278 Mr. R. C. Taylor on the Geology of East Norfolk. 



any extinct or even rare species ; but they consist entirely of 

 the littoral shells, which now abound in the German Ocean, 

 and are constantly met with on its shores or in the aestuaries 

 into which its tidal waters flow." 



" 2d. Many of them, particularly the Buccina, are still 

 very perfect, and in excellent preservation. 3d. The beds are 

 found at various places, and uniformly at the same height of 

 40 feet. 4th. They appear, in most instances, not to extend 

 beyond the face of the hills. 5th. They are mixed with verte- 

 brae of small fish, and bones of land animals, decayed vege- 

 table substances resemblingy?/ci, fragments of coal, &c. 



From these ph3'sical circumstances the following conclu- 

 sions are drawn : — 



1st. The shells found either below the soil that fills these 

 basins, or on the sides of the surrounding hills, are unques- 

 tionably marine ; they were therefore deposited by the waters 

 of the sea. 



2d. They contain no exuviae that are peculiar to the older 

 strata, but all resemble those of the testaceous moUuscae now 

 found in the neighbouring ocean ; therefore the sea, by whose 

 waters these deposits were formed, was the German Ocean. 



3d. These beds of shells and other coincident traces of an 

 ancient beach are found about 40 feet above the present sur- 

 face of the valley of ihe Yare ; therefore the waters of the Ger- 

 man Ocean once flowed up, and permanently occupied this 

 valley at that elevation. 



4th. The valleys of the Bure and Waveney are upon the 

 same level, and communicate with that of the Yare; therefore 

 they were at some period connected branches of an extensive 

 aestuary filled by the waters of the German Ocean, to that height 

 at which the ti'aces of their residence may still be discerned. 



Historical proofs. — The ancient map deposited in the Yar- 

 mouth town chest, of which document an inaccurate copy was 

 published in Ives's Gariaiionum, indicates that many centuries 

 ago, there prevailed a confused notion that these valleys were 

 in earlier times filled by the waters of the sea. Imperfect as 

 is this testimony, it derives confirmation from the remains of 

 anchors which have been discovered in the marshes; evincing 

 the spots where they were found to have been permeable to 

 maritime vessels, since the art of navigation has been known 

 to man. There is further evidence in the sites of Roman forts, 

 most of which the author conjectures, " were built for the de- 

 fence of this very exposed part of the Saxon shore, against 

 the inroads of those formidable Northern pirates by whom it 

 was afterwards so frequently laid waste." Caister near Yar- 

 mouth, and Burgh Castle, generally viewed as the true Gari- 



anouum. 



