352 3Iiss El/ton — Drift-beds of Llandrillo Bay. 



obtained, I feel convinced that the Tanr'ogo caves would well repay 

 the task of excavation. 



3rd. Recent Marine Drift. — Proceeding onwards round Llandrillo 

 Bay to the west, we arrive at the headland of Ehos-yn-Llandrillo, a 

 low point of land projecting out into the sea. A low terrace rises 

 directly from the beach just above high- water-mark, veiled for the 

 most part by surface soil, with its growth of scanty herbage. This 

 covering has apparently been washed away by the sea in one spot, 

 immediately beyond the residence of Mr. Parry Evans, and the true 

 face of the cliff exposed, exhibiting the following section : — 



Feet. Inches. 

 a. Surface soil, about ... ,,, ... 2 



h. Pebble band without shells ... ... 5 



c. Hard sand and clay conglomerate ... 2 10 



d. Do. containing shells and pebbles ... 1 6 

 The latter bed is an entire mass of shelly conglomerate, the sand 

 being largely made up of comminuted fragments. The following 

 is a list of species : — Ostrea edulis ; Buccinum undatum ; Purpura 

 lapillus ; Patella vulgata ; Litorina litorea. 



The shells were much rolled and comminuted — the specimens of 

 Purpura lapillus often nearly resembling round pebbles. I was struck 

 by the total absence of Mytilus edulis, now so common on this coast, 

 and which is found so abundantly in the surface mould of the Great 

 Orme's Head. Mr. Parry Evans informed me that in digging the 

 foundations of a sea-wall opposite his house, many similar shells had 

 been found. 



I have not overlooked the possibility that this bed might be a shell- 

 mound of human origin, but the rolled appearance of the shells, as 

 well as the absence, as far as I could discover, of bones or works of 

 art, seem to dispose of this hypothesis. 



I have to thank Mr Parry Evans for his courtesy in allowing me 

 to undermine the bank beneath his cornfield in the search. 



4th. Suhmarine Forest Bed. — Between the high and low tide 

 marks on the same peninsula, there occurs a bed of stiff blue clay, 

 full of the remains of trees, chiefly oak and hazel. One large root of 

 the former was still in its original position, a pool of sea-water occu- 

 pying the hollow stump. It measured 9 feet 6 inches in girth. A 

 trunk 15 feet long lay extended upon the beach. The hazel was in 

 a soft and jDulpy condition, the oak harder. Now this forest, although 

 probably of historical date, must have existed in very early times, 

 since the weir which now stands here, is the same that was granted 

 to the Cistercian monks of Conway,^ and consequently the sea then 

 stood at the same level as it does now. Between the formation of 

 these two beds, there must have elapsed a period long enough to 

 allow the retreating waters (after having contributed their appointed 



may have been occupied as dens, or human habitations at a later date ; and would not 

 this account for the strange mixture of remains of animals belonging to different 

 climates so often found in them ? 



^ " The Abbey was founded by Llewellyn ap Jorwerth, Prince of North Wales, in 

 1185, in honour of the Blessed Virgin and all saints." (See Pennant's Tours in 

 Wales, vol. iii., p. 127.) 



