Reviews — Elgees Moorlands of N.E. Yorkshire. 125 



including most of the northern species. In discussing this subject he 

 naturally refers to the labours of Mr. Clement Reid. 



In the description of the geological formations, and the record of 

 events which have led to the present physical features, the work 

 of Mr. C. Fox Strangways is fully appreciated. It is pointed out 

 that the wide moors could never have been evolved unless the strata 

 were suitable, but the pure siliceous soils, which are mainly on the 

 Estuarine Series, and to a less extent on the Kellaways and Corallian 

 Beds, proved favourable to the growth of heather. There is a good 

 view of the Cheese Stones at Baysdale, formed of Lower Estuarine 

 Sandstones, which occasionally exhibit "atmospheric pot-holes", 

 cavities that increase from mere depressions to two or three feet in 

 diameter, and sometimes resemble fonts. They are attributed by the 

 author to the action of the atmosphere, and of the wind acting on 

 small fragments of rock. Hollows of this kind in other districts have 

 been termed rock-basins.^ The isolated rock-masses and most of the 

 so-called boulders on the high moors are relics of strata in situ or 

 not far removed ; they have not been distributed by glacial action, 

 but many have channels or grooves due to meteoric abrasion. 



In giving short descriptions of the several formations the author 

 notes the plants of the Oolitic coal-field, in which the moor coal 

 occurs. The subject is illustrated by various views, those of the 

 Kellaways Beds being fine examples. A plate of coloured geological 

 sections indicates the general geological structure, and a very clearly 

 printed geological map shows the distribution of the formations. The 

 Coriibrash, which has but a narrow outcrop, is not separately coloured, 

 but its position is pointed out (p. 192). Here it may be remarked 

 that the geological map, while "based upon the Ordnance Survey 

 Maps ", is the product of the Geological Survey. 



The author describes the main structural features, some due to the 

 elevation and folding at the close of the Jurassic period and prior to 

 the Cretaceous overlap. The covering of Chalk was removed in 

 Eocene and Oligocene times, and it is regarded as probable that the 

 features then produced belonged rather to a plain of marine denudation 

 than to a subaerial peneplain, as the occurrence of scattered pebbles 

 of flint and quartzite appears to indicate a former (possibly marine) 

 Tertiary deposit. Disturbances accompanying uplift in Miocene 

 times accentuated some of the earlier folds, and tilted the strata into 

 their present positions. The author discusses the relation of the 

 synclines and anticlines to the jiresent features, including the formation 

 of outliers and inliers. In describing the origin of the dales he points 

 out that most of them lie outside the limits of giaciation, and are to 

 be attributed to the ordinary action of rain, frost, snow, springs, and 

 rivers, influenced by the dip and lithological characters of the strata. 



The later portions of the volume contain accounts of animal life on 

 the moors, and the author refers the mammalian remains of Kirkdale 

 Cave to pre-Glacial times. This is not in accordance with evidence 

 elsewhere, as in the older Thames Valley drifts, where the fauna is 

 later Pleistocene ; but it may be taken to mean that the remains are 



1 See D. Mackintosh, Geol. Mag., 1867, p. 398. 



