LETTERS FROM JOHN BROWN TO S. P. WOODWARD. 133 
Stanway, Now. jth, 1842. 
Since you were at Stanway, I have collected a few species ( sici of Acme 
fusca, Helix lamellata, and what I thought was H. fulva, but you call 
spinulosa. You say in your last letter that neither Mr. Wood nor Mr. 
Morris has any of these shells. I, therefore, shall be happy to send them 
through your hands to those gentlemen. You can divide them as you 
please, not forgetting yourself if you are in need. 
The price of the barrel of oysters that I sent to your friend at Dereham 
is six shillings, but that can be settled when we meet. 
The part of the Copford deposit from whence I collected your shells 
is, doubtless, recent, all the shells being such ; and among others I have 
collected Physa hypnorum, but in a sub-fossil state. The shells are per¬ 
fectly white, having lost all their animal matter, and are remarkably 
tender and fragile ; and this upper part of the deposit is more recent 
than either the Clacton or Grays formation, but not so the lower beds. 
The latter are of the same age as the freshwater deposits of Clacton and 
Grays. 
The great hollow that contains the Copford deposit appears to have 
occupied centuries to fill it up—nay, many centuries ; for Mammalia were 
in existence when the lower beds were forming that are extinct now, and 
were not in existence when the two feet of clay and peaty matter were 
forming, and of which I collected the shells that are the subject of this 
letter, and which I will send immediately after I have ascertained the 
safest method. 
I have found Pupa substriata amongst the Copford fluviatile drift, 
which I shall send with the others. 
Stan way. Now. 12 th, 1842- 
Should you feel inclined for a trip during the Xmas holidays, and 
can find time, you shall find a ready welcome here. I generally have a 
domestic circle on Xmas day, and after that I am more at home with 
those that love grubbing for fossil bones, snail hunters, and stone breakers, 
■etc. ; and among that group you will be admitted with a cordial welcome. 
I have much pleasure in sending you subfossil shells from the Copford 
deposit. I .shall leave you to distribute them as you think fit among your 
friends, and when you want any more for them, I should be most happy 
to supply you. 
Stanway, Now. 25th, 1842. 
I received a letter of thanks from the Geol. Society for the shells 
which I, with great pleasure, sent you to distribute as you pleased ; but I 
understood that you wanted them chiefly for private friends. Hal I 
thought that you would present them to the Geol. Socy. I would have 
sent a quantity more worthy of their acceptance, and it is still my intention 
to do so. I will send a suite of all the species found in the Copford deposit, 
with a new Section ; for, at the time I sent the one you alluded to in 
•one of your letters, this part of the deposit was not discovered. The 
cuttings for En. Co.'s Railway has laid this interesting bed open. 
It is my intention also to prepare a suite for the British Museum * 
thanks to you for the suggestion. 
The small Cyrena, which you allude to in your letter, I think must 
have come from Grays. I do not remember ever seeing any in the Clacton 
deposit. Ask Mr. Searls Wood whether he has met with any. He has 
studied that deposit quite as much, if not more than I have. 
Many thanks for your kind offer of what species of recent shells I have 
not. When I have the pleasure of your company here, you can see what 
species are wanting. I am almost ashamed to ask my friend Hall for 
more shells. He has already been very liberal to me in that rgspect. 
