744 MR. F. W. HARMER ON THE CRAG OF ESSEX. [NOV. 1 9OO, 



the Upper Crags. The relative values of these subdivisions were by 

 no means equal ; and it seemed to him that, if a new term be needed 

 for Coralline Crag, the classical locality of Sutton should take 

 precedence of Gedgrave. 



It was difficult to see how the Author's view of oblique bedding 

 could be entirely accepted, having regard to the reversal in obliquity 

 so often seen, and particularly well exhibited at Butley Priory. 

 The speaker alluded to the opinion of the late Dr. Paul Fischer, 

 expressed in conversation at Bordeaux, that the sinistral and dextral 

 forms of Neptunea antiqua should be regarded as distinct species. 

 The theory expounded by Mr. Lomas did not appear to offer a 

 complete explanation of the oxidation of the Crag, for it was not 

 clearly explained how it was possible to find so much glauconite in 

 the Crag, if oxidation was due to its decomposition, seeing that 

 where the beds were reddest, glauconite was often most abundant. 

 It was to be hoped that Mr. Kendall would publish his list of the 

 Walton fauna, which would be a valuable addition to our knowledge 

 of faunal distribution in the Crags. 



Prof. Sollas congratulated the Author on the success with which 

 he had evolved a connected history from materials so fragmentary 

 as those of the Crag. The shifting of the area of deposition was 

 an important phenomenon, and might be detected in some of the 

 older systems. While false-bedding occurred in beach-deposits, it 

 was far from being exclusively confined to them, and could not 

 therefore be trusted as an indication of littoral conditions. 



The President, Mr. P. F. Kendall, Mr. Whitaker, and Mr. Lomas 

 also spoke. 



The Author, after thanking the President and Fellows for their 

 kind reception of his paper, said he was glad to find that most of 

 those who had joined in the discussion were able to accept the con- 

 clusions which he had reached. Mr. Kendall had very generously 

 consented to allow him to publish his valuable list of Walton shells, 

 compiled some years ago, and this would add greatly to the usefulness 

 and interest of his own lists from Beaumont and Oakley. 



Replying to Mr. Burrows, he said that he had given in his paper 

 his reasons for the division of the Bed Crag into zones. He employed 

 the term Gedgravian because Gedgrave is the only locality at 

 which none but Coralline Crag deposits occur. At Sutton, both the 

 Coralline Crag and the Red Crag are present, and if the designation 

 Suttonian be used at all, it should rather be for the latter. Never- 

 theless, for the reasons given, he preferred the term Newbournian 

 for Wood's Red Crag zone of Sutton. 



The minerals found by Mr. Lomas in the Crag sands were all 

 common in the Pliocene of Belgium, having been derived, according 

 to M. Rutot, from the Ardennes, garnets, ' en petits cristaux,' being 

 specially abundant. There is much to connect the English Crag- 

 beds with the Rhineland. The cross-bedding of the Crag in the 

 Butley Priory pit is precisely like that which is being produced in a 

 former estuary of the Maas, near the Hoek van Holland, now being 

 silted up with shelly sand. 



