191b\] THE PLEISTOCENE PERIOD. 351 



Our Jersey friends also consider the Jersey beaches to be 

 pre-glacial, but not to have been deposited in the order of their 

 elevation ; thus the 25 feet beach is considered as the newest. 



If they are all of one period it follows that they must 

 have been laid either in the ascending or descending order. I 

 have no doubt at all that the evidence can only be made to 

 prove an ascending order. If this be so, it proves a submer- 

 gence, and that the submergence was of such an extent as to 

 form all the beaches. I therefore formulate a submergence 

 as the first stage of the Pleistocene Period. 



Stage 1.— Part 2. 



THE FIRST SUBMERGENCE. 



Having adopted the ascending order for the raised beaches 

 and having adopted the view that the distributed beach at the 

 elevation of about 300 feet proves a complete submergence, I 

 now proceed to show the order of the events. 



THE 25ft. BEACH. 



It is reasonable to suppose that in Guernsey the Pleisto- 

 cene Period began with this beach. The sea-level rested at 

 this height for a considerable time as is proved by the extent 

 to which the cliffs are cut back on that level. It needs also 

 to be remarked that the beach exhibits remarkable flatness, 

 for in few places do we find any patches which may be taken 

 to prove any great depth of beach. Of course this will 

 depend largely on the sloping nature of the shore, and it may 

 have been, and 1 think it was, much reduced by subsequent 

 erosion. Still making full allowance for this, it still gives the 

 impression of flatness. At Fort Le Ma reliant the beach 

 rests on its rock platform, as far as can be seen, as a flat 

 deposit of fairly uniform depth. Along the West coast it is 

 rarely thicker than four or five feet. The rock platforms on 

 our East coast are not shelving and the remnants of the beach 

 are, in some places, only one foot thick. On the east coast the 

 flatness of the platforms are thus quite remarkable and my con- 

 clusions are influenced by this fact. There is no doubt that the 

 flatness has been the result of a long stay of the sea at the one 

 level (a point of stability), but the irregularities of the natural 

 beaches have been reduced by some powerful agency where 

 the thickness is uniform. Exceptions to this rule are found in 

 places, one of which I shall describe. 



At Mont Cuet there are proofs that the 25 feet beach 

 was laid down over a portion of the hill now far removed from 

 the sea. In the quarry cuttings there are exposures showing that 



