August 12, 1886] 
records are monotonously alike in chronicling low tem- 
peratures over the whole country. 
The Weekly Weather Reports issued by the Meteoro- 
logical Office are compiled from observations at stations 
fairly representative of the whole of the British Islands, 
and the results are grouped into twelve districts. These 
returns show that the low temperature is not limited to 
any special area of the United Kingdom, but is common 
to every part. From the middle of May to the beginning 
of August there was only one week, ending July 5, in 
which the temperature was above the average in the 
western districts of England, Ireland, or the Channel 
Islands, whilst in the period of seven months from 
January 4 to August 2 the temperature in the north-west 
and south-west of England and in the Channel Islands 
has only been above the average in three weeks—March 
29, May 10, and July 5; and averaging the results for 
the whole of the British Islands, these are the only weeks 
in which the resultant temperature was above the average, 
and may fairly be considered the only warm periods during 
the seven months. 
This persistency of low temperature is to be traced over 
the whole of the past twelve months, commencing with 
the beginning of August 1885. To the three warm weeks 
already mentioned there must be added those of Novem- 
ber 9 and 30, December 21, and January 4, making seven 
in all, and these represent the only warm weeks through- 
out the entire period, and are the only weeks in which the 
mean temperature for the whole of the British Islands 
was above the average. 
The following table, which is compiled from the Weekly 
Weather Reports for the fifty-two weeks ending August 2, 
1886, shows the number of weeks with the temperature in 
excess or defect of the average, and the extent of the 
deficiency for the several districts. The averages used 
for the comparison are for the twenty years 1861-1880. 
> bb fs |=] Sp 
as “238 
5 2 oleae Weeks below the average 
ne ee, ————— 
oe BE cea gta? s6°7B* gf-x0" 
Scotland, N. i Gp eaeUS LO 6 2 = 
Scotland, E. II GG “aio 7 3 — 
England, N.E. 12 2% 4, Ts 8 7 = 
England, E. econ 1G) Be Lg LS ne I 3 
Midland Counties ... II Ze ee es 9 2 3 
England, S. 10 7 14) LO 6 2 3 
Scotland, W. 10 i 9 5 —— 
England, N.W. 7 i) LT T25 WUE 2 3 
England, S.W. 7 6 145 13 a) 2 3 
Ireland, N. 9 TLS ers 5 40> 
Treland, S. 8 Ome LO. 7 2 I 
Channel Islands 6 9) 20. LI 5 i 
From this it is seen that the highest number of weeks 
during the year with the temperature above the average 
was twelve in the north-east of England, whilst the lowest 
was six in the Channel Islands. 
Throwing the weekly values together so as to form a 
monthly result, it is seen that November 1885 is the only 
month of the last twelve in which the resultant tempera- 
ture for the whole of the British Islands was above the 
average, and then the excess only amounted to 1° ; of the 
remaining eleven months, one was inagreement with the 
average, one had a defect of 1°, four had a defect of 2°, 
three a defect of 3°,and twoa defect of 4°. The three 
consecutive months having the greatest deficiency of tem- 
perature were January to March, the defect averaging 
fully 3° for the entire period. 
The rainfall for the same twelve months was above the 
average during the six months September, October, and 
November 1885, and January, May, and July 1886, the 
excess being larger in England than in Scotland or 
Ireland. It was in fair agreement with the average in 
NATURE 
ee EEE eee 
341 
March and April, and in defect in the four months 
August and December 1885, and February and June 
1886. CHAS. HARDING 
THE PLIOCENE DEPOSITS OF NORTH- 
WESTERN EUROPE 
if the series of stratigraphical monographs on which 
the Geological Survey is engaged, the preparation of 
the volume treating of the Pliocene deposits has been 
assigned to Mr. Clement Reid. In pursuance of the plan 
on which these works are being written, I requested him 
to visit some of the Continental regions where deposits 
of corresponding age are best developed, and a personal 
acquaintance with which would extend his knowledge of 
their English equivalents. He has accordingly spent 
some time recently in Belgium and Holland, and 
among other localities visited the well-known exposures 
of the Diestian beds around Diest and Antwerp. The 
sections there laid open, the remarkable assemblage of 
organic remains contained in them, and the peculiar con- 
dition in which the shells at Diest have been preserved 
led him on his return to this country to re-examine the 
curious deposit of ironstone at Lenham, on the North 
Downs, in which, so far back as 1857, the occurrence of 
Pliocene shells was announced by Prof. Prestwich. Doubt 
was cast upon this identification of the age of these 
shells: by many geologists they were looked upon as 
Lower Eocene, though their original discoverer has con- 
sistently maintained his opinion. Mr. Reid has now been 
fortunate enough to obtain a considerable number of 
additional species that settle beyond doubt the Pliocene 
age of the Lenham beds, and thus confirm the view of 
the veteran Oxford Professor. The establishment of this 
point raises questions of such wide interest in geology 
that I feel justified in anticipating the appearance of the 
memoir in which the facts will be detailed. At my 
request Mr. Reid has drawn up the following report, 
which briefly embodies the facts he has brought to notice, 
and touches upon some of the problems which they 
suggest. ARCH. GEIKIE 
Some years ago Prof. Prestwich announced the dis- 
covery of beds of Pliocene age at a height of over 600 
feet on the North Downs (Quart. Fourn. Geol. Soc., vol. 
xiv. p. 322). The bad preservation of the fossils, how- 
ever, led Mr. S. V. Wood, who examined them, to mark 
all the species as doubtful, though he was inclined to 
agree that they were probably Pliocene. Owing to the 
unsatisfactory nature of the palzeontological evidence, 
and apparently also to an accidental mixture of Eocene 
fossils from other localities, this discovery has been dis- 
credited or ignored, though Prof. Prestwich himself has 
always maintained its accuracy. 
Recently, while preparing an account of the British 
Pliocene beds for the Geological Survey, it has been 
necessary for me to examine any outlying deposits which 
have been considered to belong to that period. For this 
purpose I paid a second visit to Lenham, near Maidstone, 
having several years ago examined that locality with no 
satisfactory result, owing to the obscurity of the sections. 
A number of blocks of fossiliferous ironstone were ob- 
tained from pipes in the Chalk—just as the original speci- 
mens were found.. These were brought to London, care- 
fully broken up, and impressions taken from the moulds 
of fossils with which the ironstone was filled. By this 
means a series of casts was obtained very much better 
than the obscure impressions so doubtfully determined by 
Mr. S. V. Wood. The result of the examination of these 
fossils has thoroughly corroborated Prof. Prestwich’s 
view, for there is not a single Eocene species among 
them. With two or three exceptions they are all known 
Pliocene forms ; some are new to England, though oc- 
curring in France and Italy. 
