Reviews — Persistent Vents of Stromboli. 519 



of the north, which form low, gently rolling, or flat ground, mainly- 

 occupied by the valley of the Ouse ; secondly, the conspicuous ridge 

 of the Lower Greensand, with its pine- woods and heather, extending 

 across the county from Leighton Buzzard to Potton and Sandy ; and, 

 thirdly, the Chalk downs of Luton and Dunstable, which rise at 

 Kens worth Hill to a height of some 800 feet, and afford an excellent 

 example of the Down type of scenery. Some of the superficial 

 deposits of Bedfordshire are also of considerable interest, notably the 

 gravels of Biddenham, which have long been classical in the study of 

 Palaeolithic man in Britain. It was here that the results obtained by 

 Boucher de Pertbeson the Somme were first established and extended 

 for Britain. This discovery formed a notable landmark in the history 

 of prehistoric archaeology. 



In this small book Mr. Gore Chambers has given a concise and 

 well-arranged account of the natural features and products, 

 archaeology, and history of Bedfordshire, showing clearly how the 

 development of population, communications, and industries is closely 

 dependent on the geography and geology of the district. Although 

 not containing within its borders any places of paramount importance, 

 Bedfordshire was even in very early days an important centre on lines of 

 communication, since the Icknield Way and the Watling Street crossed 

 at Dunstable. These great roads are no doubt very ancient, probably 

 going back to Neolithic times. Again, the Stane Street, an im- 

 portant road from London to the North, skirted the eastern side of 

 the county, while the town of Bedford was an important stronghold 

 at an early date. 



The mineral wealth of the county is not great ; the coprolite 

 industry and the quarrying of the Totternhoe Stone for building 

 purposes are now almost or quite extinct, but the sands of the Lower 

 Greensand have been largely used for glass-making and other com- 

 mercial purposes ; this is an industry that is likely to increase in the 

 future. Near Leighton Buzzard there are beds of pure white sand 

 of very good quality for glass. The yellow iron-stained sands of 

 Sandy and other districts are chiefly used for building, iron-moulding, 

 and filter-beds. Bedfordshire is on the whole an agricultural county, 

 and the experimental work carried on at Woburn is world-famous. 

 The alluvial soils of the Ivel Valley are specially suitable for market 

 gardening, and of late years an enormous trade has sprung up in 

 garden produce for the London market, ordinary garden vegetables 

 being here grown by hundreds and thousands of acres. It is clear, 

 therefore, that the industrial prosperity of Bedfordshire is largely 

 founded on a geological basis. 



P. H. Rastall. 



III. — Persistence of Vents at Stromboli and its bearing on 

 Volcanic Mechanism. By H. S. Washington. Bull. Geol. Soc. 

 America, vol. xxviii, pp. 249-78, pis. vi-ix. 



IN this paper the author has brought forwai'd the evidence of the 

 constancy of position of the vents on the crater terrace of 

 Stromboli. By a careful comparison of old plans and sketches, going 

 back as far as 1776, he has established the fact that certainly three, 



