Reports & Proceedings — British Association. 559 



Drift, of Red Crag of about Newbournian date of a type unknown 

 elsewhere. 



In Holderness the Drift has yielded remanie fish remains, evidently 

 derived fiom the Red Crag, and in Aberdeenshire in the Slains 

 gravels Jamieson found a large suite of rather fragmentary shells 

 of mainly early Red Crag facies, mingled with some undoubted 

 Pleistocene forms. 



The Cromer Forest Bed stage is the latest pre-Glacial stage 

 recognized in East Anglia, but in Yorkshire a well-defined cliff-line 

 bounding a broad plain of marine erosion is traceable, which appears 

 to be, in part at least, of later date. 



The cliff begins at Sewerby between Bridlington and Flamboro 

 Head, and has been traced by Mr. Crofts and myself round to Hessle, 

 near Hull. The corresponding beach has been seen at each end. 

 Borings have enabled the old sea-floor in front to be charted and 

 contoured . 



The next phase was a retreat of the sea and formation of sand 

 dunes along the foot of the cliffs. The geological date is indicated 

 by the occurrence of Elephas antiquus, Rhinoceras lej)tor}iinus, and 

 Hippopotamus in the deposits. 



This fauna accompanies implements of Chellean type in the South 

 of England. 



The next episode was the arrival of a great ice-sheet having its 

 radiant point in the neighbourhood of the Gulf of Bothnia. This 

 appears to have displaced the water from the whole of the North 

 Sea as far south as the coast of Essex, if no further. 



Several retreats and readvances took place, and the final retreat 

 can be traced with great detail and precision by the drainage 

 phenomena developed along the margin of the ice up to its last 

 contact with the British shores on the Ord of Caithness. Oscillations 

 of level accompanied the retreat and raised beaches were left, 

 especially north of the Tweed, but on the completion of the with- 

 drawal the land stood about 80 feet higher relatively to the sea than 

 at present. The southern portion of the North Sea became a marshy 

 plain, over which great rivers such as the Rhine, Thames, and Weser 

 took a meandering course. Peat bogs occupied much of the area, 

 and forests clothed the margins. 



A depression to the present level then ensued, and the great shallow 

 bay of the North Sea south of the Dogger Bank was formed. Only 

 in a few places does its depth exceed 25 fathoms. The sea ran up 

 the estuaries, and thus the Humber itself and its branch the Hull 

 came into being. 



A true scale of the breadth and depth of the North Sea in this 

 latitude can be obtained by taking a piece of No. 40 sewing cotton 

 13 ft. 8 in. in length. Knots tied in the cotton would represent 

 Heligoland and any of the " pits ". 



Dr. Herbert L. Hawkins. — The Relation of the River Thames 

 to the London Basin. 



