349 
LINCOLNSHIRE NATURALISTS AT 
CLEETHORPES. 
THe fourth meeting of the Lincolnshire Naturalists’ Union was 
held at Cleethorpes, on Thursday, July 5th, 1894, for the investi- 
8ation of the sand-hills to the south of Cleethorpes and the 
Pretty country lanes and wooded tracts in the neighbourhood of 
the village of Humberstone. The members present were by no 
means as numerous as could have been desired, but what they 
lacked in numbers they made up for in energy. The party left 
Cleethorpes Station shortly before eleven o’clock, and proceeded 
southwards along the coast as far as Bishopthorpe, then turning 
inland proceeded along a foot-path by the drain-side to Humberstone, 
then along the high road to Waltham Station, and returning through 
Thrunscoe. Those members who arrived before the hour advertised 
for starting, occupied their time in investigating the coast north 
of Cleethorpes. By 4 p.m. most of the members had returned 
to the Dolphin Hotel, Cleethorpes, where tea was served, followed 
afterwards by the general meeting, the President of the Union, 
Mr. F. M. Burton, F.LS., F.G.S., occupying the chair. 
The ‘museum question’ was discussed and the sectional 
reports were then given as follows:— . 
For the Geological section, Mr. F. M. Burton, F.L.S., F.G.S., 
Teported as follows :—The excursion, so far as geology is concerned, 
yielded nothing of value. There being so few geologists present 
the whole party went together, and nothing but ancient and modern 
Niver quartz with alluvial beds, covering up the Lower Lias beneath, 
was met with. Cleethorpes lies at the mouth of the Humber, 
which, by the aid of its feeders the Trent and the Ouse, drains 
a very large area, and is continually pouring out silt and sediment 
on the sea floor. At low water large tracts of estuarine clays are 
laid bare, the result of the outflow of the Humber, together with 
the remains of ancient forests, pointing to gradual subsidence of the 
land within recent geological times. A better spot for studying 
the effect of a wide river area at its junction with the sea, and 
correlating it with similar deposits in the past cannot well be found. 
Thus it is that, on the shore, we find the débris of the land mixed 
with the cast-up produce of the sea; like many an old deposit we 
come across in the earth’s strata. The cliff here, which was formed 
in the glacial age, and which, before it was cut up into terraces and 
gardens, was about 4o feet high, consists of a purple stony boulder 
clay, corresponding with the Hessle and upper purple clays of the 
Holderness coast. Inland, the Hessle clay is usually reddish brown 
and mottled, while the purple clays are blue and grey. These 
Dec, 1894. r 
