PHYSICAL CONDITIONS— PLEISTOCENE. 



34i 



river-deposits of Palaeolithic times proves, in the most impressive 

 manner, that at the date of their formation the shores of England 

 extended considerably farther out to sea than they now do. 

 Let us take an example. From the observations of the Bev. W. 

 Fox, Mr. T. Codrington, and Dr. Evans, it has been ascertained 

 that during the occupation of Southern England by Palaeolithic 

 man the Isle of Wight formed part of the mainland — connected 

 to it by a range of chalk -heights extending west from the 

 Needles to what is now the coast of Dorsetshire. At that period 

 the hollows presently occupied by the sea, and called the Solent 

 and Southampton Water, were valleys which collected the tribute 

 of many streams that now find their way directly to the sea. 

 England was then, in all probability, joined to the Continent, 

 and the ancient river of the Solent may have merged its waters 

 with those of the Seine upon what is now the bed of the English 

 Channel. I do not mean to say that the direct evidence furnished 

 by the gravels of Hampshire and the neighbouring districts 

 actually proves that such was the case. All that we are entitled 

 to infer from that evidence is simply this, that the Solent is an 

 old land-valley. At what particular point the ancient river 

 discharged into the sea, or whether or not it really joined the 

 Seine, can only be conjectured. We must remember, however, 

 that the Hampshire gravels are but a small portion of the 

 evidence, to which we have to add that of the fauna and flora, 

 enough of itself, as we have found, to prove that England, during 

 some stages at least of the Pleistocene Period, formed part and 

 parcel of the Continent. To restore such a connection only a 

 small amount of elevation would be necessary, for the Straits of 

 Dover are not deeper than 30 fathoms or thereabout, while the 

 depth between the Isle of Wight and the opposite coast of France 

 hardly exceeds 40 fathoms. Direct evidence, then, in favour of 

 the ancient Solent river having been an affluent of the Seine 

 must, in the nature of the case, be wanting. We know, however, 

 that the bottoms of certain old valleys in Scotland, which are 

 quite choked up with accumulations of Pleistocene age, are as 

 much as 200 or even 260 feet below the sea-level, and this, of 



