THALASSOLOGICAL NOTES ON THE NORTH SEA. 333 



100 fathoms deep very far up under Ben Lomond, but at its outlet 

 it is near the level of the sea floor in the same way as Loch Etive, 

 whioh comes oat near Obau ; in fact, nearly all these lochs (once 

 river valleys) in the North of Scotland are, as Professor James 

 Geikie has so well shown,* rock basins, which enter at the sea very 

 little below the level of the surface and are not very deep, while 

 some miles up higher they are considerably deeper. I think it 

 would be a very interesting subject to take up (which perhaps I 

 shall be able to do) to show the comparisons or analogies between 

 the rock basins of the West of Scotland and the fjords of Norway. 



I am very much inclined to believe that the author has pi'oved 

 his point about the Silver Pit oif the coast of Lincolnshire being 

 the ancient river bed of the Palfeorhine, and that it has been silted 

 up is only what one would expect. As the Chairman remarked, 

 it is a wonder, considering that the sea was at a former time 

 filled with glacial ice carrying great masses of material which it 

 spread over the floor, that we have any of these old river valleys 

 remaining in such a condition that they can be determined Iiy 

 the soundings of the Admiralty Charts. 



As others ai'e going to speak, I will not detain you longei- 

 except to express the great pleasure I have derived from listening 

 to the author's paper. 



Mr. Harmer, F.G.S.- — The author has been good enough to 

 write to acquaint me with the fact that this paper was coming on, 

 and I am glad to be here. The subject is most interesting, and I 

 am very glad to be able to agree with many of the conclusions that 

 the author has reached. There is no doubt, I think, that from 

 the time the Rhine began to run northwards it must have forced 

 itself out to the North Sea between Scotland and Scandinavia. I 

 agree with Professor Hull that it is not strange that we cannot 

 trace the whole of this old channel. The wonder is that there is 

 any trace of it left. 



With regard to the point he i-aises, Avitli which my name has 

 been connected, I am afraid I cannot follow the conclusion he 

 reaches, and if it will not take too much time I will sketch out my 

 views shortly. [_The speaker here illustrated his theorij on the hlach- 

 hoard.'] Changes of level took place in the North Sea area during 

 both the Pliocene and Pleistocene periods, but the stages in the 



* Geikie, The Great Ice Age. 



