Again, it may be argued that the primitive inhabitants of countries bordering the coast were in the habit of piling up the empty shells of the edible molluscs used by them for food: but these “kitchen middens” are easily distinguished from fossil deposits like shelly beaches, by the absence of stratified layers; and, further, by the shells being confined to edible species, as the Cockle (Cardium), the Blood-cockle (Arca), the Mussel (Mytilus), and the Oyster (Ostrea) ([Fig. 8]).
Fig. 8—Remains of Edible Shell Fish (Kitchen-midden—native, mirrn-yong)
in Sand Dunes near Spring Creek, Torquay, Victoria.
(Original).
Fig. 9—Part of a Submerged Forest
seen at low water on the Cheshire coast at Leasowe, England.
(From Seward’s “Fossil Plants”)