108 W. A. E. JJssher — Post-Tertiary Geology of Cornwall. 



p. 429) commented on the abundance of rolled Chalk flints in the 

 recent as well as the Eaised beaches on the Cornish coast ; he 

 suggested the existence of a race making use of flint implements 

 prior to the raising of the beaches, and that these flints in trans- 

 port from the localities whence they were derived, might have been 

 dropped, and, in unlading, have been lost and rolled with the beach 

 pebbles. This theory may be dismissed as untenable both on 

 account of the absence, in inland localities, of relics of such a race 

 as that invoked, and on account of the number of natural flints and 

 the absence of signs of manufacture. 



Mr. Peach notices (T.E.G.S. Corn. vol. v. p. 55) the abundance of 

 flints in some of the coves at Gorran, and suggests their derivation 

 from the Chalk of " No Best," off the Dodman Point, " a name given 

 to some submarine rocks by the fishermen, owing to their trawls 

 becoming hitched in the rough ground." 



It is scarcely credible that such observers as De la Beche, Borlase, 

 Boase, Carne, Hen wood, etc., could have failed to notice the 

 existence of Cretaceous rocks off the Cornish coast, and, if known 

 to them, they would certainly have commented upon them. There- 

 fore, in the absence of further particulars, it is safer to regard the 

 " Chalk of No Best " as a local epithet without any geological 

 significance. 



De la Beche, quoting Borlase (Nat. Hist. p. 106, in Beport, p. 646), 

 says : " In the low lands of the parish of Ludgvan, in a place called 

 Vorlas, there is a bed of clay, about three feet under the grass, in 

 which numbers of chalk flints are found, with pebbles of quartz 

 and some shingle, with pieces of angular slate." I was unable to 

 find the locality indicated, the present rector of Ludgvan being 

 ignorant of the name. Thinking, however, that Vorlas might be a 

 misprint for Crowlas, a small village on the flats near Ludgvan, I 

 made inquiries there, but failed to elicit any information respecting 

 the occurrence of flints in the neighbourhood. 



Mr. Henwood (Journ. B. Inst. Corn. vol. iv. p. 214) mentioned 

 the occurrence of flints of considerable size in the tin ground at 

 Lower Creamy, a part of Bed Moor, in Lanlivery, N. of St. Austell. 

 He also stated that a few flints have been very rarely found in a 

 peat bed, containing remains of furze, alder, oak, and hazel, in the 

 stream works of Pendelow, as shown in 1873 (op. cit. p. 213). 



Mr. Higgs (T. B. G. S. Corn. vol. vii. p. 449) gives a short notice 

 of the discovery of a substance resembling a chalk flint in a cavity 

 in a lode in Balleswhidden Mine. 



If the above are Cretaceous flints, and not fragments of slate or 

 fine grit, to which contact with igneous matter had imparted a 

 cherty character, they would seem to indicate the destruction of 

 Cretaceous material, or of deposits of a later date, resulting in part 

 from the waste of Chalk. 



Mr. A. Smith (T. B. G. S. Corn. vol. vii. p. 343) mentioned the 

 occurrence of comparatively unworn chalk flints, and fragments of 

 Greensand rock more worn, on Castle Down, in Tresco, one of the 

 Scilly Group. 



