1855.] HULL ON THE COTTESWOLDS. 489 



(Bos primigenius) and a large human lower jaw were found in drift- 

 gravel beneath 12|^ feet of undisturbed drift-clay, — a fact which 

 shows that our Vale has been much changed since man has lived in 

 these parts. The specimens are in good preservation, and are now 

 in the Museum of the Philosophical Institution." 



Were these statements made by a less accurate observer than Dr. 

 Wright, I should be very sceptical concerning their accuracy. From 

 the depth at which the human jaw occurred, we cannot suppose that 

 the individual of whom it formed part was buried by his fellow man ; 

 and its occurrence with the remains of the fossil Ox appears to prove 

 that they were contemporaneous. If this *' undisturbed drift-clay " 

 be of estuarine formation, it would appear that a much larger area of 

 the plain of Gloucester has been submerged since Man has been in- 

 troduced than is at present the case. A subsidence of 80 feet would 

 submerge Gloucester and Tewkesbury, and of 120 feet, a consider- 

 able portion of Cheltenham, with the locality where these remains 

 were found. There appears, therefore, evidence in favour of the 

 supposition that Gloucestershire has been elevated at least 120 feet 

 during the Recent Period. 



3rd. The Marine deposits are of earlier date than the last, and 

 include the clays, sands, and gravels referable to the Glacial Epoch, 

 and commonly designated " Northern Drift." 



This deposit attains a greater development in a northern direction 

 towards Birmingham and Shrewsbury. Associated therewith are 

 boulders of granite and other rocks, which decrease in size and quan- 

 tity towards the south ; thus proving, as has been remarked by Sir 

 R. Murchison, their northerly origin. 



Warp-Brift. — The drift of the Vale of Moreton and the Cottes- 

 wold Hills may be arranged into four divisions, — with the addition 

 of the *' Warp-Drift" to those already enumerated. Its position in 

 the series is between the Fluviatile and the Estuarine formations. 



The Warp-Drift is a deposit of brown sandy loam, very variable in 

 thickness, and seldom or never exceeding 6 or 8 feet. It covers 

 the estuarine or fluvio-marine gravels in the valleys, and rises on the 

 higher grounds to a height of at least 600 feet. Though this loam 

 has generally been considered a drift in the usual sense of the term, 

 I am by no means certain that it may not be a soil derived from the 

 decomposition of the substrata. 



The following section (fig. 9), taken in a quarry near the Cross- 

 hands Inn, east of Adlestrop, represents the Warp-Drift resting on 

 Great Oolite, which is very much disturbed and broken, as is gene- 

 rally the case over the district. I have estimated the position of this 

 quarry to be between 600 and 700 feet above the sea. 



Over the western portion of our district, where the Northern Drift 

 has never been spread, a superficial covering of brown loam, seldom 

 more than one foot in depth, may generally be found, reaching posi- 

 tions of about 1000 feet elevation. Whether this loam, which forms 

 the only soil in such localities, is to be referred to the Warp-Drift, 

 or to the decomposition of the local formations, I am not prepared 



