POST-TERTIARY PERIOD. 551 



sor, Ct., 48 miles, 71 feet; at Long Meadow and Springfield, Mass., 62 miles, 

 136 feet; at Willimansett, Mass., 68 miles, 194 feet. (Hitchcock.) At Hanover, 

 N.H., the height is about 216J feet. (Hubbard.) Measuring from the lower 

 river-plain in each case, these heights are — at New Haven, 30 feet; Hartford, 30 ; 

 E. Windsor, 50 ; Springfield, 112 ; Willimansett, 170 ; Hanover, 182. 



The sandy terrace between Schenectady and Albany, N.Y., and opposite the 

 latter place on the east side of the Hudson, is 330 to 335 feet above the river. 

 On the Genesee River east of Portage the upper level is 235 feet above the 

 river. 



On the south side of Lake Ontario the " ridge-road" terrace has an elevation 

 of about 160 feet above the lake, or 590 above tide-level. There are similar 

 high terraces on Lake Erie and the other lakes west. On the north shore of 

 Lake Superior the greatest height reported is 330 feet above the lake. 



But (2) where a river becomes much diminished in size towards 

 its source, the height of the upper plain diminishes notwithstanding 

 the increased northing, on the general principle that all small 

 streams have small alluvial formations, whether modern or ancient. 



Relation to the level of the Ocean. — In the position of the upper limit 

 of the river-formations there is no direct relation to the level of the 

 ocean. The beds, although horizontal and undisturbed, occur at 

 all levels, according to the varying heights of the streams or lakes 

 over the land. When the latter are two or three thousand feet 

 above the ocean, the alluvial formation will have the same height, 

 with the addition of some dozens or scores more of feet, as the case 

 may be. 



In the sea-shore formations, however, there is the same increase 

 of height above the ocean's level to the northward as there is in the 

 river-formations above the level of the river's bed. South of New 

 York the height observed is seldom over 10 or 15 feet ; in southern 

 New England, 30 to 35 feet ; on Lake Champlain, 468 feet ; at Mon- 

 treal, 470 feet above Lake St. Peter, or 450 feet above the river St. 

 Lawrence at the place. In the Arctic regions, in Barrow's Straits 

 they have in some places a height of 1000 feet above the sea. 



At Brooklyn, Long Island, sea-shore deposits are 100 feet above the sea; at 

 New Haven, Ct., 35 feet; at New London, Ct., 35 feet; at Sankaty Head on Nan- 

 tucket, 30 feet. In Maine they occur at many places near the coast, as Port- 

 land, Cumberland, Brunswick, Thomaston, Cherryfield, Lubec, Perry, etc., at 

 different elevations, not exceeding 200 feet ; also distant from the coast, at Gar- 

 diner, Hallowell, Lewiston, Skowhegan, Clinton Falls, and Bangor. At Lewis- 

 ton a starfish and various shells were found in a bed 200 feet above the ocean 

 and 100 above the Androscoggin River; at Skowhegan the beds are 150 feet 

 above the ocean, and at Bangor 100 feet. (C. H. Hitchcock.) 



There are shell-beds at several levels and many localities along the St. Law- 

 rence, observed by Logan, and part, as Dawson has shown, are sea-beaches and 

 others off-shore deposits. At Montreal, at a height of 450, 420, 366, 200, 100, 



