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A DECADE OF CRAG W O R K .
A DECADE OF CRAG WORK. BY
CLAUDE M O R L E Y ,
F.E.S.,
F.G.S.,
F.Z.S.
IT seems well to put upon record what our Society has accomplished by research into the innumerable Fossils of the Crag during the first ten years of its existence. The scarcity of investigators has been most disappointing, and those are now mainly dead. Consequently the results have brought forth no new species ; and even the specimens unearthed have not been as fully identified as one could desire. We know, for instance, nothing whatever about the 105 kinds of F O R A M I N I F E R A described from the Coralline or White Crag by M M . Rupert Jones, W. K. Parker and H. B. Brady, though over half these have been found in Essex at Walton-Naze alone. Of PORIFERA (Sponges), both the kinds that occur there are common in our White-crag at Sutton, Sudbourn, Gedgrave and especially numerous at Aldeburgh on the Oyster-shells of Anomia patelliformis, L. In Ramsholt cliff Pectunculus pdosus, L., at Butley priory Cyprina Islandica, L., at Bentley Station Cardium interruptum, Wd. and Venus imbricata, Sow., and at Bawdsey cliff Buccinum Dalii, Sow., have their shells bored by these Cliona celata, Gnt. and Grantia compressa, Flem. COELENTERATA OF THE CRAG.—The sole HYDROZOON, Hydractinia circumvestiens, Wd., is infrequent through abrasion and more often seen on Trophon antiquus, Müll., Murex and Pholas crispata, L., at Walton-Naze than anywhere in Suffolk, where I have noticed it at only Sutton and Gedgrave.—Milne-Edwards found three kinds of C O R A L in the White Crag and five are known in the Red, all occurring at Walton ; but Prestwich considered those in the latter merely derived from the former. In Suffolk they abound in the White and only the large Cryptangia Woodi, E-H., in the Red at Butley ; at Ramsholt it often strews the Deben fore-shore, where blocks extend to over five inches in diameter ; smaller sections occur at Sudbourn, Gedgrave and Sutton ; at Aldeburgh in January 1932 I found a cylindrical branch ten inches in length. An apparently distinct and quite smooth species occurred at Sutton in March 1936 ; and another slender one, presumably Trochocyathus Anglicus, Dune., has turned up rarely at Sudbourn, Sutton and Ramsholt. The stubby Balanophyllia calicula, Wd., is very general at Newbourn, Foxhall, Bentley, Tattingstone, &c ; but the pedicelled Flabellum Woodi, E-H., has appeared to me at only Bawdsey, Foxhall, Newbourn and in the Chillesford Bed at Chillesford Lodge in March 1932. Sphenotrochus Boytonensis, Tom., also seems rare at Sudbourn and Sutton ; though 5. intermedius, Mün., abounds at both, at Foxhall, Ramsholt and WaltonNaze.—BRYOZOA (Polyzoa as they used to be called, Zoophytes or Corallines) are confusing in their multiplicity: Prof. Busk described 95 kinds, of which eighty occur at Walton-Naze. I have
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A DECADE OF CRAG WORK.
