Correspondence — A. J. Jukes-Browne. 237 



South "Wales) is older than the local glacial deposits. That discovery 

 was made by E,. H. Tiddeman in 1900, and was published in this 

 Magazine for that year.^ Moreover, in 1903 Messrs. Wright and 

 Muff (Maufe) proved that the 12 to 15 ft. raised beach in the South 

 of Ireland was also relatively pre-Glacial. These observers have 

 shown that the descending succession in both countries is as follows : — 



Upper head or local rubble. 

 Glacial deposits. 

 Lower head and cave earth. 

 Eaised beach. 



In Devon and Cornwall the succession is the same where most 

 complete, but is usually without any glacial deposit, because the 

 area was probably outside the limits of continuous ice even at the 

 epoch of maximum glaciation. An accumulation has, however, been 

 found above a raised beach in the Scilly Isles, which Mr. Barrow has 

 not hesitated to describe as " a glacial deposit ", and his final remarks 

 regarding it are so much to the point that I may be excused for 

 quoting them. He says: "The occurrence of this [deposit] is of 

 the utmost importance, for not only can the old beach be now seen 

 to be identical with that on the Cornish coast, but it is obviously 

 contemporaneous with that described by Messrs. Wright & MuflP(Mauf e') 

 occurring on the south coast of Ireland. It is also identical with 

 that occurring in the South Wales area, for in both instances the 

 head overlying the old beach is capped by a Glacial deposit. Thus, 

 then, the old beaches in the Scilly Isles, in Cornwall, in South 

 Wales, and in the South of Ireland are not only contemporaneous, 

 but in addition are older than part of the Glacial Deposits" (^The 

 Geology of the Isles of Scilly, Mem. Geol. Survey, 1907). To this 

 I need only add that Mr. Ussher has accepted the same date for the 

 raised beaches near Plymouth (Mem. Geol. Survey, 1907). E'aturallv, 

 therefore, in dealing with " The Making of Torbay " I thought it Avas 

 sufficient to state that the age of the raised beaches in Devonshire 

 had been so determined, and consequently I did not refer to the 

 ancient history of the question. 



Mr. Hunt, however, is bold enough to assert that "the intrinsic 

 evidence of the Torbay beaches against an early glacial antiquity is 

 very strong", and he indicates three lines of evidence, viz. those of 

 flint implements, Molluscan fauna, and geographical position. He 

 says that flints of recognized Neolithic age have occurred " at Hope's 

 Nose in Torbay, in the Irish beaches, and in the Scotch beaches, all 

 within the 25 foot level or terrace". Now, if by the words " at 

 Hope's Nose " he means in the material of the beach we should like to 

 have particulars of the find. The neolith obtained from the floor of 

 Torbay proves nothing, neither do the finds in the raised beach of 

 Antrim or in the Scotch 25 ft. beach, because it has been shown 

 that the land-movements in the north were quite different from those 

 in the south-west of the British area. 



Mr. Hunt's second argument, based on the non- Arctic character of 

 the Molluscan fauna, is specious but fallacious, because we have no 

 standard of comparison within the areas of the English and Bristol 



1 Geol. Mag., 1900, pp. 441-3. 



