272 FRANCIS ORPEN MORRIS 



tracts ; that its course on some occasion must have 

 been impeded by an accumulation of fallen trees. 



... Its outlet being thus obstructed, the natural 

 consequence was the overflowing of the low land in 

 its vicinity, and the water was in all probability pre- 

 vented from running off into the sea again by such 

 low eminences as still exist, and are now useful to 

 keep out the tide in the Trent from forcing its way, 

 in its turn, over the land inside. The deluge of this 

 river probably remained for some considerable time, 

 until at length some obstruction was removed from 

 staying its onward course ; and when it retired it 

 left an accumulation of soil, such as a river will 

 always bring down upon the previously levelled 

 surface which the action of the sea (i.e., on the sup- 

 position that the sea was the first invader) had 

 already prepared for its reception." 



From his Oxford days onwards my father's in- 

 tense devotion to the study of entomology never 

 waned. One of his most valued and interesting 

 correspondents was his friend of boyhood, Mr. J. C. 

 Dale, already mentioned. 



Mr. Dale's collections of British insects and stuffed 

 birds was very extensive, one of the rooms of his 

 house being entirely occupied by them, and he was 

 said to have possessed the most complete private 

 entomological library in the country. He was a 

 perfect enthusiast in regard to entomology, and 

 thought nothing, even in those days of coaches, of 

 a journey to Scotland or the Lakes in search of some 

 rare butterfly or other. He for many years corre- 



