Ixvi PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



physiography of the district, explaining how some of the Chalk 

 beds were more or less indurated than others, and how the varying 

 degree of hardness and softness rendered them more or less liable 

 to the effects of subaerial denudation, thus determining the physical 

 features of the country. The Chalk, he said, once extended over 

 a wide area in a north-westerly direction, and had been subse- 

 quently removed by denudation. Chalk escarpments, as thus left, 

 which formed such a prominent feature in English scenery, had 

 been inferred to be sea-clifFs, but that could not be the case, for the 

 sea cuts indiscriminately through all classes of rocks, and would 

 have left water-worn flints, pebbles, and sand at the base of the 

 escarpment, instead of the unrolled and unbroken flints here seen. 

 After alluding in succession to the most interesting points con- 

 nected with the physical character and extent of the contiguous 

 underlying strata, the Gault, Lower Greensand, and Purbeck beds, 

 Professor Morris referred more particularly to the influence of the 

 range of the Lower Greensand on the physical features and water- 

 supply of the neighbourhood, illustrating his remarks with a 

 geological map, which, however, was partially sheltered from 

 observation and rain by an umbrella. Before he could finish, 

 heavy rain and a gale of wind drove the party down the hill 

 and into the village inn below for shelter and refreshment. 



The rain soon ceasing, Totternhoe was left for Kensworth Hill. 

 At the foot of the hill a spring was examined, and a discussion 

 ensued as to the stratum which retained and threw out the water 

 on the hill-side, for its position appeared to be above the line of 

 junction of the Chalk Marl (or its highest bed the Totternhoe 

 Stone), with the more porous chalk overlying it. The water from 

 the spring had carved out for itself a valley in the chalk, affording 

 an example of the mode of formation of the coombs which are so 

 characteristic of chalk escarpments. 



A steep climb soon brought the party to the summit of Kens- 

 worth Hill. Here a splendid view of the surrounding country was 

 obtained. On the south the ground was seen to slope gently in 

 the direction of Kensworth, while to the north was the steep escarp- 

 ment which had just been climbed, with the lesser. Lower Chalk 

 escarpment of Totternhoe Knoll and the Maiden's Bower below it, 

 and here and there an outlier of the Chalk might be seen forming 

 a slight elevation on the Gault plain beyond. The height of this 

 hill is generally given on maps of the district, etc., as 904ft. above 

 the sea-level, but Mr. Hopkinson stated that, from aneroid measure- 

 ments he had made from bench-marks on the Dunstable road, he 

 believed the summit was about 810 ft. above Ordnance-datum. 



The route now lay by Kensworth Green, through Kensworth 

 churchyard, and across the St. Albans and Dunstable road, to 

 Caddington. Here the carriages were waiting to convey the party 

 to Farley Hill, Luton, where Mr. Henry Brown, President of the 

 Luton Natural History Society, had kindly offered to provide tea 

 at his residence, " Highfields." 



After a substantial meal had been partaken of, in a marquee 



