DKroSITS AT niTcniN. 19 



Linn. ; Potoriura offieiualo, Hook. f. ; Pyrus torminalis ? Hhrh. 

 (idriitii'iil with seeds found at Itoxne) ; itippiiris Tul<;aris, Linn. 

 Myriopliylluin ; Coruus sanguiuea, Linn. ; Sambucus nigra, Linn. 

 Eupatorium cauuabinum, Linn. ; Fraxinus excelsior, Linn. 

 Meuyautlies tril'oliata, Linn. ; Lycopus europa^us, Linn. ; Ajiiga 

 reptaiis, Linn. ; Aluus glutiuosa, Linn. ; (iuercus robur, Linn. ; 

 Ceratophylluui demersum, Linn. ; Spargauiuin ; Potamogetou 

 crispus, Linn.; Potamogeton, sp. ; Potamogeton, sp.; Naias marina, 

 Linn. ; Scirpus lacustris, Linn. ; Scirpus, sp. ; Carex. 



Mosses. 



Antitrichia ciirtipendula, Brid. ; Homalotheciiira scriceiira, Bry. 

 Europ. ; Hyocomium brevii'ostrc ? Bry. Europ. ; Isothccium ? ; 

 !Neckera complanata, Bry. Europ. ; Stereodon cupressiformis, BriA. ; 

 Zygodou ? 



Char ace ce. 



Several species indet. 



Such trees as the oak, ash, sloe, cornel, elder, and alder point 

 unmistakably to a temperate climate, and the fauna and flora 

 as a whole suggest climatic conditions not diifering greatly fi'om 

 those we now enjoy. Mr. Mitten writes of the mosses, that "all 

 these are inhabitants of a sylvan temperate region .... and 

 none point to a different environment from that now existing; 

 they are not arctic." The occurrence of Naias marina., now only 

 found in Ei'itain in two of the Norfolk Broads, is singular, though 

 the plant was evidently more common in former times than it is 

 at the present day. It has now been discovered in the Pre-Glacial 

 deposits of Norfolk and Suffolk, beneath Palasolithic remains at 

 Hitchin, and in a submerged peat of Neolithic date at Barry Docks, 

 in South AVales. 



The resemblance of the Hitchin Palaeolithic brickearth to the 

 Palaeolithic brickearth of Hoxne, and the similarity of the old 

 alluvia beneath, both in fossil contents and in the physical changes 

 they suggest, are so striking that one is compelled to correlate them 

 bed by bed. If, however, this correlation be correct, it is evident 

 that the intermediate deposit full of leaves of Arctic willows, so 

 conspicuous over part of the area at Hoxne, is missing at Hitchin. 

 At each locality the same story is told. Some time after the 

 passing away of the ice the land stood higher than now, so that 

 the streams had a greater fall and valleys were cut to a somewhat 

 greater depth. Then the land sank and the valleys became silted 

 up with layer after layer of alluvium, to a depth of at least 30 feet, 

 the climate remaining temperate. The next stage, when an Arctic 

 flora reappeared, is only represented at Hoxne. The third stage 

 in the inhlling of the valleys is shown in the curious unstratified 

 decalcified brickearth with scattered stones and Palaeolithic imple- 

 ments, identical in character at Hitchin, Hoxne, Fisherton, and 

 other localities, which irresistibly suggests a mingling ' of wind- 

 transported material and rainwash. 