paid the subject inadequate attention and can instance only some sixteen species in Suffolk, though many more have been recorded. Ramsholt and Sudbourn produce Hornera frondiculata, Lam. ; Gedgrave H. reteporacea, Edw. ; Sutton and Aldeburgh H. infundibulata, Busk ; and Aldeburgh both Tubulipora phalangea, Cch. and T. flabellaris, Jhn. The most prevalent of all is Eschara monilifera, Edw., which abounds at Walton-Naze, Newbourn, Foxhall, Butley, Gedgrave, Sutton, Sudbourn, with large sections at Ramsholt. Celepora caespitosa, Busk, is profuse at Aldeburgh with a second species, and at Sutton I find a third. Masses of Cupularia denticulata, Con., sieve out at Sutton, Sudbourn and Aldeburgh ; Salicornaria crassa, Wd., occurs at Ramsholt, and abundantly at both Sutton and Sudbourn, with S. sinuata, Has. At Butley and Gedgrave is the beautiful Melicerita Charlesworthi, Edw., abounding at Sudbourn. The largeFascicularia anrantium, Edw., expands 2 i inches at Sutton, Sudbourn, Aldeburgh with smaller specimens found by Mr. Andrews at Martlesham in 1930 ; and Alveolaria semiovata, Busk, of the same dimensions, with it at Sudbourn and Aldeburgh. The little Retepora Beanana, Busk, I have seen at only Sutton (cf. Trans, ii, pp. lxvii & lxxiii). ANNELIDA OF THE CRAG.—Tube-worm cases are frequently met with, but seem to appertain to very few distinct kinds. T h e present Serpula triquetra, Linn., abounds on shells of Pecten opercularis, L., at Aldeburgh and S. vermicularis, Linn., on those of Cardium Parkinsoni, Sow., at Walton-Naze ; at Ramsholt I have found Spirorbis carinatus, Mont., on the same shell. A species of (apparently) Sabellaria occurs in the Coralline-crag of Gedgrave and Sudbourn ; and another on Trophon muricatus, Mont., at Walton-on-Naze. Detached Ditrypa subulata, Berk., is much the commonest worm-case at Sutton, Sudbourn and Ramsholt ; as is D. gadus, Mont., in the Red-crag pits at Newbourn. ECHINODERMS OF THE CRAG.—Surprisingly little has appeared concerning our fossil Sea-urchins and Star-fish in these Transactions, mainly owing to the Revd. Gee Lombard's untimely death in 1934. This dearth is partly due to the animals' rarity for, excepting two restricted localities, I have stumbled upon mere isolated and often fragmentary specimens at long intervals. No more than a dozen Coralline and nineteen Red Crag kinds have been noted during recent years (Lombard, Trans. SNS. i, 1930, p. 9 0 & Kendall, Geol. Mag. lxviii, 1931, p. 419). In the W H I T E CRAG Echinus Woodwardi, Desor., is by far the commonest kind, though never discovered unbroken ; and I have seen it at Aldeburgh where it is least comminuted, Sudbourn Park (teste Brit. Museum) abundantly along with very numerous spiculae and occasional ossicle-teeth, Gedgrave and (Trans, ii, p. lxvii) Sutton. E. Cotteaui has appeared rarely and disintegrated at Gedgrave and,
A DECADE OF CRAG WORK
139
uponthe same occasion, at Sutton. E. Lyelli, Forb., I have found singly at both those places and, with spiculae, at Ramsholt. E. Lamarcki, Forb., turned up but once at Gedgrave, in Feb. 1931. Echinarachinus Woodi, Forb., has appeared only in Sudbourn Park in Nov. 1931 (omit from Trans, ii, p. lxxviii). A perfect Temnechinus excavatus, Wood, was found at Ramsholt in May 1934 (Trans, ii, p. clxxii), with fragments of others at Sutton ; in the bag with the latter were a perfect T. globosus, Forb. and half of T. turbinatus, Forb. T. Woodi, Agaz., appears rare, though spicules that seem to belong to it are very numerous, at Sutton and nowhere eise. T. melocactus, Forb., I have seen at only Gedgrave in March 1933, along with a single Psammechinus sphaeroidalis (Trans, ii, p. lxxviii). The sole Conulus albigalerus, Lesk. (1. c. i, 91), remains unique in my collection from Ramsholt at the junction of the White and Red Crags. The common present Star-fish of our sea shores, Uraster rubens, Linn., is said to occur with a second species of that genus in Red Crag at Walton-Naze ; but in Suffolk no more than two rays of a single specimen in juxtaposition have turned up, at Gedgrave in May 1932 (1. c. ii, p. xxix).—Most Echinoderms are too fragile to withstand the moil of redistribution, to which R E D C R A G has been subjected, though that of Walton to a less extent, perhaps, than anywhere in our County : hence from Walton come my sole fragments of Echinocardium cordatum, Penn., with seven fragments of a single Echinus Henslovi, Forb., found in juxtaposition. Three specimens of EchinocyamusSuffolcensis, Agaz., turned up at Newbourn in March 1932 (Trans, ii, p. xx); two oiE. hispidulus, Forb., in the nodule-bed of Foxhall in 1932 and at Alderton in 1930; two indeterminable kinds of Comatula in Ramsholt cliff during Feb. 1931 ; and a very few spiculae, probably of Spatangulus purpureus, Müll., at Butley mill and Newbourn. From Walton Red Crag our late member, Prof. Kendall, records also Echinus Woodwardi, E. miliaris, Leske, Psammechinus pulchellus, Goniaster sp., Pentacrinus subasaltiformis, a third Comatula sp., Temnechinus excavatus and T . turbinatus, Forb. ; Ipswich Museum has Amphidotus echinus from Foxhall. Prof. Edward Forbes' original " Echinodermata of the Crag", published by the Palaeontographical Society, enumerates only sixteen species in the White and six in the Red.
