620 MRS. E. M. EEID AKD MISS M. E. .f. CHANDLER [vol. lxxix, 



are quite determinable, if I can lay my hands on living representatives ; the 

 rest are poorly preserved, but may amount to another eight or ten .... the 

 deposit is well worth further search. Its dry-soil character is remarkable .... 

 The general character of the flora agrees in a striking way with that of 

 West Wittering, though many of the species are different, and the southern 

 forms found at the two localities are not the same.' 



'March 29, 1916 ... In the first place, I want to draw your attention 

 to the very large proportion of the plants represented by one or two 

 specimens only. This shows that there must have been many more species, 

 and that we have nothing like exhausted the local flora .... I see no sign of a 

 climatic change [in the different beds], and the flora seems practically the 

 same from top to bottom . . . The general character of the flora is so unusual 

 that my comments will need a good deal of consideration, and I hope to be 

 able to run down two or three more species which are probably no longer 

 living in Britain.' 



The letters from which these extracts are taken were received 

 from Mr. Hazziedine Warren in October this year (1922), after 

 we had completed our re-examination of the fossils, and had 

 formed an independent opinion as to the significance of the flora. 

 In essentials, that opinion is entirely in agreement with that of 

 Mr. Reid. On the minor points, such as the character of the 

 stream, it is unnecessary to add anything to the quotations that 

 have been given, as Mr. Reid was better qualified to judge of 

 such matters than we are. 



The character of the flora as a whole leaves no doubt that it 

 flourished under temperate conditions, and the great prevalence of 

 dry-soil species shows that the ground must have been dry, and 

 possibly waste in the sense of being sparsely inhabited. Whether 

 this diwness was merely local, can hardly be answered by consider- 

 ing this one flora ; but evidence which we will presently adduce 

 has led vas to the conclusion reached by Mr. Reid, that the Clacton 

 flora was approximately contemporaneous with that of West 

 Wittering and Selsey, both of which indicate dry conditions. If 

 this be so, it is legitimate to infer that the dryness was not merely 

 local, but climatic. 



We will now pass on to examine in detail the botanical evidence 

 for assigning the Clacton deposits to the Interglacial period of 

 West Wittering and Selsey, rather than to the pre- Glacial period 

 of the Cromer Forest- Bed. 



Au analysis of the three floras show r s that (leaving out of 

 account seashore plants) when land-plants as opposed to marsh- 

 and water-plants, are considered, Clacton has II per cent of dry- 

 soil species, West Wittering and Selsey together 10 per cent., 

 and the Cromerian 31 per cent. 



Again, if comparison of actual species be made, West Wittering 

 and Selsey show 60 per cent, of species in common with Clacton, 

 as against 51 per cent for the Cromerian, although the Cromer 

 localities are so much nearer to Clacton, and similarly situated, 

 and would therefore be more likely to have had similar floras, if 



