20 



HARD WICKE 'S S CIENCE - G O SSI P. 



had become resubmerged to the extent of between 

 300 and 400 feet, one branch of this ice had reached 

 the borders of the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, 

 Herts, and Bedford, ploughing out and destroying 

 any Lower Glacial beds that had been deposited over 

 the intervening counties upon which it rested, and 

 over which we ought otherwise, having regard to the 

 depth of the earlier submergence under which they 

 were accumulated, to find them, but do not. The 

 Middle Glacial formation, consisting of sand and 

 gravel, they attribute principally to the action of 

 currents washing out and distributing the morainic 

 material, which was extruded on the sea-bottom by 

 this land-ice ; that ice itself by keeping out the sea 

 over all the country on which it rested, which was 

 then below the sea-level, preventing the deposit of the 

 Middle Glacial in those parts. The termination of 

 this current action was accompanied by increased 

 submergence, and by a gradual retreat of the land-ice 

 northwards to the mountain districts, until Britain 

 was left in the condition of a snow-capped archipelago, 

 from which eventually the snow disappeared and the 

 land emerged. To the moraine extruded from the 

 base of this ice and into deep water they refer the 

 origin of the Upper Glacial Clay, the moraine mate- 

 rial remaining partly in the position in which the ice 

 left it, and partly lifted by the bergs which became 

 detached from the ice. Such part of it as was lifted 

 was dropped over the sea-bottom at no great distance 

 from its point of extrusion, and in that way the marine 

 shells occurring in a seam of sand in the midst of this 

 clay at Dimlington and Bridlington on the Yorkshire 

 coast became imbedded, the moUusca which had 

 established themselves on the surface of this moraine 

 material having been thus smothered under a lifted 

 mass of the same, which was dropped from a berg. 

 The authors point out that precisely in the same way 

 in which the Middle Glacial is found stretching out 

 southwards and eastwards beyond the Upper Glacial 

 Clay in Suffolk and in Herts, and is succeeded by 

 such clay both vertically and horizontally, so does 

 the earlier formed part of the Upper Glacial Clay, or 

 that with chalk debris, stretch southwards beyond the 

 latter formed part, or that destitute of such debris, 

 and is succeeded by it, both vertically and horizon- 

 tally. This, they consider, shows that the Middle and 

 Upper Glacial deposits, which constitute an unbroken 

 succession, were due to the gradually receding posi- 

 tion of the land-ice during their accumulation, the se- 

 quence being terminated with the Moel Tryfaen and 

 Macclesfield gravels, which were accumulated during 

 the disconnection and gradual disappearance of the 

 ice, and while the land still continued deeply sub- 

 merged. 



The Sivatherium in Spain. — At a late meeting 

 of the Geological Society of London, Prof. Calderon 

 read a paper on " The Fossil Vertebrates of Spain," 

 in which he stated that remains of the Sivatherium 



and Hyanarctos had been found in that country. 

 The President (Prof. Duncan) remarked that the 

 presence of these animals, if confirmed, would be 

 particularly interesting as showing a great western 

 extension of the Miocene fauna peculiar to the 

 Sivalik hills, in India. 



The Siberian Mammoths and Hairy 

 Rhinoceri. — The long woolly hair with which 

 these extinct animals were clothed has been 

 deemed a plain proof of their special adaptation 

 to an extremely cold climate. Some years ago 

 the teeth of a Mammoth w-ere subjected to close 

 scrutiny, and some dark vegetable matter found 

 in the hollows was microscopically examined, and 

 found to belong to coniferous vegetation, such as is 

 to be found in the extreme North, the inference being 

 that the Mammoth most probably fed on the young 

 shoots of fir-trees. Very recently M. Schmalhausen 

 has made a communication to the St. Petersburg 

 Academy, on the constituents of a mass of dark- 

 brown matter extracted from hollows in the teeth 

 of a rhinoceros in the Irkutski Museum. That this 

 was truly the remains of fodder of the animal seemed 

 clear from the appearance and the macerated charac- 

 ter of the vegetable substance, of which only the 

 woody and cuticular parts showed a more or less 

 distinct structure. The greater portion of the piece 

 consisted of leaf- remains, with here and there a 

 fragment of stem. For the most part the stem 

 and leaf-fragments were those of monocotyledonous 

 plants, probably of Graminese ; there were also, in 

 less quantity, leaf-fragments of dicotyledonous plants. 

 Besides leaf-shreds of Coniferae, there were woody 

 pieces which indicated the existence of Picea [Obo- 

 vatal), Abies {Sibirical), Larix [Sibirica?), Gnctacea:, 

 Betitlacecc, and SalieineiC. It seems unquestionable 

 that these remains must be referred to northern plants 

 and to such as are still partly found in the arctic or 

 sub-arctic regions. 



Geological Map of Scotland. — We have 

 received a new geological map of Scotland, by 

 Professor A. Geikie, F.R.S., the Director of the 

 Geological Survey of Scotland. It is unquestionably 

 the best which has yet been issued. The specific 

 colours for the various formations and outcrops are 

 well-chosen and distinct, so as to catch the eye at 

 once. The dip of the strata is marked, as well as 

 the places where they are contorted. Signs and 

 tokens for anticlinal and synclinal axes, and for 

 faults, point out clearly to the student where these 

 phenomena most abound. The colours and symbols 

 chosen for the igneous rocks are excellent. The 

 topography of the map is by Mr. T. B. Johnston, 

 F.R.G.S. The map is published by Messrs. W. & 

 A. K. Johnston, Edinburgh. 



Carrot. — The wild carrot may always be known 

 bv the red flowers in the middle. — E. T. Scott. 



