B. B. Woodward — Drift, etc., Neivquay, CormoaU. 13 



description, this must have been the section described by S. E. Pattison,^ 

 and the spot whence he obtained the shells identified by Crouch to be 

 ^' Modiola vulgaris, Cytherea cMone, Patella, OstreaJ^ It is, of course, 

 impossible to pronounce definitely in the absence of the specimens 

 themselves, but judging from what can be obtained on the spot to-day 

 it seems more probable that the first two should read Mytilus edulis 

 and Venus verrucosa. 



By the path from the golf links to the beach (3) only about two 

 feet of ' head ' is to be seen resting on the old beach. The upper 

 layers of the latter, which is altogether 5 feet in thickness, are far less 

 pebbly than at the last section, while there is the usual coarse 

 pebbly base. 



Under the old lead-mine tip (4) the 'head' is very sandy and 

 contains few of the characteristic angular fragments of rock, which 

 come in again, however, a few yards further to the south, the old 

 marine sands with pebble seams passing down into the bouldery base, 

 while laterally they once more become indurated and stand out from 

 the cliff face in miniature bluffs. 



Still passing southward these indurated sands are seen to rise in 

 places nearly as high as the top of the ' head,' while in others they 

 appear to have been denuded, and the ' head ' extends downwards till 

 it attains as much as 10 feet in thickness. 



Where the cliff rises towards the south end of the bay the ' head ' is 

 about 3 feet thick, while there is about 20 feet of indurated sand 

 between it and the layer of coarse pebbles at the base. 



In the southern angle of the bay, by the first path down (6), where 

 the cliff is from 40 to 50 feet high, the indurated sands are last seen 

 projecting out from among the talus about half-way up. Thence 

 eastward along the East Pentire headland coastline no vestige of them 

 was observed, the 'head,' as shown in the cliff lately scarped in the 

 formation of a promenade, coming right down, full 30 feet in thickness, 

 and resting at first on the old coarse pebble beach and afterwards on 

 the killas itself. 



Although all along the bay only about 2 feet of top stuff shows 

 in the cliff face, there are plenty of hill- wash-dunes just inland 

 containing abundance of shells belonging to the latest phase in their 

 history. One of these (5), close to the edge of the cliffs near their 

 highest point, has been cut into alongside the path and shows a section 

 over 4 feet thick. An example of Helix aspersa occurred at 3 feet 

 from the surface, and there were a few small fragments of Mytilus. 

 A list of the shells obtained from this spot is given in the table at 

 end. Nowhere were any traces observed of the older phase as in the 

 more interesting sections close round the Headland Hotel, to which 

 attention may now be directed. 



Eeturning to the northern angle of the bay (A on the map), and 

 proceeding westwards along the first promontory, the indurated sands 

 of the old marine series are again observed, from 10 to 15 feet thick 

 according to circumstances, since they rest on an irregular surface of 

 killas to which, when the coarse pebbly base is wanting, they are 



1 Trans. Roy. Geol. Soc. Cornwall, vol. vii (1848), p. 50. 



