478 Reviews—A. J. Jukes-Browne—Building of British Isles. 
coast-line at this juncture is an interesting piece of work, and for 
much original information on this point we are indebted to the 
author himself, and to his friend, Mr. Hill. Parallel to this coast- 
line, but still separated from it by some 200 miles of the unsub- 
merged Britannic block, is the shadowy Atlantic ready to unite with 
the eastern sea. Even at this juncture nothing but land is repre- 
sented to the north of Scotland and the south of Ireland. 
Recalling the general views of the author as to the relations of 
land and sea within the area treated from the beginning of Mesozoic 
time to the eve of its closing scene, we are somewhat struck by the 
limited amount of water-space. The curious shape of the Keuperian 
reservoir, with its fresh-water adjuncts in the north-east and north- 
west of Scotland, is copied with singular fidelity by the seas of the 
Lias and Inferior Oolite, the only access to any ocean being a pro- 
blematical one through the Paris basin. It is difficult to believe that 
such a thoroughly marine formation as the Lias was deposited in 
waters so stale as these must have been. We observe, too, that the 
author considers such a minor accident of the Harth’s crust as the 
Great Caledonian Glen to have been already in existence, and yet he 
persists in ignoring the Atlantic basin, the eastern edge of which is 
quite as likely to have been a permanent feature. Moreover, we do 
not feel quite convinced of the existence of such a great mass of 
land to the north during Mesozoic times as is represented in all the 
maps. It is to be hoped that the Oxfordian seas were allowed a 
little more latitude in this direction. 
Tertiary GrocraPuies.—During the Lower Eocene period the 
Britannic block is represented as being all land to the west of 
a line between the Wash and Bridport Bay: the London Clay sea 
covers the rest. During Oligocene, and presumably during Miocene 
times, it merely forms part of a continental mass which extends from 
the Bay of Biscay to the Scandinavian Highlands. In the course of 
this lengthened exposure the carving of the British Isles must have 
made progress: the escarpments of the Secondary rocks would be 
roughly outlined, and the older rocks again touched up. “It is 
possible that some of the geological features of western and central 
England were initiated at this time” (p. 247). But Mr. Jukes- 
Browne considers that we cannot use the modern physical geography 
of the country as affording much assistance in the restoration even 
of early Pliocene geography, though he thinks that the German 
Ocean may have been initiated ‘“‘in the latter part of what we call 
Pliocene time.” 
“That the close of the Pliocene epoch found the main physical 
features of England fully developed, and the Mesozoic escarpments 
occupying their present positions, we know from the relations of the 
Pleistocene (Glacial) deposits to these features.” The wonderful 
change which had taken place during the latter part of the Pliocene 
is depicted in pl. xiii. As if by magic nearly everything is in its 
place. The German Ocean is an accomplished fact. Rivers drain 
the valleys which prefigure the English and St. George’s Channels, 
and at length the Atlantic is permitted to mingle its waters with 
