AND RECENT GRAVELS NEAR MANCHESTER. 451 



of its existence, and mentions it as occurring in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Cheetham*. 



Another modification which we found it necessary to 

 make, had reference to the lower sand (No. 4) underlying 

 the Till in Mr. Binney^s classification. We have nowhere 

 been able to discover such a bed in situ during our exami- 

 nation ; and it is remarkable that in the section of the 

 Drift which was furnished to Mr. Binney as having been 

 proved at St. George^s Colliery, Manchester, and where it 

 is stated that this sand and gravel (No. 4) is 10 feet 6 

 inches in thickness, there is no appearance whatever of it 

 in the neighbouring quarries of Collyhurst, where the Till 

 may be seen reposing directly on the Permian sandstone. 

 I do not, however, wish to deny that there are occasional 

 patches of sand or gravel underlying the Lower Till, be- 

 cause such bands occur in the Till itself. My only object 

 is to remove this member from the dignity of a distinct 

 subdivision of the Drift-series, at least until there is some 

 better evidence of its existence than the reports of well- 

 sinkers, the elasticity of whose system of nomenclature is, 

 unhappily, proverbial. I therefore beg to submit the fol- 

 lowing classification, which, except in the above-named 

 points, does not dificr from that laid down by Mr. 

 Binney : — 



Drift and Recent Deposit of the Basin of the Mersey and 



its Tributaries. 



Kecent. i. Valley-grravel and River-terraces. 



z. Upper Boulder-clay, or Till. Bolton Moor, Halshaw Moor, 



Clifton Moss, Moston, Oldham, Newton Heath, Denton, 



Cheadle, Hulme, &c. 



3. Middle Sand and Gravel. Bolton, Pendlebury, Prestwich, 



Kersal Moor, Heywood, Middleton, Blackley, Grorton, 



* I think the explanation of a section given by Mr. Binney, of the sand 

 wedging apparently into the Till, will be found in supposing the Upper and 

 Lower Till to meet each other, owing to the thinning away of the sand near 

 the margin. 



