50 REPORT— 1866. 



large percentages still remain ; and tlie Miocene formation of the Alps, wliicli con- 

 tain many laud plants barely distinguishable (if distinguishable) from li^dng species, 

 have been formed, upheaved, inverted, and faulted without a total destruction 

 either of terrestrial or of aqueous life. Putting all these things together, I feel 

 myself almost driven to the conclusion that aU these changes have been so slow 

 and gradual, that to occupants of old time, had there been human intelligence to 

 obsei-ve, everything would have seemed to go on in the same slow, steady, and 

 apparently imdisturbed manner in which they appear to us to go on now ; and if 

 this be true, then, instead of having recourse to unusual catastrophic action to ex- 

 plain what is seen to have resulted, it all resolves itself into time — to effects in fact 

 produced b}^ small cumulative causes, which were more than equal to all the de- 

 structive forces attributed to eruptions of igneous rocks, the production of faults, 

 and immense contortions of strata ; and the effect of all, but not the final effect, h.os 

 brought about the astonishing changes which the world has so -v-isibly undergone, 

 resulting in the present physical geology, physical geography, and life of the surface 

 of the earth. 



On Intermittent discharges of Petroleum and large deposits of Bitumen in the 

 Valleij of Pescara, Italy. By Prof. Ansted, F.R.S. 



On a iScdse or Mud Volcano on thejfanls of Etna, commencing to erupt in the 

 month of January last, i?^ Prof. Ansted, jP.i?.»S'. 



An Attempt to approximate the Date of the Flint Flales of Devon and Cormvall. 



By C. Spence Bate, F.B.S. 



On the Island of St. John in the Bed Sea (the Ophiodes of Straho). 



By Dr. Beke. 



The author gives an account of his visit to the Island of St. John, in the Red Sea, 

 which he described as an upraised coral-reef, with a sharp volcanic peak in the 

 centre. It afforded neither water nor vegetable productions. There was evidence 

 along both coasts of the Red Sea that the land was uprising. The author exhi- 

 bited a number of geological specimens collected on the island. 



On the occurrence of Flint Implements in the Gravel of the Little Ouse Vcdley at 

 Thetford and elsewhere. By Hexey Brigg, Jun. 



The author in this paper described some discoveries of flint implements at five 

 points in the valley of the Little Ouse, a river having a common origin with the 

 Waverney at Lopham Ford, and which, after receiving the waters of the Thet and 

 another small river, takes a north-west course, and joins the Great Ouse. 



The country drained by the Little Ouse and its tributaries, is of the Upper Challc, 

 largely overlaid with glacial drift ; and the ri^-er- valleys exhibit extensive deposits 

 of the debris of these formations arranged terrace-like upon their sides. 



From Thetford to Brandon the valley-gravels attain their gTeatest development, 

 and are extensively quarried during the winter months for road-making material. 



It was at Sauton, in the spring of 18(32, that the first flint implement was dis- 

 covered, and Mr. Brigg has since recorded further discoveries at the Red Hill and 

 Yv^hite Ilill, Thetford (slight eminences upon the Abbey-heath, thus called by the 

 pitmen from the colour of the gi'avels), Santon Downham, and further down the 

 rivei', and without the valley, at Shrub Ilill, in Feltwell fen. 



The discoveries at the Red and White Hill are important ; the first from the 

 large number of implements that have been fomid, the latter from the occurrence 

 in the same deposit of remains of the Elephas primiycnius, Eqtnis, Si(s,&c. The im- 

 plements of the Little-Ouse gravels are mostly of tlie spearhead form, with the 

 usual variety of finish and staining. Many of them show traces of wear from use, 

 while others have suffered much attrition and water-wear. 



