15G 
CROMER FOREST-BED. 
Near West Runton Gap the bed is a loamy sand full of Gor- 
hicula Jiumincdis and Paludina gihba, but does not exceed 
eight inches in thickness. Where it reappears further east it is 
also sandy, especially at the base: and if this sand is carefully 
sifted it yields in abundance bones of small mammals, birds, 
reptiles, amphibia, and fishes, and numerous freshwater shells. 
Unfortunately the extraordinary abundance of small bones in 
this part of the deposit was only discovered when the bed was 
to a large extent hidden by talus, though for several months 
previously it had been well exposed. There is also a great 
variety of mollusca, including several species which are either 
extinct or not now living in England ; the former are Limax 
modioliformis, Paludina gibba, and Hydrobia runtoniana; 
the latter include Gorbicula Jluminalis, Hydrobia and 
Valvata fluviatilis (see PL V.). Still further east the base of 
the bed is clayey, with abundance of Hydrobia runtoniana, 
and the upper part is peaty with large Anodons, elytra of 
beetles, and badly preserved seeds. Bones occur throughout, 
though, when found in the wet peaty portion, they are generally 
much decayed. Mixed with the perfect land and freshwater 
shells a few worn and decayed fragments of Tellina balthica 
and Gardium edule have been found, evidently derived from the 
underlying estuarine beds. To the same cause we should refer 
the occurrence of a tooth of a seal; for there is not the slightest 
evidence of the irruption of the sea at this stage, the other 
fossils being purely lacustrine and fluviatile. A single rolled 
fragment of an elephant’s tooth has been found, but as none of 
the other bones are water-worn, and no other specimen of 
elephant is known from this horizon, this also is probably 
derivative. 
The roots which penetrate the underlying soil are here always 
too much decayed for microscopic examination, but from their 
shape and mode of growth they probably belong to pine or fir. 
When the pine grows on an alluvial soil saturated with water all 
the main roots spread horizontally to form a sort of platform, 
sending off a mass of small roots of nearly equal size vertically 
downwards. At Tlunton it seems that the stools have been 
washed away, leaving only the termination of the roots, but at 
the same horizon at Happisburgh one stool was found in the soil; 
and a root examined microscopically showed obscure traces of 
what appeared to be coniferous structure, but it was too much 
decayed for satisfactory determination. 
The clays and gravels which form the soil on which these 
trees grew, here belong to the estuarine division of the Forest- 
bed ; but, unfortunately, the junction between it and the 
Weybourn Crag is for considerable distances hidden by the 
beach, and in many places it cannot definitely be said to which 
division an isolated exposure may belong. 
Beneath the Freshwater bed laminated loam with Tellina 
balthica, and pebbly quartzite gravel, have weathered into a soil 
in the upper part, but are well bedded two or three feet down. 
