EST THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF NEWTOX ABBOT. 235 



sidered that it was formed of bog-oak, and was probably shaped from 

 a piece of fossil and not recent wood*. 



I mention these facts as affording interesting evidence of the 

 accumulation of alluvial deposits, and as furnishing one indication 

 out of many that might be given that our modern river-gravels are 

 to a great extent made up of older gravels . 



The deposits now being formed in the bed and along the margin 

 of the estuary of the Teign between Newton Abbot and Teignmouth 

 are many of them identical in character with the Triassic breccia, 

 low cliffs of Devonian slate, with here and there igneous rocks, 

 border the water in places. These slaty rocks by constant satura- 

 tion become soft, and break up into small angular fragments, form- 

 ing a beach, which sometimes lies at an angle of 8° or 9°. This beach 

 contains a few pebbles of quartz, grit, &c, which are derived from 

 bordering patches of gravel. The slates break up along lines of 

 joinfagc and cleavage : and large masses frequently slip into the 

 water and gradually fall to pieces. Large blocks of hard rock fall 

 by atmospheric wear and tear, and become imbedded in time amidst 

 the slaty fragments without being worn or rolled about, a fact 

 which might account for some, at least, of the large blocks of igneous 

 rock met with in the Triassic breccia. 



[For the Discussiox on this paper see p. 238.] 



* The wooden image has been figured by Mr. Pengelly in the Trans. Devon 

 Assoc, for 1875, vol. vii. p. 200. See also Trans. Anthropol. Tnst. vol. v. p. 2£K*. 



Q. J. G. S. No. 127. 



