117 



distance, large boulders. Mr. Maw mentions in his admirable 

 paper in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, May, 

 1864, " On the drift Deposits of the vaUey of the Severn in the 

 neighbourhood of Coalbrook Dale and Bridgnorth," that erratic 

 N.D. blocks occur more abundantly at altitudes of 400 to 800 

 feet in the Shrewsbury district than in the VaUeys, which is 

 also the case south-west of Bridgnorth, in the direction of 

 Wolverhampton, and at Burton, 3^ miles west of Much 

 Wenlock, blocks of Grey Granite are most abundant, extending 

 700 to 800 feet above the sea. 



At Mickleton Tunnel, in the neigbourhood of Moreton-in- 

 the-Marsh, the varied character of the Gravel — in a short 

 distance, large patches of White Chalk and Flints of considerable 

 size being met with — seem to indicate the presence of icebergs 

 in that locality, as well as land-ice. It is not however 

 improbable that the masses of cretaceous Flint may have been 

 brought and di'opped on the slopes of the hills, and afterwards 

 carried down into the valleys by the land-ice. 



There is less evidence left of direct powerful water action 

 above the Alluvium than is generally supposed. The Sands 

 which are interspersed with the Gravels and occur so largely, 

 still preserve the same character as when met with in the New 

 Red, from which they are clearly derived. The Fossils found 

 in the Gravels are either derived from, or near the beds upon 

 which they repose. My friend Mr. Eobert Tomes informs me 

 that he found the Corals in the Gravel at Leamington were 

 from Fenny Compton ; those at Welford from the Hippopodiiim 

 bed, probably of Honeybourne, and at Fladbury they were from 

 the ridge of Lias at Chadbury ; and Mr. Gavet mentions how 

 the cuttings north and south of Aston Magna differ materially 

 from each other. These facts appear to me to be incompatible 

 with the theory of a strong fluviatile action occurring at the 

 deposition of the Gravel, or even subsequently. 



There is also no accumidation of the fine silt which is now 

 being deposited by the Severn and the other rivers we have 

 under consideration, although, as I have before stated, it is 

 probable that some of the Boulder Clay may have been removed 



