 this boat a polished flint axe and a very beautiful flint scraper 

 were obtained. Another polished axe of large size was dredged 

 out of the same peat bed in the river off Prices' works close by." 



The Albert Docks boat was secured for the British Museum 

 (by Mr. Whitaker's intervention) where, Mr. C. H. Read 

 informs us, it is still preserved. As the Museum now has the 

 two "dug-outs" (one from the Lea and the other from the 

 Thames) it is much to be desired that careful descriptions and a 

 comparison of them should be published. Meanwhile our readers 

 will doubtless welcome the above records of " dug-out " boats 

 found in the district. 



NOTE ON A SMALL SHARK ( ? Gakiis vulgaris) 

 SEEN IN BRIGHTLINGSEA HARBOUR. 



Hy H. C. SORBV, LL.D., F R.S., F.LS., .S:r. 



When walking on the deck of my yacht, lying in Bright- 

 lingsea Harbour on August 23rd, 1901, at about 4.15 p.m., I 

 heard a loud splashing, and, on looking to see what was the 

 cause, I saw a small shark, about ten yards off, with its tail 

 curled round and flapping it on the surface of the water. It 

 then straightened itself out and swam towards the yacht, but, at 



