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of the bones of extinct animals when the beds were first opened 

 many more have since been discovered, it will be well to place 

 these on record in the pages of a publication whose chief use and 

 object is to take note of such local events ; hence my excuse for 

 taking up your time this afternoon. 



Before however alluding to the bones, let me say a few words 

 as to the material composing the gravels, as there are many 

 interesting facts connected with it. Our valley is not particularly 

 rich in its gravels ; patches occur here and there, but not of any 

 thickness. One often hears of a bed of gravel having been 

 opened, but it does not fulfil the conditions of true gravel. 

 Frequently on the slopes of our hills a mass of small angular 

 and subangular stones mixed up with clay and loam fills up 

 the depressions and small hollows of the ground; to this the 

 name of angular drift ought to be given, as there is no 

 indication in its sharp edges of transport from any distance or 

 of attrition by water. Moreover the material of which it is 

 composed consists of portions of the rocks on or near which it 

 lies. Whatever may be its origin, whether the result of a crust 

 of land ice breaking off the subjacent rock over which it passes 

 in its downward movement ; or whether the result of subaerial 

 denudation and wearing away of rock surfaces, it never was 

 deposited in its present position by swiftly flowing water as true 

 gravel must be ; moreover, it is destitute of any shells or other 

 remains which could fix its position in the geological record. On 

 the other hand the true gravels in our basin contain many indica- 

 tions of their age, and are of very great interest and importance ; 

 and, as Charles Moore wrote, " help to fix some milestones in our 

 journey backwards from the present time into the dim vista of 

 the past." Looking at our present gently flowing Avon, winding 

 its sluggish and somewhat dirty course through our beautiful 

 valley, we can with difiiculty realise the time when it must have 

 been a rushing torrential river, now swinging from this side, now 

 from the other ; shingle banks accumulating in the more rapid 



