240
THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
to stain the specimen as now seen. Mr. E. T. Newton thought there
was very great difficulty in distinguishing between elephant and mammoth
ivory ; and remarked that the reduction in girth in one direction, which
gave a somewhat elliptical contour to the specimen, might be due to
rolling amidst the gravel ; but Mr. T. Reader thought there was no possi-
bility of rolling in the particular bed from which the specimen came. Mr.
Hazzledine Warren reminded the meeting that various sizes of billiard
balls were made, and that shrinkage in billiard balls was frequent, rendering
them untrue in play ; the shape of the specimen exhibited was, he thought,
entirely due to shrinkage. Mr. Cole doubted the specimen being a billiard
ball, and suggested that earlier games of ball, such as "cup-and-ball,"
were played. The President thought that the scratched surface was
evidence of wear. Mr. Christy agreed that the reduction in girth was
probably due to shrinkage rather than to rolling ; and, on the President's
motion, the thanks of the Meeting were tendered to Messrs. Maynard
and Christy for the exhibit and account of same.
Mr. W. Whitaker, B.A., F.R.S., then gave a verbal report of the Meeting
of the Corresponding Societies at the British Association's Meeting at
Sheffield, during the past summer; which report led to a general discussion,
in which the President, Messrs. Cole, Avery, Wilson, Warren, Nicholson,
Newton, and Dalton joined, and Mr. Whitaker replied on various points
raised. On Mr. Whitaker's motion, seconded by Mr. Wilson, it was decided
that the question of proposed reduction in price of the Geological Survey
Maps should be remitted to the Council of the Club for consideration and
action.
In the absence of the author, the Acting Secretary then read, partly
in abstract, Mr. Alfred Bell's paper on "The Zonal Stratification of the
English Pliocene Deposits."
In the ensuing discussion, Mr. Whitaker expressed his very great appre-
ciation of Mr. Bell as a most careful and accurate observer ; he considered,
however, that the division of the Pliocene into zones was unnecessary, as
there was no evidence of any great length of time during its deposition ;
he doubted whether the differences of faunal contents in the various
beds were not due to change of conditions rather than to lapse of time, and
referred to the intermingling of shells from older zones. In his opinion,
the Pliocene in East Anglia need only be divided into Lower (or Coralline)
Crag and Upper (Norwich and Red) Crag. Mr. Newton endorsed the
warm appreciation of Mr. Bell, and remarked upon the intimate knowledge
of Crag species possessed by the author ; he thought it important that
the paper should be published. Mr. Warren considered that we should
have more information on the supposed worked flints before accepting
them as such. Mr. Whitaker would express no opinion on the flints them-
selves ; while hesitating to accept them as "worked" until further expert
evidence had been brought forward, he had no doubt as to the bed in which
they were found, which was the base of the Red Crag. He was present with
Mr. Bell when some of the flints were obtained.
The President proposed a very warm vote of thanks to Mr Bell for
his valuable communication, and for the gift of the fossils which
accompanied it.