Notices and Extracts Jrom the Minutes of the Geological Society/. 329 



of the former surface of this portion at least of the coast. That the stratum 

 alluded to was the actual superficial soil, upon which grew and flourished an 

 extensive forest of oaks and pines, and on which the deer, the elephant, and 

 other herbivorous animals existed and died, there can be little doubt. Upon 

 this surface, once comparatively level, have been piled irregular accumula- 

 tions of alluvium, varying from 10 to 300 feet in thickness. There is no 

 reason to doubt that the submarine forest which exists on the Norfolk coast, 

 further northward, and which passes by the Lincolnshire coast to Yorkshire, 

 is a continuation of the same stratum, on a somewhat lower level. 



There is a striking similarity of appearance in all parts of this line. Nu- 

 merous stumps of trees are perceptible at Thornham and Brancaster, standing 

 evidently upon the original surface, whilst the trunks and branches cover the 

 ground, in a horizontal direction. In general this wood is quite soft and 

 decomposed, but contrary instances are not uncommon ; and I have cut off 

 fragments from the oak stumps, which though not mineralized, were so hard 

 as almost to defy the edge of a hatchet. I cannot speak with certainty of 

 any point in the central parts of this county where this woody stratum can be 

 identified. Peaty valleys, with trunks of trees and stags' horns, are not un- 

 frequent (and, among these, the Valley of Waveney is particularly to be 

 noticed); but they probably have a different and distinct origin. 

 Cromer Terrace, March 31, 1825. 



2. — Description of a peculiar Species of Granite. In a Letter from Earl 

 Compton, to the Rev. Professor Buckland^, P.G.S. S^c. [Read Nov. 

 18th, 1825.] 



My Dear Sir, 

 The subject of my present letter may perhaps be interesting to the Geolo- 

 gical Society, and if you think so, I shall be obliged to you to communicate it 

 to them ; it will at least show, that though at a distance, they have not passed 

 from my memory. — I have been employed for the last month in an excavation 

 at Tivoli, in a spot where the villa of Manhus Vopiscus, described by the 

 poet Statins, is supposed to have stood. This point is, however, disputed ; and 

 I cannot say that my excavation has produced any decisive evidence to prove 

 its truth, though there appears to me to be increased reason to believe it. I 

 will not however say any thing more upon that head, as I hope next spring- 

 to renew my research ; but I will hasten at once to the principal object of this 

 communication. — In the course of our excavating, we found a considerable 



2u2 



