PLEISTOCENE LOAMY DEPOSITS. 143 



CHAPTEE IX. 



LOAMY DEPOSITS OF THE PLEISTOCENE PERIOD. 



Loss of German geologists — Its distribution throughout Europe — Organic remains 

 of the loss — Dr. Nehring on loamy deposits of Thiede and Westeregeln — 

 Mammalian and human remains in loss — Changes in composition of loss — 

 River-gravels and lignite underlying loss — Loss of Northern France — Its 

 relation to Diluvium gris and Diluvium rouge — Terre d briques and Limon 

 grossier — Fossils of French loss — Belgian loss — Its organic remains — M. 

 Dupont on Belgian loss and associated deposits — T chernozem, or black-earth 

 of Russia — Theories of the origin of loss — Views of Bennigsen-Fbrder, Hib- 

 bert, Gumbel, Lyell, Prestwich, Tylor, A. Geikie, Belt — Murchison on origin 

 of black-earth — De Mercey on origin of French limon — D'Acy's views on 

 same — Baron Richthofen's loss-theory — Mr. Pumpelly's views. 



Although Professor Prestwich's observations are restricted to 

 the old river-drifts of the south of England and the north of 

 France, they nevertheless hold true, to a large extent, as I 

 believe, for many similar accumulations in other countries. All 

 the great rivers of Europe flow through valleys which are clothed 

 more or less continuously with sheets of gravel, sand, and loam 

 that rise to heights far beyond the reach of the heaviest floods of 

 modern times. And the same is the case with very many of the 

 tributaries of these rivers. Indeed, there is perhaps no considerable 

 river- valley that does not bear evidence of having been subjected 

 at some geologically recent period to inundations of much greater 

 magnitude than are ever experienced now. The more widely- 

 spread deposits, which are supposed to bear witness to these 

 floods, are known under various names, such as ancient alluvium, 

 loam, "brick-earth, etc., in this country, loss, lehm, etc., in Germany, 

 limon, terre a briques, etc., in Prance and Belgium. Mr. Prest- 



