Correspondence — 2Ir. H. Keeping. 95 



That the statement " 10 or 12 feet above higli-water mark " is 

 strictly corroborated by our estimate of "13 feet above the beach " 

 is, I think, rather doubtful, as high-water mark is, excepting at high 

 spring tides, a few feet below the top of the beach. 



On page 3 of Mr. Wood's paper, he speaks of " that more purely 

 freshwater formation both above and beneath the marine stratum," 

 and he leaves the question of the beds exposed to the eastwards 

 being Upper or Lower Headon an open one. Now we have shown 

 clearly that there are no beds between the marine stratum and the 

 gravel at Paddy's Gap, except one foot and a half of unfossiliferous 

 white sand, which can hardly be referred to the freshwater Upper 

 Headon series ; and further that the Unio beds distinctly underlie 

 the Middle Headon. Unless the supposed Upper Headon beds were 

 portions of the Unio beds, what were they ? 



Is it not better to settle a discussion of this nature on the spot by 

 an examination, and excavation where necessary made at the present 

 day, than to have an argument on observations made many years ago. 



All geologists recognize the great value of the work done here, as 

 elsewhere, by the late Mr. Searles Wood ; but surely his son writes 

 somewhat unadvisedly in demanding apologies from Mr. Keeping. 



Otteebouene, near "Winchester, JOHN W. Elwes. 



Dec. 2lst, 1883. 



THE MIDDLE HEADON MARINE BED. 



SiE, — What could have induced Mr. Searles Wood to write a long 

 article on the Long Mead End Upper Bagshot Sands (Geol. Mag. 

 Nov. 1883) I cannot conceive, seeing that the discussion was strictly 

 on the position of the Middle Headon Marine bed. Was it that he 

 was desirous of informing us that his father had discovered the Upper 

 Bagshot Sands in July, 1843 ? Mr. Seaides Wood seems, however, 

 to have overlooked the fact that it had been mentioned by several 

 previous writers — by Webster in 1824, Lyell in 1829, and D'Archiac 

 in 1838. 



I do not for a moment blame Mr. Searles Wood in looking after 

 his father's interests ; but this, it seems to me, is the reverse of what 

 he is doing, for he implicates his father in several mistakes which 

 he has himself made. Thus he states distinctly (Geol. Mag. Nov. 

 1883, p. 496) that the Upper Headon does occur at Hordwell ; the 

 late Mr. Searles Wood was much more cautious, for he admits that 

 he regarded it as Upper Freshwater " more from position than from 

 its organic contents," thus leaving it an open question. 



Our object has been to show that there is no Upper Headon at 

 Hordwell, and this I believe we have succeeded in doing. I have 

 myself worked at these cliffs more or less every year for the last 42 

 years, and we merely wished to add a few facts to what was already 

 known. 



Mr. J. W. Elwes having so well described (Geol. Mag. Nov. 

 1883) the position of the beds in a pit we sank last September, I 

 Tieed hardly say more on this point, excepting that it is not likely 

 that this Middle Headon Marine bed would ever have been found 



