88 QEOIOGT. 



Parker, James. On the Relationship between the Somme River 

 and the Somme Valley. Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol. iv. no. 5, pp. 286- 

 307 ; map and sections. 

 Endeavours to show that the suhaerial theory of the excavation of 

 the valley and the river-origin of the gravels is untenable. Describes 

 the physical geography of the district, illustrating his remarks by a 

 map on a scale of 5*05 miles to the inch. There are few true springs 

 in the district ; but the river and its tributaries are fed by water-holding 

 ' sponges ' of peat in the valley-bottoms. The water only collects here 

 because a valley exists. The highest source of the Somme (124 miles 

 from its mouth along the windings) is only 220 feet above the sea ; 

 the average fall is 1 in 3000. This source cannot have been higher in 

 earlier times ; but the subaerial hypothesis requires that the river should 

 have run over what are now hills lower down the valley ; the fall of 

 the old river would therefore have been only 1 in 6000. The theory 

 in question assumes a plain sloping towards the sea, in which the main 

 valley has been excavated from E. to W., the tributaries from N. to 

 S. or from S. to IST. ; why should the water have flowed in so regular a 

 manner in the two directions simultaneously ? The water which is 

 supposed to have excavated the tributary valleys can only have done so 

 by aid of a fall into the main valley, which must therefore have existed 

 before the tributaries could have been excavated ; but the water which 

 is supposed to have excavated the main valley could only have been 

 supplied by the tributaries. The author states that most published 

 sections of the district give a wrong idea of its character ; there are no 

 continuous horizontal terraces, nor does the gravel of any one point 

 correspond in position with any gravel on the opposite side of the valley. 

 The loam which o/erlies the various gravels is of the same character as 

 that overlying the plateaux. W. T. 



Passy> A. Description geologique du departement de I'Eure. [Geo- 

 logy of the Euro.] Pp. xxxii, 294. 4to. Paris. 

 Contains an Appendix giving notes on the orography, geology, agri- 

 culture, industry, and botany of each commune. 



Paul, C. M. Centrales Hiigelland der Bukowina. [Central Hill- 

 district of the Bukowina.] Verh. 'k.-lc. geol. lieiclis. pp. 223, 224. 

 The Sarmatian beds (Miocene) form a large part of the Bukowina ; 

 the flanks of the hills show much Drift. 



. Braunkohlenfiihrende Mediterran-Ablagerungen in West- 



galizien. [Miocene coal, W. Galicia.] VerJi. Ic.-k. geol. Beichs. 



pp. 264-266. 



This coal-bed reaches to 6 metres in thickness ; the moUusca found 



show that it is intercalated in the marine Mediterranean stage of the 



Miocene. E. B. T. 



. Neue Erfahrungen iiber die Deutung und Gliederung der 



Karpathen-Sandsteine. [On the Carpathian sandstones.] Verh. 

 Ic.-lc. geol. Reichs. pp. 294, 295. 

 On tlie correlation of local divisions, some Eocene, others L. Cretaceous. 



