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XI.—Note on a Sub-Marine Forest at Market Strand, Falmouth—By 
H. MIcHELL WHITLEY, C.E. 
Read at the Annual Meeting, Nov. 14, 1871. 
ie September, 1871, during the progress of the works for the 
erection of a landing pier at the Market Strand, Falmouth, 
in excavating the foundations, the remains of a Sub-Marine Forest 
were discovered. 
The Section shewed first a layer of sand, two feet in thick- 
ness, resting upon a thin bed of shale thinning out towards the 
Sea; below this was the Forest Bed, which was about seven feet 
thick, and its top, when excavated, was about the level of low- 
water mark, ordinary spring tides. 
The Forest Bed is composed of compact Peat, seven feet thick, 
and under it, resting upon the rock, was a layer of gravel, four 
feet in thickness. 
The Forest consists principally of the remains of flags mixed 
with ferns; the greater number of the trees were of small size, 
few being above twelve inches in diameter; they were chiefly 
Hazel, Oak, Fir, but the Beech and Birch were also abundant. 
There were no Hazel nuts discovered. 
The appearance of the Forest Bed suggests the supposition 
that the Forest, or rather the coppice wood, gradually sank until 
it became a Marsh, when the flags mentioned above grew abun- 
dantly ; then, as it sank deeper into the water, the layer of sand 
overlying it was deposited. 
The adjacent open space before the Market is called the Moor, 
and I was informed that this Forest Bed extends up this valley 
for a short distance. Another portion of this Forest was seen in 
an excavation at the Bar pools. 
This discovery adds another to the many points along our 
southern coast at which the remains of these Sub-Marine Forests 
have been discovered ; and we may infer that this ancient Forest 
grew not only around the open coast, but also extended up the 
estuaries of the various rivers, and that the coast line of ancient 
rocks was at that time much the same as at present. 
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