334 Correspondence — B. B. Woodicard. 



therefore to be sought in the district between Fredville and Chilharu, 

 and probably nearer to the former locality than to the latter. 



The Silurian portion of the buried Palaeozoic floor is then traced 

 westwards through Cliffe, on the Thames below Gravesend, to "Ware 

 in Hertfordshire, and northwards through Essex to Harwich, Sutton, 

 and Culford (Bury St. Edmunds). To the south of this the Devonian 

 rocks occupy the area of London, and extend as far as the district of 

 Croydon. 



The varying thickness of the overlying rocks is also dealt with, and 

 <letails are given of three sections, at llopersole, Chilham, and Bobbing, 

 in the hope that they may be useful to other explorers. 



2. " Shelly Clay dredged from tlie Dogger Bank." By John 

 Walker Stather, E.G.S. 



The Dogger Bank fishermen frequently get in their nets a tough 

 peaty material, which they call ' moorlog'. In a paper published in 

 the Essex Naturalist, April and July, 1909, this 'moorlog' was 

 described by Mr. H. Whitehead and Mr. H. H. Goodchild, with 

 a report on the plant-remains by Mr. Clement Reid, E.R.S., and 

 Mrs. Eleanor Eeid. 



In looking over some recently dredged 'moorlog' brought in by 

 a Hull trawler, the author noticed that, adhering to the specimens 

 of 'moorlog', was a dark silty clay, full of marine shells. These 

 specimens of ' moorlog', with the associated shelly clay, were dredged 

 in lat. 55° 24' N. and long. 3° 10' E., at a depth of 20 fathoms. 



A collection of these shells was submitted to Mr. Clement lleid, 

 who stated that they are all assignable to very shallow-water species, 

 and probably flourished just beneath low-water level. This and other 

 evidence seems to show that the ' moorlog ' in this part of the North 

 Sea rests upon a bed of shelly silt, and the shells in the silt together 

 with the ' moorlog ' point to great changes of level in the North Sea 

 Basin. 



C0E.E,E]SI=03SriDE;]SrCE- 



THE CAEVED CKAG ' PECTUNCULUS ' SHELL. 



Sir, — I am very glad you have admitted to your pages an illustration of the 

 interesting carved shell of Glycimeris [dim Pectunctilus] found in the Eed Crag 

 at Walton-on-the-Naze. 



Through the kindness of Dr. Marie Stopes I have been permitted to examine 

 the specimen. In common with some others who have examined the shell, 

 I feel sure that it is not a modern forgery, but an ancient work of art ; the 

 present fragile condition of the shell and the staining are proofs of that. The 

 sculpturing is not that of a prentice hand, nor, as the marks show, done with 

 a modern or metal instrument. 



That it is not of Pliocene age I am also convinced, and would hazard the 

 following explanation of its history. 



The surface deposits of the district in which it was found contain palaeolithic 

 implements, proving the occupation of the area by primitive man on its elevation 

 above the sea-level. 



The Crag in those days would not be in the condition in which we now know 

 it. It had not then been soaked to so great an extent with the iron-charged 

 drainage waters that have percolated it from paleolithic times to the present 



