108 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [DeC. 13, 



bones ha\ing been previously met with at this pit, though common 

 at some others in the neighbourhood. The following is a sketch of 

 part of the pit : — 



Section in Gravel-pit, Shacklewell Lane, West Hackney. 



XvT-yF^ivT^^E^f^'.^frr?)*?^^?^ f* 



— .-J, ^.^v.-.•.■»■s*^^^ 



a. Brick-earth, removed at this spot, but worked in an adjoining 



pit 2 to 3 feet, 



b. Ochreous flint-gravel, with subordinate irregular layers of ochreous 



and yellow sand. (This is the only bed worked at this pit.) 6 feet. 



e. Dark-grey sandy clay, full of vegetable matter, with some bones 



and numerous shells. (This bed is only occasionally exposed.)... 2\ feet. 

 d. Light-yellow sands and ferruginous gravel. (Depth not proved at 



this spot.) 



No fossils have been found in the brick-earth («) of this district. 

 The gravel {b) is spread out in large sheets which produce an ap- 

 pearance of rough stratification ; it consists of subangular broken 

 flints, with some very large nearly whole flints hardly at all worn, 

 flint-pebbles from the Lower London Tertiaries, a few quartz and 

 sandstone pebbles, and some rolled pieces of very hard, compact, 

 siliceous sandstone. Only a few feet square of the underlying clay 

 (c) was uncovered. The line of separation between these two beds is 

 merely slightly waved, except at one spot, where the gravel lay in an 

 indentation in the clay, filling a rectangular trough, one foot deep (see 

 fig.). This bed (c) presents some features of considerable interest ; 

 it consists of a laminated clay more or less sandy, of a dark -grey 

 colour, and abounds in many parts with the small broken branches 

 and leaves of trees ; scattered here and there are also found portions 

 of the stems and trunks of trees, some 3 or 4 feet long and 6 to 1 2 

 inches in diameter, all lying prostrate and in no one given direction*. 

 This clay also contains numerous very fragile but generally perfect 

 shells. Of these ten are land shells, and thirteen are water shells ; 

 they are all of recent species, and constitute a group which seems to 

 indicate a deposit formed in shallow fresh water. 



The trees apparently did not grow on the spot, for no traces of 

 roots in situ occur, although they probably flourished in the immediate 

 neighbourhood ; and as their remains are found dispersed irregularly 

 throughout this clay, and are not confined either to the top or 

 bottom of the bed, their presence here is not owing to the agency 

 which spread the upper gravel (6) over this bed, or to that which 



* Prof. Quekett, having kindly made a microscopical examination of the woody 

 matter here referred to, informs me that he has recognized oak, elm, alder, and 

 hazel amongst the fragments. 



