16 Alfred Bell — Age of the Suffolk Boxstones. 



After eliminating the Eocene faunas referred to, there remains 

 a miscellaneous series of both marine and terrestrial organisms, the 

 former being mostly contained in the boxstones and sandstones, of 

 which they form a part (see Geol. Mag., September, 1917, p. 408). 



Professor Boswell, F.Gr.S., has carefully examined and described 

 the petrology of the boxstones, and suggests that some of tliem may 

 have been formed by concretionary segregation of iron oxides, calcium 

 phosphate and carbonate around organic nuclei.^ As a rule they are 

 irregular in shape, often water-worn, sometimes nearly spherical, 

 and of many degrees of hardness, according to the amount of iron 

 in their composition; the sand at times being apparently full of small 

 tubes (? annelids), loosely cemented, and light in weight and colour. 

 The excessively hard masses are usually devoid of organic remains of 

 any kind. It is impossible to separate these indurated boxstones, 

 spherical or otherwise, from the tabular sandstones and loose shells 

 found in the body of the Crag, presently to be referred to, as the 

 same species of shells occur also in them. These amorphous lumps 

 can hardly be termed nodules in the sense usually understood. In 

 these as in Cromarty, like the Ichthyolite beds of the Old Red 

 Sandstones, in the White Lias, in the Pennystone nodules of the 

 Coal-measures with their exquisitely preserved Crustaceans and 

 other invertebrata, or those of Coalbrookdale enclosing delicate fern 

 fronds and pinnules, the nodules follow the lines of that of the 

 organisms enclosed. The cement stones of the Essex London Clay 

 at Harwich containing Chelonians may also be regarded as larger 

 examples of the same kind. 



On the other hand, the fossils of the boxstones often occur at an 

 irregular angle, according to the way in which the sandstone may 

 have broken up. Several individuals are frequently present in the 

 same block. 



The Mekran nodules described by Mr. E. B. Newton,* fairly 

 represent the usual method of inhumation in the best-preserved 

 boxstones, so that the same words must apply to both. " The condition 

 of the fossils is nearly always that of a natural cast exhibiting 

 internal structure, whilst external features are often preserved in the 

 concavity of the shell." 



The exterior of these Mekran nodules, " many as round as a ball 

 with perfectly even surfaces," has but a superficial analogy to that 

 of the boxstones in general. 



Dr. J. J. H. (now Sir Jethro) Teall, F.R.S., in his presidential 

 address to the Geologists' Association^ dealing with " The Natural 

 History of Phosphatic Deposits", describes the boxstones (p. 383) as 

 "nodules of brown phosphatic sandstone which usually contain 

 hollow moulds of Pectimeidus or other (calcareous) shells ", and quotes 

 Dr. H. Credner, who in treating of the phosphate nodules of the Mid<lle 

 Oligocenes of Leipzig where similar nodules occur in place, says, 

 "the phosphate, mainly phosphate of lime, has been concentrated 



' Geol. Mag., Dec. VI, Vol. ii, p. 2-50, 1915. 



^ E. B. Newton, F.G.S., " Marine Fossils in Limestone Nodules found on 

 the Mekran (Baluchistan) Beach " : Geol. Mag., Dec. V, Vol. ii, 1905. 

 ^ Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol. xvi, p. 369, 1899-1900. 