CRUSTACEA OF T H E CRAG.—Barnacles are among the most ubiquitous Animals of the Crag-sands, occurring both in situ upon the shells of Pelecypod and Gastropod Molluscs, and as detached and often fragmentary individuals. Charles Darwins 1851-4 Monograph records from Red-crag his Coronula barbata at Sutton and Bawdsey with Verruca stromia, Müll., at Walton-Naze where Kendall recently has found i t ; also six species of the typical genus from that deposit at Sutton. As a matter of fact, I believe all the Balani to occur in both White and Red crags, hence those still
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A DECADE OF CRAG WORK.
extant must have lived through Mammalian-crag times. Our abundant present Baianus balanoides, Linn., I have found fossil at Sutton, Gedgrave and profusely in Sudbourn Park, at Foxhall, Ramsholt and Bawdsey, most usually on Purpura lapillus shells and sometimes a hundred upon one. B. Usulcatus, Darw. (Trans, i, 113), is much rarer at Walton-Naze, Ramsholt, Bentley Station, &c, usually on coprolites and Natica cirriformis, Sow. The most frequent fragmentarv kind in both our Crags is B. concavus, Bronn. (Trans, ii, p. xxii), found by me at Butley, Sutton, Walton-Naze, Ramsholt, Foxhall, Hollesley, Sudbourn, in Mammalian-crag at Bramerton in Norfolk, Wangford and in the Chillesford-bed at Easton Bavents. B. inclusus, Darw., has turned up at Aldeburgh (Trans, i, 113). B. spondicida, Darw., is the circular species so common on various kinds of Pecten-shells in the Coralline at Aldeburgh and Ramsholt cliff ; also occasionally at Butley priory, Newbourn, Foxhall and in Red-crag at Sutton. B. tintinnabulum, Linn., a rare sort, is sometimes disintegrated in Butley priory pit where I found one perfecc and 3 J- inches in length during 1932 ; also fragmentary at Ramsholt, Bawdsey cliff and Aldeburgh. Once, on 30 April, 1930, I dug beside the Deben at Ramsholt, where Red lies immediately upon White crag, a Cluster of five Balani that I cannot differentiate from B. improvisus, Darw., now living abundantly in Oulton Broad (Trans, i, p. lxxiii), not hitherto known in a fossil State I believe.—Very general as are the above tough tests of Cirrhipedia, of which ten kinds are said to occur in the Coralline (Dr. J. E. Taylor 1892), no Copepods or entomostracan Phyllopods seem recorded. And I have met with none of the 18 entomostracan Ostracoda species that are put upon record by Prof. R. Jones & H. B. Brady's paper, though four have been recently turned up at Walton-Naze by Kendali who thence records nine kinds of Podophthalma (cf. Trans, ii, 266). But Crab-remains are sparse throughout Suffolk where I have discovered under thirty specimens in as many years' collecting, though a dozen species are known to occur here. Usually isolated claws of the Edible-Crab Cancer pagurus, Linn. (Trans, i, 116 & ii, 226) have been found by me at Foxhall in 1895, Butley and Ramsholt; of Shore-crab Carcinus Maenas, Penn., at Ramsholt, Sudbourn and Butley ; of Swimming-crab Portimus puber, Linn., at Gedgrave and Bawdsey ; and of other indeterminable sorts at Foxhall, Sutton, Newbourn ; and, on 4 March 1933, there turned up an entire claw of, apparently, XanthopsisLeachi, Edw., in the Coralline at Gedgrave (Trans, ii, p. lxxviii). Six kinds of Brachiopoda are differentiated at Trans, ii, 258 ; but Isopoda and Leptostracan Crustacea do not seem represented at all. M O L L U S C A OF THE C R A G . — A comprehensive dichotomous revision of our 232 Bivalve seu Pelecypod species appeared in these Transactions (ii, pp. 232-62) ; but the remaining 111 kinds of Univalves seu Gastropods yet await treatment.
