Oh. XHL] THE CHILLESFOED AND BRIDLINGTON BEDS. 199 



Pliocene strata of the Yal d'Arno, as well as in strata of the same 

 age in Piedmont and at Montpelier. It may be considered, there- 

 fore, as a characteristic Pliocene species in Italy, France, and Europe 

 generally. 



This Mastodon has never been found in the Cromer forest bed 

 above mentioned, p. 160, but several of the mammalia of that deposit, 

 including the Elephas meridionalis, are common to the Norwich beds, 

 and to the older or Red Crag. As to the Norwich Crag, it is now 

 ascertained that it contains a larger proportion of living as compared 

 to extinct shells than was formerly supposed ; for many of the lost 

 species once referred to this formation are worn specimens, few in 

 number, and evidently washed out of the Red Crag into the newer 

 strata. Others, which are really of contemporary date, and which 

 were believed to have died out, have been found living in the British 

 seas, where they have become exceedingly rare. From the latest 

 researches of Mr. S. P. Woodward, it seems probable that the extinct 

 species do not exceed 11 in a hundred. 



Chillesford beds. — It was stated that at Chillesford, near Wood- 

 bridge in Suffolk, the Norwich Crag has been found overlying the 

 Red Crao-. In this case the Newer Pliocene beds are argillaceous, and 

 about 20 feet thick. Messrs. Prestwich and Searles Wood obtained 

 from them 23 species of shells, of which 2 only, JVucula Cobboldice 

 and Tellina obliqua, are extinct. Among the other, or living species, 

 a large proportion, such as Leda lanceolata, Cardium groenlandicum, 

 Lucina borealis, Cyprina islanclica, Panopoza norvegica, and Mya 

 truncata, betray a northern and some of them an Arctic character. 

 There is good reason to believe that the Chillesford beds are older 

 than the forest bed of Cromer, before alluded to ; and when we con- 

 sider that these fossils occur withiu eighty miles of London, in the 

 52 d parallel of latitude, we see in them a proof that the glacial epoch 

 began before the end of the Post-pliocene period.* 



Bridlington beds. — At Bridlington, on the coast of Yorkshire, near 

 Flamborough Head, lat. 54° N., another deposit occurs of about the 

 same age as the Chillesford beds, and therefore older than the Cromer 

 Forest, though somewhat newer than the Norwich Crag before de- 

 scribed, for it contains a still larger proportion of recent shells. The 

 deposit is heterogeneous in composition, consisting of sand and clay, 

 with pebbles of various rocks, chalk and flint being the most abun- 

 dant. The prevailing color resembles that of London Clay. Mr. S. 

 P. Woodward has lately been able to add 32 new species to the fos- 

 sils of this formation by studying the collections of Messrs. Bean and 

 Leckenley at Scarborough, bringing up the total number to 64, of 

 which 4 only are extinct,f namely, JVatica occlusa, Cardita analis, 

 JVucula Cobboldice, and Tellina obliqua, giving a proportion of only 6 



* Antiquity of Man, by the Author, p. 212. 

 f Geol. Mag., Aug. 1864. 



