ynly a,, 1872 J 



NATURE 



193 



ments in the high terrace, their absence in llie mid terrace, and 

 reappearance in the existing bed of llie Thames; the great 

 rarity or absence of animal remains in tl^e high terrace, and their 

 abundance in the mid ttrrace, and llie occumrce of both :nip]e- 

 ments and animal remains at the bottom of the gravel in both 

 terraces. The writer concluded by adducing prods of the great 

 antiquity of the present river-bed, which it was shown must have 

 run in its present meandering course in the bottom of the valley 

 for at least 2,000 years. 3. " On the Animal Remains found by 

 Col. Lane I"ox in the High and Low-level Gravels at Acton and 

 Turnham Green," by Mr. George Busk, F.K.S. The author 

 described the mammalian bones referred to in the preceding 

 paper. The remains from the high-level grai els at Acton belong 

 to tlie genera Bos, Oris, Eijuiis, and Jjijlias'i The greater 

 part belong to the first-named genus, and are probably modern, 

 as are also those of Ovis. The remains of Eqiiiis may be of 

 greater antiquity. The other l*nes found may belong either to 

 Elephant, Rhinoceros, or Hippopotamus ; they include a large 

 portion of an Elephant's molar, and are much rolled. The 

 remains from the mid-level gravel at Turnham Green generally 

 present the characters of great antiquity. They include bones 

 of Rhinoceros h<:iiutQ:chus, Eqiius caballus, Hippopotaviiis jiiajor 

 (one of them the left frontal of a very young animal almost un- 

 worn), Bos (probably B. priiuiginius, and some perhaps Bison 

 friscns), Corviis (C. clactomnsis, Falc. = C. Bro^cniDavk., C. 

 elapluis, and C. tarandus\ Ursus fercx priscns, and Elcplias 

 primi^atius. Mr. Prestwich complumnttd the author on the 

 exactness and completeness of his description of the classical 

 district which he had investigated, in which mammalian bones 

 had been found and described by Mr. Trimmer so early as 1S15. 

 In that case Hippopotamus remains, very fresh and unworn, had 

 also been discovered. Prof. Morris had also described a deposit 

 near Brentford in which numerous remains 01 Reindeer were 

 present, showing how variable was the distribution of mamma- 

 lian remains even in a limited area, and how unsafe it was to 

 base theories upon merely negative evidence. It was to be 

 hoped that other investigators would extend similar discoveries 

 to other parts of the valley of the Thames. Mr. Godwin- Austen 

 did not think that the presence of the young Hippopotamus was 

 absolutely conclusive of its having been born in this country. 

 With regard to the presence of remains of Reindeer and Hippo- 

 potamus in the same beds, not only might there have been an 

 overlapping of fauna such as has been pointed out by Sir Charles 

 Lyell, but there also might be an intermingling of the included 

 remains from two beds of different ages. He was not altogether 

 satisfied with the evidence as to the coexistence of man with 

 EUplias primis^enius, nor as to the artificial character of some of 

 the presumed implements. He did not attach any great im- 

 portance to the merely fragmentary bones. Mr. Evans main- 

 tained that the implements exhibited were of necessity artificial, 

 and commented on the nature of the evidence as to the co- 

 existence of man with the Pleistocene fauna. Under any cir- 

 cumstances the gravels containing the implements could only 

 have been deposited at a time when the Thames valley had not 

 been excavated to anything like its present depth ; and they 

 were therefore of great antiquity. There was, moreover, a 

 notable absence in them of a number of the animals usually 

 found associated with Neolithic implements ; and if man had 

 not subsisted on the animals the remains of which W'ere found 

 associated with his handiworks in the gravels, it was a question 

 on what food he had had to depend. The absence of imple- 

 ments in the low-level gravels seemed to him significant of a 

 diminution in the number of the human beings who frequented 

 the banks of the river. Mr. Carruthers said that as the rhizome, 

 whether it was that of Aspidium or Osintmda, was an aerial, and 

 not a subterranean rhizome, it must have been carried to its 

 present position ; and it consequently indicated, as Col. Lane 

 F(5 ' ad pointed out, the direction of the stream. Mr. Flower 

 regarded Col. Lane Fox's memoir as of great interest, as afford- 

 ing an additional instance of that perfect similarity of these 

 deposits, whether in France or England, which in places so wide 

 apart might reasonably be taken to indicate a common origin. 

 It was indeed generally assumed that these deposits were brought 

 down by rivers ; but this, according to his view, was by no means 

 certain. Col. Lane Fox had described the valley as 4i miles 

 wide ; but there was at Croydon, 12 miles distant, a deposit of 

 gravel capped with loess, containing elephant remains, and 

 exactly resembling the Thames valley-gravels, and communicating 

 with them. This evidently formed part of the Thames valley 

 system, whatever that system might be taken to be ; and if so, 

 he thought it incredible that the loess should have been dis- 



tributed by river- action over an area 12 or 15 miles in width. In 

 conclusion, he was quite content to adhere to the opinion held 

 by the French geologists, and formerly by several of our own 

 most able writers, that the distribution of these superficial drifts 

 was in the first mstance diluvial rather than fluvial. Col. A. 

