W. Whitaker — Geology of Coasts of England and Wales. 113 



on fossil rodents, including the genus Cricctus, to which reference may 

 profitably be made, that by H. J. Niiesch having an account of the 

 small mammals by Dr. A. Nehring. 



If the ' Forest Bed ' specimen were of the same age as those 

 described by Dr. Woldfich, one would have had little hesitation in 

 referring them provisionally to the same subspecies ; but the evidence 

 in favour of these Norfolk deposits being of Pliocene age is becoming 

 stronger. Dr. Forsyth Major's ^ study of the Forest Bed Yoles has 

 led him to think that most of the ' Forest Bed ' mammals now 

 referred to living species will eventually prove to be extinct forms; 

 and recent investigations seem to lend strength to his opinions. 



A name is needed by which this unique Hamster from the ' Forest 

 Bed ' may be known, and under the circumstances it would scarcely 

 be wise to adopt the name of a Pleistocene form, as this would seem to 

 imply affinities for which we have no grounds. It is very unlikely 

 that additional evidence will be obtained for a long time to come, and 

 I suggest that we regard this fossil as representing a peculiar race 

 and call it Cricetics vxdgaris Runtonensis. 



V. — On the Geologic Conditions affecting the Coasts of England 

 AND "Wales, with special reference to the Coast-line from 

 Lynn to Wells (Norfolk) and from Yarmouth to Eastbourne 

 (Suffolk, Essex, Kent, and Sussex). 



By W. Whitaker, B.A., F.R.S. 



[Concluded from the February Number, p. 56.) 



HAVING now given a short account of the geology of the long line 

 of coast from Yarmouth to Eastbourne, one may say of the first 

 part of it, north of the Thames, that it is, so to speak, most favourably 

 constructed for coast-erosion. Without a single hard or firm rock, such 

 as the Chalk ; without anything that can form a nearly perpendicular 

 cliff of any height, no cliff indeed being high enough to give rise to 

 a respectable landslip ; composed of loose sand and gravels, loams and 

 clays (the last partly strengthened by thin layers of soft stone), there 

 is really nothing to withstand either the assaults of atmospheric action 

 from above or of the sea below. Such parts as are of special interest 

 or have been subject to special observation will now be noticed. 



Along this coast the general movement of the shingle is southward, 

 or toward the Thames. Owing to this the most easterly point of 

 this island, Lowestoft Ness, consists of low flat land gained from 

 the sea, a tract of Blown Sand and Shingle about 2 J- miles long and 

 nowhere half a mile broad. The seaward extension of the harbour has 

 helped to arrest the progress of the shingle and to pile it up on the 

 northern side. Naturally this has led to a decrease of shingle on the 

 other side of the harbour, and on my last visit, in 1902, the defences 

 of the southern part of the town, by Pakefield, had been overcome and 

 the cliff cut back so as to endanger some of the houses. [Since the above 

 was written further loss of land has taken place here.] Curiously 

 enough, however, at Kessin gland, the southern end of this long line of 



1 "The Mammalian Fauna of the Forest Bed "• : GeoL. Mag., 1908, p. 329. 



decade v. — VOL. VI. — NO. III. 8 



