Yorkshire Naturalists at Loftus. 



249 



very marked feature is the curious forms into which the waves 

 have worn many of the blocks dotting- the beach. These are 

 blocks or slabs of hard material resting- on or bedded in the 

 softer clay shales, and as the latter have become exposed the 

 sea has cut them away at a greater rate than it has the harder 

 superincumbent rock and formed tables and mushrooms and 

 perched blocks of all sizes and shapes and at curious angles of 

 inclination. 



The erosion of the coast, although considerable, is less than 

 might be expected when compared with other portions of the 

 east coast. The explanation is probably the one already given 

 of the protection of the base of the cliffs by big masses of fallen 

 rock, coupled with the fact that the dip of the strata here is for 

 the most part inland and there is no slipping away of the upper- 

 most strata. 



Not daring to dispute with the tide possession of the strip 

 between the inaccessible cliffs and low water mark the party 

 had to hurry on and leave reluctantly behind much which would 

 have well repaid investigation. Towards Staithes the rocks 

 begin to dip east and south until the A. capricornus beds are 

 again exposed, and at Staithes the A. margaritatiis zone comes 

 down to the sea level. Here the party left the shore, and 

 climbing the steep and stony, but picturesque if somewhat 

 fishy-smelling, streets of Staithes, perched on the sides of the 

 cliffs in a sheltered cove, they made their way back to Loftus by 

 train. 



On the following day the geologists visited the plant bed in 

 Marske Quarry. The fossil plants are found in a thin fissile bed 

 of ironstone and also in the soft friable clay shales several feet 

 in thickness immediately overlying the hard bed of ironstone. 



The beds are very full of plant remains of the genus Dictyo- 

 zamites, and have been fully described by the late Rev. John 

 Hawell and by A. C. Seward, Esq., F.G.S., and are placed by 

 those geologists low down in the Estuarine Series. 



A considerable number of specimens was taken for further 

 examination. 



Mr. J. W. Stather adds : — The country round Loftus is 

 exceedingly well supplied with Glacial drift and boulders, but 

 good sections appear to be scarce. During the walk on the 

 beach from Skinningrove to Staithes the lofty cliffs were seen to 

 be capped with red Boulder Clay, which increased in thickness 

 towards Staithes. 



1905 August I. 



