482 MR. A. SIRAHAN ON SUBMERGED LAND-SURFACES [Aug. 1 896, 



Mr. Clement Reid furnishes me with the following information 



respecting these deposits : — 



10. This greenish sandy silt is full of reeds and contains leaves of 



willow, and land- and freshwater shells, such as Limncea 

 auricularia, Planorbis albus, P. nautileus, Hydrobia ventrosa, 

 Valvata piseinalis, and V. cristata ; Salicc caprcea and Phrag- 

 mites. 



11. This peat contains much broken oak-wood, mixed with seeds 



and shells, Hyalinia (Zonites), etc. A thin seam is full of 

 willow-leaves and contains ostracoda, Hyalinia, and apparently 

 Pisidium and Planorbis ; the shells are much crushed. 



Oak, Quercus robur (wood). 

 Hazel, Coryhts avellana (twigs and nut). 

 Cornel, Cornus sanguined, (seeds). 

 Hawthorn, Cratcsyus oxyacantha (seeds). 

 Bur-reed, Sparganium (seeds). 

 Sallow, Salix caprcea (leaves). 



12. This old soil contains : — 



Bird (femur of small species about the size of the stint). 



Charychium minimum. 



Helix arbustorum. Valvata piseinalis. 



rotundata. Cardium edule, two fragments 



(? brought by gulls). 

 Cratcsgus oxyacantha (seed). 

 Cornus sanguinea (seed). 

 Quercus robur (wood). 



Mr. Reid concludes from his examination of the specimens that 

 the lowest land-surface represents a true forest-growth, such as 

 .could only live at an elevation clear of the highest tides ; one tide 

 in the year would have sufficed to alter markedly the character of 

 the fauna and flora in the deposit. Subsequently to the growth of 

 this oak-forest a slow subsidence seems to have taken place, turning 

 the land-surface into a shallow lake full of reeds and freshwater 

 shells, the only indication of any salt being the occurrence of 

 Hydrobia ventrosa, a shell which is seldom found in purely fresh 

 water, and the f oraminifera enumerated in the Appendix. The third 

 peat (no. 9) Mr. Reid judges from the specimen submitted to him 

 to indicate swampy ground rather than a true land-surface, but it 

 will be remembered that in another section the existence of roots 

 in place beneath the bed was clearly shown. The silt above (no. 8) 

 he judges to be estuarine in its upper part, where it yielded fora- 

 minifera, Melampits myosotis, Hydrobia ventrosa, Helix arbustorum, 

 .and Pujja, while the peat (no. 7) he considers to be a compressed 

 mass of sedges and not a land-surface. Of the highest peat (no. 5) 

 Mr. Reid remarks that the contained fossils suggest at first a purely 

 freshwater origin, but closer examination shows a noticeable 

 absence of all species that are sensitive to the addition of a little 

 £alt, and one of the plants, Naias marina, is usually found within 

 the reach of an occasional tide. The Naias, he points out, is of 

 special interest, for at the present day it is known from Britain in 

 one locality only, in Norfolk, though it occurs also in the Cromer 



Hyalinia. 

 Succinea. 

 Limnaa truncatula. 



