File:The Quarterly journal of the Geological Society of London (14076823654).jpg

IN THE SUBMERGED FOREST OF TORBAT.
17
another find recentl)' made by the
writer's son on the tidal strand of
Goodrington Bay (fig. 1).
This inlet has much the same
general character as that which
has already been described, and
consists of wide and gently sloping
sands, crowned with a prominent
ridge of beach, behind which the
ground is low, flat, and marshy,
having been reclaimed from
swampy conditions only in recent
years.
Fig. 3 exhibits a section of the
tidal strand taken through the
spot where the "find" in question
was made, and it will be observed
that the forest-clay is here no-
where visible. At the bottom is a
bed, E, consisting entirely of pro-
strate trees and vegetable debris ;
above that is another, A, com-
posed of the stems of the water-
bistort .Polygonum amphihium)
standing as they grew ; next, a
stratum of silt and vegetable mat-
ter, D ; then a thin layer of red
clay, P, and lastly a bed of much-
abraded reedy debris, C, upon
which the beach, B, appears to
rest. The thickness of the lowest
bed is unknown, while that of the
others is altogether about eight
feet. Borings made by the Great
Western Eailway Company have
shown that there are at least
seventy, and it may be many
more, feet of vegetable debris in
the marsh immediately behind the
beach, where it is crossed by the
line carried on a high embank-
ment.
On November 18th, 1883, the
writer's son disinterred from the
Polygonum-'hed, A, fig. 3, two
large pewter vases, one of which
is now on the table, while the
other has been presented to the
Museum of the Torquay N"atural
History Societ.^ These vessels