290 PROF. E. HULL, LL.D., ETC., ON THE SUB-OCEANIC 



British or Continental atlases, hence the value of Dr. Hull's 

 researches, thus making his papers read before the Society of 

 such marked value. I need only mention the old and depressed 

 river-beds of the Shannon on the west coast of Ireland and 

 the Seine in the north of France, aniono-st others, traceable 

 through dredging and sounding as far as the 100-fathom level, or 

 from 150 to 200 miles from the present coast-line. The sections 

 illustrating the depths to the sea-floor given in this paper, 

 and those in the previous paper on the northern British coast- 

 line, are of the greatest value to physical geography, and should 

 be continued to the south-westei'n extremity of Africa, or from 

 where Dr. Hull left off at the mouths of the Adour and its 

 caiion. It must ha,ve struck many others present, the difficulty 

 in following the delicate lines of the sections over the sunken 

 areas shown on the transparency ; one good coloured section 

 (which few are more able to do than Professor Hull) would 

 have more clearly illustrated the entire series of tlie interest- 

 ing sections, stretching far out from the foreshore to the greatest 

 depth he has depicted ; and his present paper being more com- 

 plicated in construction than in his earlier paper from the 

 Shetlands to Cape Ushant, the contour lines are both more 

 numerous and crowded, and therefore difficult to follow. 



We yet want these great facts depicted in our physical 

 atlases, which would more cleai'ly illustrate the value of our 

 Admiralty charts, the reading, m.eaning, and use of which, 

 with their thousands of soundings or registered depths would 

 lead to the still moi'e profound researches and illustrate the 

 physical history of the submerged — but not lost — lands which in 

 some future period may again appear under new and increased 

 grandeur. 



Greneral McMahon, F.R.S. — I have had great pleasure in lis- 

 tening to Professor Hull's paper, and I think geologists and 

 physical geographers ought to feel much indebted to him for 

 calling their attention to a subject that hitherto has been much 

 neglected. Prpfessor Hull's paper deals with the Continental 

 Platform and the Great Depression. 



As regards the course of rivers on the Continental Platform 

 I think that Professor Hull has proved his case, and I have not 

 seen or heard any valid objections to his conclusions. But when 

 we come to the courses of the rivers in the Great Depression 

 I think the evidence is very much weaker. I think that perhaps 

 the soundings are hardly sufficient to enable us to say that the 



