350 Notices respecting New Books. 



" Whoever compares this series of strata with the coralline oolite 

 formation in Berkshire and Wiltshire, will find them extremely similar 

 in the mode of arrangement, in mineralogical composition, and or- 

 ganic contents. The features which they impart to the country are 

 much alike in both districts, and the whole evidence in favour of their 

 affinity is complete and satisfactory. Yet the two districts lie wide 

 asunder, and in all the intermediate tract a great portion of the series 

 is unknown. From Acklam to the neighbourhood of Oxford, no co- 

 ralline oolite or calcareous grit appears at the surface, (unless the 

 limestone before mentioned in Lincolnshire, belongs to these rocks,) 

 and the Kelloways rock has not yet been described between Hunting- 

 donshire and the Humber. This should teach us not to undervalue 

 the evidence of organic remains, for these are always useful and often 

 necessary guides to determine the affinities of detached portions of the 

 strata ; and, when viewed in combination with the substance and ar- 

 rangement of the rocks, the results to which they lead may be confi- 

 dently adopted." 



We quote the principal part of the notice of the vale of Pickering, 

 on account of the difference of opinion between the author and Pro- 

 fessor Buckland, respecting the value of the existing evidence of its 

 former condition. 



fe Professor Buckland, in his admirable work, the Reliquite Dilu- 

 vian<E, seems to admit the probability of the vale of Pickering having 

 been an antediluvian lake, which was drained when the present out- 

 let at Malton was effected by the waters of the deluge. 



"The idea of its having been a lake naturally offers itself to every 

 one who considers its wide level surface, and remarks the multitude 

 of streams which run into it, and pass out by the single channel of 

 the Derwent. But I do not think that the present appearances of the 

 vale can fairly be employed to support opinions as to its condition 

 before the flood. The vale of Pickering has a partial surface of allu- 

 vial sediment, and a general covering of diluvial clay and pebbles, 

 upon a substratum of blue clay. How vast a load of diluvium lies on 

 this stratum, in particular situations, is known to those who have in- 

 spected the cliffs between Speeton and Filey -, and similar accumu- 

 lations prevent it from appearing in all the central part of the vale. 

 The present flat appearance of this great hollow, therefore, is owing 

 to the effects of the deluge and subsequent causes 5 and affords no 

 clue to its antediluvian condition." 



The Chalk Wolds. 



" The wolds of Yorkshire form one of the most remarkable features 

 in this county. High and bare of trees, yet not dreary nor sterile, 

 they are furrowed as all other chalk- hills, by smooth, winding, rami- 

 fied valleys, without any channel for a stream. Where several of these 

 valleys meet, they produce a very pleasing combination of salient and 

 retiring slopes, which resemble, on a grand scale, the petty concavi- 

 ties and projections in the actual channel of a river. No doubt these 

 valleys were excavated by water, but not by the water of rains, or 

 springs, or rivulets. Some greater flood, in more ancient times, has 



performed 



