BEACH AjSD BOULDERS ]N"EAR BRAUJTTO^ AND CROTDE. 667 



south of the Bristol Channel, and the characteristic furrows and 

 scratches made by the friction of glaciers against the sides of 

 valleys, so commonly met with in the north of England and Wales, 

 have not yet been positively identified in Devonshire." But he very 

 fairly points out that " if such markings ever were formed, they may 

 have been rapidly effaced, owing to the soft nature of the slate, and 

 the tendency of granite to become disintegrated on the surface." 

 He is of opinion " that in various parts of both Dartmoor and 

 Exmoor there are collections of stones and debris similar in every 

 respect to those composing the moraines of modern glaciers, and 

 valleys which have evidently been shaped by glacial agency."' 



Mr. Ussher * is of opinion that there are traces of glacial action in 

 Devonshire, and accepts the view that the high-level beach of Saunton 

 Down and Croyde and other places on the coast of Devon and 

 Cornwall show evidence of elevation, but refers them to an age 

 which corresponds to the " Interglacial Period" of the north and 

 east of England, but in Devonshire was not succeeded by any later 

 glaciation. 



"We must clearly distinguish between (a) a theory which refers 

 these deposits to local glaciers originating within the area, as 

 it is most improbable that any traces of such small local glaciation 

 could remain, and (b) any hypothesis which refers boulders or clays 

 to the terminal deposits, whether on sea or land, of the great ice 

 mass, which we do know got down as far as the Bristol Channel. 



Mr. Doe t has recorded some boulders of felsite occurring at a 

 height of some 500 feet above the sea near Great Torrington, but 

 these are described as resembling some of the Elvans. 



Mr. Hall J further mentions that "At "Waddeton Court, near 

 Dartmouth, a group of ]New Red Sandstone boulders are found re- 

 posing on the slate at elevations varying from 18 to nearly 200 feet 

 above the level of the sea. At Harberton, near Totnes, also on a 

 slate subsoil, boulders of a fine-grained trap occur at a height of 

 about 100 feet, and are especially noticeable as being in some cases 

 marked with parallel grooves or scratches. Another group, also 

 composed of trap, is situated at Druid, near Ashburton ; and boulders 

 of various sizes have been recorded as occurring in the parish of 

 Bishop's Teignton, near Teignmouth, some 300 feet above the sea." 

 " Another instance of transported boulders occurs in the parish of 

 Eremington, near Barnstaple, where boulders of trap are frequently 

 found on or near the surface of a thick bed of brown clay much 

 used for pottery." 



Dr. Slade King also informs me that a waterworn boulder of 

 coarse grey granite, weighing, say, 2 cwt., was found in a clayey 

 deposit in draining a meadow on Bicklescombe farm, near Ilfra- 

 combe, some forty years ago. It was round and smooth, and had no 

 grooves or striae on it. rTear it were found also, in the words of a 



* " On the Chronological value of the Pleistocene Deposits of DeTon," Quart. 

 Journ. G-eol. Soc. vol. xxxiv. 1878, p. 449. 



t Kept. Committee on Erratic Blocks, Eept. Brit. Assoc. 1876, p. 110. 

 t Op. cit. 



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