NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE, 175 



being more than four times the ordinary quantity; whilst Sea- 

 thwaite, in Borrowdale, about the wettest station in England, had 

 only about half as much again as usual, although the whole 

 quantity was 21-35 inches. Goodamoor, on the borders of Dart- 

 moor, kept up its repute both relatively and absolutely, having 

 had three times its ordinary rainfall, with the heavy monthly total 

 of 14-40 inches. 



C. B. 



Flint Flakes. 



To the Editor. 



Sir, 



A valuable contribution to the series of Flint Flakes found 

 in parts of the western counties to which flmts are geologically 

 foreign, has been made by Mr. G. L. Aborn, of Prince Town, 

 Dartmoor. He has favoured me with several specimens, " found," 

 as he states in an accompanying' letter, " in the course of reclaiming 

 " some of the bog land near the Prison. — ^They were found, with 

 " others of the same type, together with many chips and shapeless 

 '' fragments scattered widely about, under, in some cases, three feet 

 " of peat, and mostly embedded in gravelly clay, as though they 

 " had been thrown there previously to the growth of the moss of 

 " which the peat bog was formed. Peat had, of course, been cut 

 " from the bog, so that it was formerly much deeper than when 

 *' the process of cultivation was commenced." 



These specimens present /much stronger indications of having 

 been fashioned by the hand of man than any other flakes found in 

 our primitive or transition districts which have come under my 

 notice. They have all a smooth surface on one side, and three 

 or four cleanly cut facettes on the other, with a chisel-shajDed 

 cutting edge. They also sh6w the so called " bulb of percussion " 

 very clearly, and are cj^uite adapted for many uses of savage life. 

 In acknowledging the receipt of a specimen which I sent to Sir 

 John Lubbock, together with some I had picked up at Scilly, 

 he says : — " Many thanks for the Dartmoor flake. It is unmis- 

 " takeably worked, while, as you say, the Scilly ones shew no 

 *' evidence of human interference." 



