MU. J. T. IIOTBIjAOK ON STONES ON MUNDESLEY BEACH. 
I 
I. 
THE STONES ON MUNDESLEY BEACH. 
By J. T. Hotblack. 
lira// 27th March, 1900. 
I have selected a very simple subject for my Presidential Address, 
as betits one who pretends to no very special knowledge upon any 
subject. I have chosen the Stones on Mundesley Beach ; what 
are they, whence came they, how came they, and what may we 
learn from them i Of course, what I have to say of the stones at 
Mundesley would apply generally to the whole of the Norfolk and 
Suffolk Coast, but, as every Naturalist knows, it is most desirable to 
have a precise locality. I think that, kicked and thrown about as 
they are by many of us in our idle moments when spending our 
restful time (here as at other seaside resorts), the stones on the 
beach may well awaken enquiry in the minds of others as they did 
long since in my own. 
What are they? The great bulk are, of course, flints from the 
chalk, and at Mundesley many of them have but recently been 
washed straight out of the chalk, there being near Mundesley 
a considerable exposure of chalk on the beach, from which at every 
tide fresh flints are being washed, and this chalk, being very high 
chalk, quite the highest (i'.e., the most recent) in this part of 
England, is very full of flint. Still, I think most of the flints 
now on the beach have come out of the boulder clay, of which, 
mixed with the glacial drift, there is very much in the cliffs 
hereabouts, and into which they were ground during the glacial 
period, probably from the district immediately to the north. These 
flints from the boulder clay and glacial drift include most, if not all, 
of those of the pink or red variety of which you will see so many 
on the Mundesley Beach ; some writers have, as 1 think, most 
improperly described them as half-made carnelians. If I am right 
