ON TI1E FOREST-BED SERIES AT KESSTNGLAND AND PAKEFIELD. 123 



15. On the presence of the Forest-bed Series at Kessingland and 

 Pakefield, in Suffolk, and its position beneath the Chillesford 

 Clay. By John Gijnn, Esq., M.A., F.G.S. (Read November 

 17, 1876.) 



The following remarks, together with the accompanying section and 

 the Elephantine and Cervine remains exhibited from the soil of the 

 forest-bed at Kessingland and Pakefield, are intended to be supplemen- 

 tary to a paper " On the Relative Position of the Forest-bed and the 

 Chillesford Clay in Norfolk and Suffolk, and on the Ileal Position of the 

 Forest-bed"*. I have but little to add to that paper and nothing 

 in it to withdraw or alter. My object is to describe the rootlet-bed, 

 part of the freshwater formation, which succeeded the Forest-bed, 

 and to exhibit the Elephantine au.d Cervine remains as proofs that 

 the soil of the Forest-bed lies beneath the Chillesford Clay. 



As far back as 1868 Professor Huxley, then President, in dis- 

 cussing a paper by Mr. Prestwich on the lied Crag of Suffolk, ob- 

 served that Mr. Gunn had stated as " a fact, and a, very important 

 fact," that he had seen the Forest-bed exposed on the beach at 

 Easton Bavent, Kessingland, and Pakefield underlying the Chilles- 

 ford Clays and Sands. This was opposed by Mr. Prestwich, who 

 said he had seen the roots of trees in the Chillesford Clay, which he 

 considered to be a proof that the Forest grew above it and upon it. 

 It has also since been stated by others who have visited the spot, 

 and have not been able to see the Forest-bed in consequence of its 

 being covered with beach-sand and shingle, that Mr. Gunn's ipse 

 dixit could not be accepted. I determined therefore to collect all 

 the specimens I could, and carefully to note the beds from which 

 they were derived. It would be foreign to my purpose to describe 

 and particularize the specimens, which would fill a long paper ; but 

 it will suffice to say that they correspond with those from similar 

 beds at Bacton and Cromer. If the reader will turn to the section 

 (fig. 1), which is a general one of the cliffs, about three fourths of 

 a mile in extent, I will indicate the beds from which they have 

 been obtained. 



No. 7, at the foot of the cliff, represents the estuarine soil of the 

 Forest-bed, on which the forest grew after this bed was raised above 

 the level of the water. It consists of two parts, blue clay and gravel, 

 the latter called the " elephant-bed," as described in my former paper; 

 and from these two deposits every specimen exhibited has been ob- 

 tained ; the colours of the specimens mark their respective beds ; or, 

 if any be beach specimens, the matrix will do so equally. This bed 

 ranges to the full extent of the Forest-bed ; and its thickness has not 

 been ascertained. It lies between high- and low- water mark ; and 

 the water rises so as to prevent one's searching with the spade. 



No. 6 represents the Forest-bed, upon the soil last mentioned. 



* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxvi. p. 551 et seqq. 



