66
HASCOT, A NEW CRAG-PIT. BY P H I L I P
CAMBRIDGE.
the foot of Hascot Hill, on the right of the road from Barking to Battisford, is a large excavation locally known as the Flint Pit and much overgrown by herbage. T h e basal six or seven feet of its face consist of fairly large waterrolled Flints in a matrix of quite coarse red sand, with numerous small phosphatic Nodules similar to those found in the basementbed of the Red Crag, having associated teeth of Sharks and fragments of Vertebrate bones. When digging in the lowest part of the pit last spring, I came across shelly sand, containing many complete Mollusca and numerous debris of a typical Crag fauna [Trans, ii, 232] ; these resemble those of the Red Crag basement bed, excepting the much greater abundance of Cretaceous forms, the more worn condition of the derived Eocene fossils, and the total absence of Box-stones. They a r e : Neptunea contraria, Turritella spp., Arctica (Cyprina) sp., Astarte Omali, Laj. and A. IBurtini, Cardium angustatum, C. IParkinsoni and C. (Cerastoderma) edule, Chlamys opercularis, Thais (Nucella) lapillus, and Pectunculus glycemeris.—Further Flints and Red Sand are found in the large pit near Valley-farm, where a much broader face is exposed. But, although this contains numerous phosphatic Nodules and appears in every other way identical with the first mentioned deposit, I have not found in it a single organic fossil of any sort. Halfway across the pit, Red Crag is cut out by a Glacial Channel that is filled with later sands and gravels, extending almost to the Hascot Hill pit. A shallow well was recently sunk, attempting to reach water, in the floor of this second p i t ; and, at a depth of some six feet soft and marly Chalk was Struck, containing abundant fragments of the Polyzoan Onychocella inelegans, Lonsdale. I feel that it is worth calling the attention of Members to these hitherto overlooked pits, as further work upon their contents, both fossil and mineral, may help to throw new light on our Red Crag deposits. FOSSILS FROM THE CRAG.—Recently I have found the following Foraminifera in the Coralline Crag of Sudbourn Park, excepting a few that t u m e d up at Sutton Knoll and are so indicated. T h e names have been taken from the Palaeont. Soc. Monograph, somewhat brought up to date :—Pyrgo ringens, Lam., at both ; Vaginulina lazigata, Rem., Sutton; V. obliqnistriata, J o n . ; Dorothia gibbosa, d'Orb., both ; Textularia sagittula, Defr., var. jugosa, Brady ; Triloculina oblonga, Mont. ; Discorbis near globularis, d ' O r d . ; Nonion Bousana, d'Orb., var. janiformis, Jon. ; Polymorphinafrondiformis, Wood, abundant at S. Park and common at S u t t o n ; Eponidis repardus, F . - M o l l ; Quinqueloculina sp., both ; Guttulina sp., a fistulöse variety.—An excellent example of what may be accomplished among the Red Crag Mollusca and a few odd other groups in no more than f - h o u r ' s collecting is shown by the following from the Neutral-farm pit at Chillesford FOSSILS AT BATTISFORD.—At
HASCOT. A NEW
CRAG-PIT
6;
on a day in April 1950 :—(1) PORIFERA : Cellepora caspitosa et Cliona sp. (2) POLYZOA: Mefrarabdotus moniliferum et Salicornia sp. (3) CORALS : Sphenotrochus intermedius. (4) E C H I N O D E R M S : Echinocardium cordatum et Echinus sp., plates and spines of both. (5) CRUSTACEA : Cancer pagurus and the Brachiopod Terebratula grandis, Blum. (6) MOLUSCA : BIVALVES (cp. Trans, supra, ii, 232) : Vennus imbricata, Aloidis gibba, Chlamys tigrinus, C. opercularis, Pitar rudis, Diplodonta astartea, Teilina obliqua, T. crassa, Anomia spp., Hiatella rugosa et var. cylindrica, H. artica, Pectunculus glycimeris, Cardium angustatum, C. interruptum, C. edule, Cardita scalaris, Acila Cobboldi, I.oripes divaricata, Mytilus edidis, Mactra ovalis, M. constricta, Mya arenaria, M. trunctata var. pullus and Ensis sp. GÄSTROPODS : Admete viridula, Neptunea despecta, N. contraria, Nucella lapillus, Calyptrcea Chinensis, Trivia arctica with its var. minor, Vermetus glomeratus, Turritella spp., Planorbis prcecursor, Nassa reticosa, N. pusillina, N. propinqua, N. labiosa, Capulus sp., Colwnbella sulcata, Ringicula ventricosa and Buccinum meridionals. (7) PISCES : Lama Vincenti, tooth ; and Raia sp., dermal defences. Also I collected during the earlier part of 1950 from the Red Crag of Suffolk the following POLYZOA. At Sutton Knoll :— Membranipora crustulenta, Pal., on the mollusc Thais lapillus, L. ; Eschanna Dutertrei, Aud. (Woodiana, Busk); and Escharella immersa, Flem. (Peachi, Jhnst.). At the Neutral pit in Butley :— Discoporella Haidingeri, Reuss ; Eschara sinuosa, Busk ; Trigonopora monilifera, MEdw. ; Hippadenella imbellis, Busk; Cellaria crassa, Wood and C. sinuosa, Hass. ; Melicerta Charlesworthi, MEdw. ; Omalosecosa ramulosa, L. ; Escharoides mamillata, Wood ; Retepora simplex, Busk ; Hornera reticulata, Busk and H.frondiculata, Lamou.; Woodipora holostoma, Wood & Cellepora tubigera, Busk. In the Corporation pit at Felixstow was only C. tubigera ; and at Walton-on-Naze in Essex only C. tubigera with Haplopoma bimucronatum, Moll. All these Polyzoon specimens have been presented to the British Museum, in which collection they will be incorporated. In the last few weeks I have had the opportunity of examining some calcareous sands of Oligocene age at Bünde, some forty miles from here. They are spread, like Coralline Crag, on fields for use in fertilising ; and also employed for rough walling, when sufficiently compact. Their fauna is extremely like that of our crag, showing that similar facies give similar animals, even when so widelv separated in time and space. POLYZOA, however, are here rare, and I have hitherto discovered only three FORAMINIFERA ; but the BRACHIOPOD Terebratula grandis, Blum., is very common as is a M O L L U S C Pecten, similar to the crag Chlamys opercularis, L. (Trans. SNS. ii, 237). Bückeburg, Germanv ; 11 Nov., 1950.