268 SUBMERGED FOREST ‘AT RHYL. 
loam filled with the bodies of oak trees, tolerably entire; but 
so soft as to be cut with a knife as easily as wax. The wood is 
collected by the poorer people, and, after being brought to dry 
upon the beach, is carried home and used as fuel; but in 
burning emits a bad smell.” 
Pror. T. McKenny HucGues, M.A., F.R.S., in a paper 
published in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 
vol. xliii., pp. 98, 99, on the ‘‘ Drifts of the Vale of Clwyd,” 
states—“‘ We have no data for determining the absolute age of 
the alluvial deposits in the upper part of the Vale. I have a 
very fine partly. ground neolithic implement, picked up by 
Mr. Stuart MENTEITH in the gravel of the Elwy above 
St. Asaph, and given to me; but there is no evidence as to 
whether this was carried on to the gravelly bed of the river 
from the alluvial gravel which there spread across the valley 
from side to side, or was dropped in from the surface-soil. The 
North Wales fenlands of Morfa Rhuddlan were formed where 
the river spread over the low flat lands; its velocity was 
checked, and the transport of gravel ceased. So below 
St. Asaph, near Rhuddlan and Rhyl, for instance, the gravel 
banks give way to tidal silt, to which we will refer as the Morfa 
Rhuddlan beds, and which is probably newer still than some, at 
any rate, of the gravel near St. Asaph. The course of the river 
has altered considerably since the water-towers of Rhuddlan 
Castle were built. 
‘Sections through the silt have been sunk for various purposes 
here and there. For instance, I was informed that when the 
railway was being made along the coast, they dug out the blue 
estuarine clay to a depth of 18 feet to make the embankment, 
and near the bottom of the excavation found the skull of 
Bos longifrons, and the antlers of Cervus elaphus, which are now 
preserved in the Cambrian inn at Pensarn. These remains 
oceur here and there all through the deposit. The Balani on 
the points of another pair of antlers show that it had projected 
above the surface of the clay for some time. 
‘©On the south of Rhyl a trench cut out for draining-purposes 
exposed the following section :— 
f..o yin 
a. Surface-soil with broken shells of Buccinum undatum 
at the base, perhaps artificially carried there. 
&. Blue clay, weathering brown in the upper part, con- 
taining shells of Scrobicularia piperata, with valves 
AGHEFEN CE Ua tits ends Gest ya srong nannies iaste canta 2'r.So 
oy Peaty sltsmo timber 2. igstig ide «tiie Gish» bs» aha » OuUns 
ad, Peat, with trees 15 ft. in length and 1 ft. 6in. in 
CIAMELEKaeaeten seine <> GR er aaitela af aise cca! ence 2 0 
ex Blue clay, sc. ceaitase = ION PBC eT oe 4 sap.) ee 
“ On the Morfa Rhuddlan beds rest the sand-dunes and the 
shingle which form a great natural bulwark against the sea, 
