HOLDERNESS. 
22 
from rocks in which they had been previously deposited ; and those 
which belonged to animals then existing on the earth, or in the sea. 
To the former class appertain lithophytous corals from the mountain 
limestone, fossil plants from the coal series, ammonites, belemnites, 
pectines, and many other shells from the lias ; and belemnites, echini, 
and inocerami, from the chalk. These remains furnish very important 
evidence towards determining the direction of diluvial currents. 
But the other class of remains, the bones of animals which were in 
existence in these regions during the diluvial period, and the shells 
which, during the agitation, were dragged up from the deep, and 
mixed with the general spoils of the land, lead us to still more in- 
teresting conclusions. For when among hard stones which have been 
worn to pebbles, we find the tusks, teeth, and bones of antediluvian 
quadrupeds comparatively uninjured, retaining their characteristic shape 
and often their original surface, we must surely be convinced, that 
such remains have not been removed far from the places where the 
animals lived. The only reliquiae of this kind, which I have been 
able to assure myself were found in this clay, are those of the mammoth, 
(elephas primigenus.) Teeth and tusks of this animal have been col- 
lected in many places on the sea-coast, and I once found a small frag- 
ment of a tusk at Hessle. This deposit of clay is not confined to 
the flat district of Holderness, but is found in some of the valleys of 
the wolds, thus indicating the extent of the diluvial action, and deter- 
mining the minimum of antiquity of these valleys. 
It was observed that, occasionally, patches of gravel and sand were 
found lying enclosed in the great deposit of clay. Such are seen in 
many places on the sea-coast, particularly near Dimlington, near Skip- 
sea, and toward Bridlington. In several places, inland, these accumu- 
lations are much more considerable, and compose lulls of a remarkable 
appearance, as at Brandesburton, and in the neighbourhood of Pagliill 
and Keyingham. An elephant’s tusk has been found at Brandesburton, 
and in the neighbourhood of the latter places I have observed abundance 
of antediluvian marine shells, intermixed with the gravel. As this 
