234 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



containing stones, often with their long axes arched, and never 

 sorted by the action of water. It contains also many stones and 

 boulders that could only have been floated to their present situation 

 by ice. It is as remarkable for the contortion of its bedding as the 

 deposits below are for their horizontality. On its uneven summit 

 rests the surface-soil, which is the mere rain-wash of the neighbour- 

 hood. These three deposits indicate three epochs : — first, that of the 

 Brick-earths, in which the water was unencountered by floating ice ; 

 then that of the trail, which is probably a mere ice-wash formed 

 under a glacial climate; and lastly, the rain-wash, formed under 

 temperate conditions. The date of the excavation of the Thames 

 Valley being uncertain, and also the fact of the Boulder-clay sea 

 having extended into it being non-proven, it is possible that the 

 trail, or ice-wash, may be the subaerial equivalent of the Boulder- 

 clay, and that consequently the Brick-earths may be preglacial. The 

 palseontological evidence is also very important in deciding their age. 

 The presence of Elephas priscus and Rhinoceros megarhinus indicates 

 the affinity of this group of deposits to those of Preglacial age on 

 the Norfolk shore, and to the foreign Pliocenes. The tichorhine 

 and leptorhine Rhinoceros, on the other hand, point towards de- 

 posits of clearly defined Postglacial age. The beds under considera- 

 tion are also as remarkable for the absence of some as for the 

 presence of others of the Pleistocene mammals. The preglacial 

 Trogonthere, Rhinoceros etruscus, Elephas meridionalis, Sorex mos- 

 chatus, and Cervus dicranios are absent on the one hand, the entire 

 group of Postglacial Arctic Mammalia on the other — and especially, 

 among these latter, the Reindeer. From these premises it follows 

 that the beds in question, as affording remains in part peculiar to 

 the forest- bed of Norfolk and the Pliocenes of France and Italy, and 

 in part to the postglacial deposits, occupy a middle point in time 

 between the two, being more modern than the former and more 

 ancient than the latter. For these reasons the author suggests the 

 insertion of the group of deposits in the classified list of Pleistocene 

 deposits as follows : — (1) Forest-bed of Norfolk — climate temperate ; 



(2) Lower Brick-earths of the Thames Valley — climate temperate ; 



(3) Glacial deposit — climate severe; Postglacial deposits— climate 

 severe, but gradually becoming temperate. 



XXXII. Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



ON THE SPECTRA OF THE METEORS OF NOVEMBER 13-14, 1866. 

 BY JOHN BROWNING, ESQ. 



npO view the shower I chose the observatory of Mr. H. Barnes, at 

 JL Upper Holloway. The situation was good, the observatory being 

 built on high ground and so placed that the radiant-point rose in the 

 contrary direction to the lights of London. 



I devoted my attention exclusively to attempting to obtain the 

 spectra of as many meteors as possible. 



