246
THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
Mr. Shenstone seconded. Carried unanimously. This concluded the
business of the Annual Meeting.
Exhibits.—Mr. W. H. Dalton, F.G.S., exhibited (1) the left half of the
lower jaw of a Rhinoceros, supposed to have come from the Ilford pits,
which had long been the property of the Club. Only part of one-
molar tooth is lost. Unfortunately, in the act of placing it in the Museum,
an accidental slip reduced it to almost its original fragmentary condition,
but not beyond the possibility of repeating the restoration. Mr. E. T.
Newton, F.R.S., said that probably the jaw was that of Rhinoceros
leptorhinus, an old animal.
Mr. Dalton also exhibited (2) Basal conglomerate of the Carboniferous
Limestone, in contact with the Silurian floor, at Malham Tarn (the source
of the river Aire), West Yorkshire, filled with Silurian pebbles. The
old floor of this region consists of Pre-Cambrian ("Ingletonian"), Lower
and Upper Silurian, bent into great folds, and eroded to a nearly horizontal
floor on which the Carboniferous series rests. (3) Corals, encrinites, etc.,
from the uppermost beds of the Carboniferous Limestone of the same
district. (4) Shelly conglomerate from Woolwich Beds, Charlton, Kent.
(5) Oligocene limestone from Constantine, Algeria, largely composed of
shells of Helicidae ; subsequently silicified, decalcified, and partly charged
with crude petroleum.
Mr. John French exhibited some Palaeolithic implements from a.
plateau Brick-earth at Causeway End, Felstead. He explained that the
thick patination of the surfaces of the implements agreed with that on
other fractured flints in the deposit and assimilated them therefore in
point of age. The evidence for their antiquity was to be found in the
brick-earth which, when in a semi-fluid state, settled in a concavity on the
plateau. This brick-earth has now by the long process of denudation
become a convexity on two of its sides, and the collecting ground of this
deposit has also long since been inaccessible on account of other channels
of denudation. He thought the implements should therefore be referred
to early Pleistocene times.
Mr. Henry Mothersole sent for exhibition the "hoard" of Bronze
Socketted Celts and a few lumps of metal, found some 30 years ago at
Little Baddow, Essex, and described by Mr. Henry Corder in the Trans-
actions of the Club for 1881 (vol. ii., p. 31). These specimens had recently
come into Mr. Mothersole's possession. The "find" consisted originally
of twelve pieces. One of these is now missing—a piece of unwrought metal,
referred to in Mr. Corder's note as having been cut. Mr. Mothersole des-
cribed the celts, and said that both pieces of the unwrought metal had
one side curved, indicating that they were cooled in a vessel having a
rounded bottom, probably the crucible.
In the course of the ensuing discussion, Mr. Francis Reader expressed
the opinion that the "hoard" was of late Bronze Age date, as evi-
denced by the Socketted celts, and was probably the "stock-in-trade"
of a travelling smith. Mr. Miller Christy referred to similar hoards having
been met with at Arkesden and elsewhere in the county. The opinion
was expressed that the specimens should be figured in the Essex Natura-
list.