 Lane F'ox, in reply, pointed out the artificial character of the 

 implements, and the manner in which the mammalian remains 

 occurred. He thought that the lower terrace of gravel 

 might have been formed at the bottom of a lake. Mr. 

 Busk, in proof of the animal remains not having been brought 

 from a distance, showed that the remains of the same animal 

 were found in close proximity to each other. Prof. Ram.say 

 made tome lemarks on the i;ndoubtedly artificial chaiacter 

 of the imjilements, and on their position at the base of the 

 gravels. The origin of the Thames valley he had already 

 maintained to be of Postmiocene age ; and though there was at 

 present no evidence of man's existence at that time, it w-as still 

 possible. Of the extreme antiquity of the human race there 

 could, however, be no doubt. 4. "On the Evidence for the 

 Ice-sheet in North Lancashire and adjoining parts of Yorkshire 

 and Westmoreland," by R. H. Tiddeman. The country of 

 which the earlier glacial phenomena were described in this paper 

 lies between the Lake-distiict on the north and the plains of 

 South Lancashire and Cheshire on the south, and extends from 

 the great watershed of England to the Irish Sea. On the west 

 is a seaside plain rising to levels of less than 200 feet. On 

 the north-east is a portion of the Pennine Chain, comprising 

 Tngleborough, Pennigent, and other Fells, rising to heights of 

 from 2,000 to 2,400 leet. Between these, from north to south, 

 we passover (i) arange of moorlands from 1,000 to 1,500 feet 

 high, called the Rossendale Anticlinal, which forms the water- 

 shed between the basins of the Mersey and the Ribble; {2), the 

 valley of the Burnley and Blackburn Coal-field, which drains 

 north through gorges in (3) the Pendle chain of hills into (4) the 

 broad valley of the Ribble ; (5), a group of Fells rising to a gene- 

 ral level of i,Soo feet, between the valleys of the Ribble and the 

 Lune, called, for the purpose of this paper, "The Central Fells;" 

 (6), north of this the valley of the Lune and the estuary of the 

 Kent. The main direction of all these features betw een the sea- 

 side plain and the Pennine Chain, is from north-east to south- 

 west. The paper was illustrated by a map of the district on the 

 scale of I inch to a mile, coloured to represent elevations, the 

 level contours having been reduced from the 6-inch scale. Upon 

 this all the ice-scratches found on the solid rocks were inserted. 

 A diagram illustrating the proportional number of scratches in 

 different directions showed that 20 per cent, of them were due 

 south, although the general direction of the valleys was to the 

 south-west. An instance was mentioned of a ridge of 1,400 feet 

 in height, which had scratches at the top running directly across 

 it to the south, although no land of ecjual height occurred north 

 of it within a distance of seven miles. A similar instance was 

 shown to exist on the ridge north-east of Pendle Hill. A iodic 

 iiioutoiiiu'c in the gorge of the Calder at Whalley was shown to 

 have been formed by ice working from the north, although the 

 river drains from the south. Other systems of scratches were men- 

 tioned in detail. All these tended to show that, though the 

 general slope and drainage of the district is to the south-west, 

 the movement of the ice at the period of maximum cold was to 

 the S. or S. S.E , or nearly parallel to the watershed. The 

 author goes on to describe certain disturbances at the surface of 

 the rocks, which are dipping at high angles to the south, they 

 having been overturned by some force coming from the north. 

 Such surface-disturbances are not found on rocks dipping to the 

 north ; and this fact may be explained by an illustration : in one 

 case the brushing was with the nap, in the other against it. In 

 was shown that these phenomena could not be attributed to any 

 other agent but a great ice-sheet pushing on from its northern 

 gathering grounds, recruited by the greater elevations on its 

 course, but overriding the lesser, grinding down and smoothing 

 by its friction rocks presenting but a gentle incline, tearing up 

 and turning over the b.isset edges confronting its approach. The 

 author next described the arrangement of the Till as to colour and 

 material, and endeavoured to show that all the facts which he 

 has observed are in favour of the existence of an .ice-sheet 

 travelling south in this district. Mr. Cumming's observations in 

 the Isle of Man were considered to confirm these views. He 

 describes the general glaciation of the island as being from the 

 E.N.E. or Lake-country, and describes many large blocks of 

 gianite which had been earned from their parent rock up the 

 high hill of South Barruh and down on the other side. This 

 was referred by Mr, Cumming at the time to a great "wave of 



