276 Maio — Drift Deposits of the JEastern Counties. 



ruiu fossils. The ranges of some species have been shown to be 

 raore extended than was formerly supposed, and for others new 

 localities have been announced. The admirably prepared corals of 

 Mr. James Thomson have further indicated, as was seen this evening, 

 that nature-printing can be applied with success in the representa- 

 tion of fossils, and that the lantern can be used to make clear the 

 minutige of structure. The enumeration of problems in Scottish 

 geology at the opening of the session was a well-timed reminder of 

 what remains yet to be done. It is from no disregard of Mr. Page's 

 advice that none of the difficulties he spoke of have been attacked ; 

 it only shows that there is a very wide field to go over before the 

 materials for the higher generalisations, such as he alluded to, can 

 be amassed. In conclusion, the President expressed his conviction 

 that the labours of members during the summer would render next 

 winter's session at least as fruitful of instruction as that which had 

 now drawn to a close. 



The Society then adjourned till the first Thursday in October. — J. A. 



COI^KrlBSDPOlsriDEIsrCE. 



THE DKIFT DEPOSITS OF THE EASTERN COUNTIES. 

 To the Editor of the Geological Magazine. 



Dear Sie. — The communications from Mr. Hull and Mr. Searles 

 Wood, junr., in the April number of the Magazine, called forth by 

 my remarks on the relative ages of the Boulder-clays of the Eastern 

 Counties, seem to invite a few further observations from me. I wish, 

 in the first place, to state that the object of my paper in the March 

 number of the Magazine was rather to show that an order of sequence 

 of the coast and high-level clays, fitting in with Mr. Dawkins' views 

 of the Thames valley deposits, was as probable as that supported 

 by Mr. Wood, than that the evidence was absolutely conclusive as to 

 the order of succession I suggested. 



The individual members of the Grlacial series contain scarcely any 

 distinctive charactei'S based on organic remains, and the constantly 

 recurring local variations of their mineral character seems to render 

 it almost hopeless to attempt any general classification on mere 

 lithological evidence. This makes me view with less confidence 

 than Mr. Wood the means of identification by which it is attempted 

 to connect, in distant localities, the various subordinate members of 

 the Drift series. With reference to the superposition of the Boulder- 

 clay of High Suffolk on that of the Norfolk coast ; in the absence of 

 an unbroken section, there seems to be scarcely sufficient available 

 proof either that the green clay referred to by Mr. Wood is the 

 equivalent of the Cromer Boulder-clay, or of the red loam south of 

 Norwich ; or, again, that there is an unquestionable identification 

 between this red loam and the red sand which underlies the beds in 

 the lower part of Dunwich cliffs, assumed by Mr. Wood to be the 