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A DECADE OF CRAG WORK. VERTEBRATA
OF
THE
C R A G . — ( 1 ) Pisces
: nothing
later
has
emerged respecting the Fishes that were enumerated among recent ones (Trans, ii, pp. 104-133). T h e sole YValton-Naze kind of Vertebrate that is unknown in Suffolk is an undetermined species of the genus Edaphodon (Geol. Mag. 1931, p. 420). (2) Reptilia : hitherto there is nothing to add to the very füll list printed by our Society (Trans, ii, pp. 209-24). (3) Aves : fossil Birds are extremely rare with us, and the few discovered have been already enumerated (Trans, ii, p. 203). (4) Mammalia : all the Quadrupeds, which title I use advisedly since the more usual Animals actually Covers all b u t Botanical life, of the Crag have been detailed (Trans, ii, pp. 13-33) along with those still inhabiting Suffolk.
A PUZZLING ALGA.—Would you be kind enough to teil me what this speeimen is ? I found it on the surface of the ground when I was weeding, and really I cannot imagine to what group of biology even it can belong !—HILDA M . ROWLAND, Bury St. E d m u n d s ; 23 April 1944. [The enclosed object was a desiccated and subcircular sac, circa 9 m m . in diameter and pellucid green in colour which vaguely toned into nigrescence. In our ignorance we thought it most resembled the egg-sac of some unknown Spider, so sent it to Dr. Hull in Northumberland. He disclaimed it as Arachnid, and fancied it must be vegetable by its texture. Hence we sent it to M r . Mayfield who knew nothing like it and found, under high power, t h e texture to consist of small strings of oval cells that measured about 6 X 2.5 micromillimetres in a single layer and fastened by a kind of mueous or gelatine. N o other local Botanist being available, in these exigent times, we sent it to Dr. Blair to see what the British M u s e u m could make of it. It suggested to him " a kind of soft shiny bladder that I have sometimes found in quantities on bare gravel: whether they would dry to this sort of thing, I do not know. I think they are an Alga of some kind, but I have long forgotten its name : Botryllum or Botrychium is what I am trying to recall, but M r . Mayfield would know t h a t . " As a final court of appeal it went to the Kew Gardens' Director, who states that " the vesicle appears to be a dried speeimen of the blue-green Alga, Nostoc commune, which is common in wet weather on badly-drained ground. W h e n fresh it is a gelatinous mass, and irregulär in shape. T h e globose shape of the present speeimen is unusual " (in lit., 10 M a y 1944). As long ago as 1834 about Y a r m o u t h and in 1860 N. commune, Vauch., was recognised as common in gravelly or sandy places in Suffolk ; and this was confirmed by Revd. E. N . Bloomfield (misprinted Nostoe, T r a n s . Norf. Nat. Soc. 1909, p. 783) in the 1911 Victoria Hist. Suff.—Ed.]