Correspondence — Rev. 0. Fisher. 
479 
In truth, as Mr. Bonney has pointed out, the cirque form is the 
natural termination of a valley cut back far into the hills ; and I 
think it might almost be said tbat the farther a valley is carried 
back amongst liard rocks, the more cirque-like does its termination 
become ; rounded hollows certainly do occur at the head of such 
valleys, and these might even become broadly subcircular, if the 
lateral streams happened to be stronger than the terminal. 
Finally, are not cirques more rationally accounted for in this way, 
than by crediting glaciers with the curious “ tooth-drawing ” pro- 
pensity which Mr. Heiland suggests, and thus investing tliem with 
even rnofe wonderful powers than have yet been claimed for them 
by the most devoted glacialists ? A. J. Jukes Browne. 
H.M. Geological Survey, Spilsby. 
FOREST-BED AT HAPPISBURGH. 
Sir, — I am glad to see that a discussion has arisen in your pages, 
which may lead to a more strict inquiry into the age and position of 
the portion of a submerged forest at Happisburgh, or Hasbro. If I 
recollect rightly, upon my first visit to Norfolk, Mr. Gunn took 
me to the spot, and told me that the Forest-bed (meaning the pre- 
glacial one) was usually to be seen open bere, but only occasionally 
so at other places on the coast. I at that time collected some fir- 
cones from it. 
At a subsequent visit I thought that the Boulder-clay passed under 
it, although I could not perceive what the actual Superposition was. 
For I could trace the Boulder-clay to the edge of the foreshore, very 
close up to the Forest-bed ; and there was no indication of those 
“ laminated beds ” of sand and gravel, which intervene between the 
Cromer Forest-bed and the glacial series. I therefore concluded tliat 
the deposit at Happisburgh was not a continuation of the Cromer bed. 
Mr. Gunn, in a paper, which he read at Norwich in the spring of 
1868, remarked upon this bed, and seemed to think it was not 
exactly coeval with the Cromer bed, but belonged to an upper 
portion of it, “ which remained dry land on the partial submersion 
of the subsiding forest.” He likewise referred to the absence of the 
“ laminated beds.” He also stated that “ metatarsal bones of sheep 
or the goat were discovered here by Mr. William Haughton. The 
elephants had at that period died off from the increasing cold.” 
Now the goat is not included in the list of mammals belonging to 
the Cromer bed as given by Prof. Dawkins at p. 417 of the Quart. 
Journ. Geol. Soc. ; nor I believe is it usually known to occur in 
the earlier Quaternary formations. If then the determination of 
that genus be correct, it is rather an argument on palaeontological 
grounds for a later date for the Happisburgh deposit. 
It is of some importance that its true age should be settled, 
because the vegetable remains from it have been much relied upon 
as indicating the climate of the Cromer forest period, which possibly 
may after all be different. Cannot the true relations of the “ hard ” 
clay in which the trees are rooted be determined by digging a pit of 
sufficient size, so as to find out on what the Forest-bed really rests ? 
