260 NEOZOIC TIME. [CHAP. XII. 



wich's view : the Meuse was then in all probability a tribu- 

 tary of the Rhine, and it is to the Rhine itself that Mr. 

 Reid refers the transport of the pebbles in question. In 

 his memoir on the neighbourhood of Cromer Mr. Reid has 

 given a sketch-map representing the probable position of the 

 estuary of the Rhine during the formation of the Forest Bed. 

 This is reproduced with slight alterations in Plate XIII., 

 the limits of the sea at the close of the Pliocene epoch 

 being shown by the boundary of the darker tint. It is 

 assumed that the whole area of the North Sea was greatly 

 contracted by upheaval from its previous extent, though 

 whether this elevation included the Scoto-Icelandic area, 

 and was sufficient to raise the connecting isthmus once 

 more above the sea, is doubtful, but such a connection is 

 shown on Plate XIII. because it is suggested in the sequel 

 that a further elevation to this extent did supervene in 

 the interval between the Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs. 



