34
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
cestors, and it was not a formidable undertaking to carry a few
flint nodules for a few miles, from some spot, probably in the
river bank, where they found material of good quality ready
excavated for them.
The site of the elephant-bed of Clacton is under the West
Cliff, nearly opposite Tower Road, between the Pier and the
wooden jetty. The lower part of the cliff, and the foreshore
when swept clean of beach, gives us a section across the silting
of the old river channel, but to what degree this section may be
oblique (and consequently longer than the true width of the
channel) one does not know. The length at the foot of the sea
wall is nearly 1,500 feet, and the deepest part of the channel is
very near, or a little on the west side of, the oldest stone groyne,
often called "the Palace groyne." At low tide I have dug up
samples of the freshwater silt as deeply as I could from under
the water, and neither shells nor the seeds of plants gave any
indication of the proximity of the sea, which was then probably
north of the Dogger Bank.
The following is the section of the deposit filling up the ancient
river channel (see Plate 5) :—
Surface humus (not shown).
b. Trail, irregular loamy gravel, with flints, quartz., etc. ;
thickness up to 6 feet.
i. Estuarine series (described in error as freshwater by
J. Brown), red sandy beds ; up to 6 feet.
k. Hard, dark-coloured clay, previously called "Peat,"
"Lignite" and "Estuarine Peaty Shale," with lenticu-
lar sandy beds. This occupies all the lower part
of the cliff above the parade level. Up to 20 feet.
x-z. Various strata of clays, sands, loams, and gravelly beds,
from behind the sea wall (above high tide level)
to below low tide level.
+ London Clay.
Separate collections were made from nine different horizons
in the freshwater series, but the fauna and flora proved to be
practically the same throughout, from bottom to top. Bed i
was described by the Geological Survey as estuarine, and this
I was able to confirm when some "cliff improvements" opened
up a fresh section. This is important, as it demonstrates