Maio — Drift Deposits of the Eastern Counties. 281 



The general absence of drift at a liigh level on the coast — as, for 

 example, on the top of high coast cliffs — can only be accounted for 

 by its having been denuded previously to the deposition of the 

 fringing terrace of low level clay and drift, and of this there seems 

 good e^adence, as the contour of much of the higher drift partakes 

 of the general denudation contour of the older rocks, implying a de- 

 position previous to the excavation of some important river- valleys, 

 and to the existence of the present surface contour. 



GrEOKGE MaW. 

 Benthall Hall, Broseley, 

 April V2th, 1867. 



Note. — Since the above was written Mr. Fisher's article " on the 

 Ages of the Trail and Warp " has appeared in the Magazine. As I 

 have had but little opportunity of examining the deposit designated 

 by Mr. Fisher as " Trail," I must defer to his opinion that it is 

 identical with what Mr. Dawkins considered to be a Glacial deposit 

 overlying the Brick-earths of the Thames valley ; at the same time 

 if it is a subaerial deposit, arranged by the action of land-ice, it does 

 not seem improbable that it may be the equivalent in time of the 

 coast Boulder- clay. 



If I rightly understood Mr. Dawkins' observations in the discussion 

 on his paper, he seemed rather to consider the supposed Glacial 

 deposits of the Thames valley as a submarine than a subaerial 

 formation. Under any view, the facts brought forward by Mr. Fisher 

 seem consistent with a long interv^al between the deposition of the 

 Boulder-clay on the higher ground of the east of England, and that 

 of the supposed Glacial beds of the Thames valley. As the high- 

 level Boulder-clay is intersected by the present valley system, whilst 

 Mr. Fisher's " Trail " follows its denudation contour, I believe 

 there is evidence that the Till of the Norfolk coast was also deposited 

 after the Boulder-clay of the high ground had been considerably 

 denuded. 



The deposit in the valley of the Yare, described as "a Third 

 Boulder-clay,'' in Mr. Harmer's paper, just published in No. 90 of 

 the Qiiarterly Journal, appears to occupy a similar position to that 

 which I believe the coast clay of Cromer, Mundsley, etc., bears in 

 relation to the Chalk, Crag, and High-level Boulder-clay, and may 

 merely be an inland extension of the beds on the coast, deposited 

 after the land surface received its present denudation contour. 



Similar beds of Brick-earth to that numbered 5 in Mr. Harmer's 

 section, occur interstratified with the bed of gravel (Mr. Wood's 

 Middle Drift), underlying the Boulder-clay of High Suffolk, and its 

 identification with the coast clay seems to me scarcely supported by 

 sufficient proof — G.M. 



ON THE PAEALLELISM OF THE DRIFT DEPOSITS IN LANCA- 

 SHIRE AND NORFOLK. 



To the Editor of the Geological Magazine. 

 Sir, — Mr. Hull has very faithfidly drawn, although in somewhat 

 rough outlines, a parallel between the Drift deposits in Lancashire 



