J-N THE STJBMEEGED FOREST OF TORE AY. 19 



there are traces of lacustrine marl. The writer, on the other 

 hand, while totally failing to find any freshwater shells in either 

 of the inlets, has met with Scrohicidaria, Hydrobia, Littorina, and 

 Melampus, the three former abundantly, in a single but very 

 limited exposure of the clay only a few hundred yards south of 

 Eedcliffe Towers. Of these shells, the Hydrohice formed a bed 

 several inches in thickness, and would have given the idea of 

 their having lived and died during the accumulation of the clay, 

 but for the fact that they occur at precisely the same horizon 

 as living shells of the same species would do. It is quite impossible 

 to suppose that an estuarine bed of clay which has been elevated to 

 form the soil of a forest should, upon subsequent subsidence, sink to 

 exactly the same horizon as it occupied before its elevation ; and it 

 is probable, therefore, that the marine shells in question flourished 

 where they were found during some recent but prolonged exposure 

 of the clay, while the shifting of derived mud during that time 

 might give them the appearance of being bedded. The clay itself, 

 when not charged with vegetable matter (which gives it a blue 

 tinge), or stained at its margins by the red rocks upon which it lies, 

 is almost white and of an extremely fine, butter-like consistency. 

 To this excessive fineness must probably be attributed the fact that 

 the clay is white, while the surrounding drainage-area is composed 

 chiefly of red rocks. Not the slighest evidence of marine action 

 is exhibited by the lip which, as already stated, can be traced around 

 portions of the shallow basin in which the clay accumulated ; and, 

 in view of this fact, of Mr. Godwin- Austen's positive observation, 

 and of the possibility of explaining away the rare presence of marine 

 shells in the deposit, it is probable that the clay is of lacustrine origin. 

 It is time to consider the question of the supposed subsidence of 

 the area under consideration in the light of the following facts : — 



1st. That the forest-clay of Preston Sands contains relics of bronze- 

 making man. 



2nd. That the upper, peaty beds of the submerged forest of Good- 

 rington have yielded E-oman remains. 



It has been suggested that the shores of Britain have probably 

 remained at their present levels for at least 2000 years past ; and if 

 Dr. Evans', M. Morlot's, and Sir John Lubbock's views may be relied 

 upon, the bronze age in Britain is not older than 4000 years. 

 But if, as Mr. PengeUy suggests, Torbay stood at least forty feet 

 higher than now dm^ing the forest-era, it becomes necessary to 

 believe that, at some time within the twenty centuries preceding 

 Eoman times in Britain, the Trias rocks of Preston Sands have 

 been : — 



1. Submerged for the deposition o£ the forest-clay. 



2. Elevated to a height of at least 40 feet. 



3. Depressed to their present level. 



That a coast which has remained stationary for the last 2000 years 

 should have made such active use of the preceding twelve or twenty 

 centuries for the purposes of oscillation, is rather hard of belief. 

 Either the bronze age must be of unsuspected antiquitv, or the 



c2' 



