Postwick, and Bramerton, each pit presenting certain distinctive palaeontological characters. In future collections from these beds it would be very desirable to keep the fossils of each pit and each bed separate, as has been so well done by Mr. Reeve for Bramerton.
The pit near the Asylum at Thorpe exhibits the best-known and most interesting section of the Norwich Crag. Mr. R. Fitch, F.G.S., of Norwich, has made a very fine collection from this pit, including a large series of Mammalian and Molluscan remains. The former, which are common chiefly amongst or immediately upon the basement bed of worn flints (x', fig. 28), consist of teeth and bones of the following species * : —
Mastodon arvernensis. Trogontherium Cuvieri.
Elephas meridionalis. Arvicola.
Ursus. Bones of birds.
Equus plicidens?
Bos. Platax Woodwardii.
Felis pardoides. Raia antiqua.
Hyaena antiqua. Vertebrae and otolites of fishes.
Cervus Falconeri. Teeth of Shark.
—ardeus. Crab (claws of, notch in edge as in Carcinus).
Lutra.
The shells are found in a bed of white sand with seams of small flint-shingle, lying immediately over the basement-flints. The more common shells are, Tellina obliqua, T. lata, T. proetenuis, Mytilus edulis, Lucina borealis, Cardium edule, Mactra subtruncata, Mya arenaria, Buccinum undatum, Purpura lappillus, Natica catena?, Cerithium tricinctum, Littorina littorea, and L. rudis. Many species are very rare ; and doubt attaches to some unique specimens in the older collections. Mr. Fitch's collection, which contains a typical and distinct one from the Norwich district, consists of about 72 species of marine shells. They are included in the list of the Norwich-Crag Testacea appended to this paper, which is taken chiefly from the list drawn out by the late Dr. Woodward for Mr. Gunn, supplemented from my own and other collections.
Fig. 28. — Thorpe pit, Norwich.
feet.
5. Ochreous and ferruginous sands and flint-shingle, with a layer of iron-sandstone, full of casts of shells at x 20
3. Grey clay (Chillesford), with a few large worn flints 1 to 1-1/2
3' & 2'. White sands, with seams of gravel and patches of shells and comminuted shells, with a layer of large flints at base from 5 to 12
At this pit the line of separation between 3' and 2' is not well marked. At Bramerton 3' & 2' are much thicker nearly 30 feet), division into separate beds more apparent.
- In the revision of the mammalian remains I have been kindly aided by Mr.
Boyd Dawkins.