Vol. 56.] MR. P. W. HARMER ON THE CRAG OF ESSEX; 715 



I was fortunate enough to find such a deposit in the first instance, 

 at Beaumont, 5 miles west of Walton. The section at that locality, 

 described more than fifty years ago by the late John Brown of 

 Stanway, has been closed for many years, but it has been recently 

 reopened. 1 Brown obtained about 100 species of mollusca from this 

 spot, and his list, originally appearing in a pamphlet printed for 

 private circulation, was afterwards republished by Mr. Whitaker in 

 his Survey Memoir. 2 Unfortunately the names of Astarte borealis 

 and Tellina lata, arctic shells characteristic of the newest horizons 

 only of the Crag, were included, 3 and no distinction was made be- 

 tween rare and abundant forms, so that the Beaumont deposit has 

 been referred, not without justification, to the* latest part of the Bed 

 Crag. 4 When studied on the spot, however, it will be clear, I think, 

 that, though possibly slightly newer, it is of similar age to that of 

 the Walton bed. I have lately obtained more than 260 species from 

 Beaumont, and I find that, with very few exceptions, those mentioned 

 on pp. 712-13 as characteristic of the Walton Crag, occur there 

 more or less abundantly. 



While the molluscan fauna of the Beaumont Hall pit resembles 

 so closely that of Walton Cliff, there are some points of difference 

 between the two. A few northern shells are present at the former 

 locality which are wanting or are exceedingly rare at the latter. 

 Natica clausa is found occasionally at Beaumont, but only one 

 specimen, so far as I know, has been recorded from Walton. Tellina 

 pratenuis, allied to, though distinct from, the arctic form, T. lata, is 

 regarded as an extinct species ; but it came into the Crag sea with 

 the northern mollusca, and waxed abundant in it as they did. It 

 is not uncommon at Beaumont, though almost unknown at Walton. 

 The general facies of the Beaumont fauna, however, is decidedly 

 southern. 5 



Through the kindness of A. H. Stanford, Esq., of Beaumont Hall, 

 I was allowed to open a hole at a spot marked 4 on the map (fig. 1, 

 p. 710), near the south-western limit of the Beaumont outlier. This 

 showed from 5 to 6 feet of Crag, resting upon the London Clay, the 

 junction of the two dipping sharply south-westward. The surface 

 of the ground slopes rapidly in the same direction, with the result 



1 There is an inn at Thorpe-le-Soken where fairly comfortable accommoda- 

 tion may be obtained. From Thorpe a short cut strikes across the fields to 

 Beaumont. Leave to visit the Crag-pit should, however, be obtained from 

 Mr. Stanford. 



2 Mem. Geol. Surv. (1877) « Walton-Naze & Harwich ' p. 26. 



3 Brown mentions two species of Tellina only : — T. obliquata and T. ovata ; 

 these appear in Mr. Whitaker's list as T. obliqua and T. lata. The forms pre- 

 sent at Beaumont are, however, T. obliqua and T. prtstenuis. The specimens 

 referred by Brown to Astarte borealis may have been worn examples of A. Bas~ 

 terotii. A. borealis has not been found, so far as I know, south of Easton-Bavent, 

 nearly 40 miles from Beaumont, where it occurs in beds of Upper Norwich- 

 Crag age. 



4 Mem. Geol. Surv. (1890) 'Plioc. Dep. of Britain ' p. 85. 



5 Two characteristic Coralline Crag and southern species, Cardita corbis and 

 Woodia digit aria, for example, are present at Beaumont in the most extra- 

 ordinary profusion. 



