590 
to which the above remains belonged, are considered by Dr. Moore 
to have coexisted with those which inhabited the caves of Devon- 
shire. 
The author then enters upon a defence of the opinions contained 
in his paper read at Plymouth, respecting the mode of accumulation 
of the bones. He states that these osseous remains cannot have 
been derived from the emptying of some cave, because the mass of 
superincumbent matter which has been removed from above the 
beach proves that the bones must have been deposited where they 
were found at a very ancient period, and long before they could have 
been affected by human agency. There are also no known cayes 
containing bones sufficiently near. On the contrary, says Dr. 
Moore, if the sea was at one time at the level indicated by the beach, 
the Hoe must have been an island accessible by animals at low 
water, and there appears no obstacle to the supposition that the 
bears might have selected the beach to devour their prey; and the 
stranded whale may have added to the banquet. Whether the bones 
were drifted or not, their occurrence on the top of the beach, and 
not in it, prevents, the author says, any identity of time in their 
origin; but that the beach previously existed, and was of marine 
origin, is proved by the resemblance of the deposit to a modern 
beach, and its containing sea-shells of the existing period, although 
few in number. 
That the deposit is not the result of glacial action, the author 
observes, is probable from the want of any indication of such action 
in the neighbouring district; and though he does not presume to 
assert that this may not be a cause of drift generally, and even of 
the upper deposit in the same locality, yet he contends that the 
dissimilarity in the composition of the lower deposit sustains him in 
the supposition of its being of different origin, and really a deposit 
from the sea. Lastly, Dr. Moore, in reference to the present posi- 
tion of the beach far above any point attained by the sea during the 
greatest storms, states that the deposit must have been elevated by 
natural causes ; and that, however uncertain the exact period of such 
an event, it seems to have occurred at a time probably more recent 
than the epoch when the extinct animals disappeared. 
Appended to the paper, is a notice of a specimen of perforated 
limestone taken from the Hoe Lake quarries, eighty-five feet above 
the present level of high water, and Dr. Moore maintains his belief 
that the perforations were formed by Pholades, and not by snails. 
A paper was next read, entitled ‘‘ An Account of the Contortions 
and Faults produced in the Strata underneath and adjacent to the 
great Embankment across the Valley of the Brent, on the Great 
Western Railway,” by J. Colthurst, Esq. ; communicated by George 
Bellas Greenough, Esq., F.G.S. 
The author was induced to lay this paper before the Society, be- 
cause he conceives, that, in the phenomena exhibited by the sub- 
sidence in the Brent embankment, there may be found the cause of 
many of the contortions, faults and dislocations of strata, especially 
