212 WV. S. Shaler—Fluviatile Swamps of New England. 
New England rivers. So far I have been able to examine 
the valleys of but few of this group, viz: The Nashua, the Con- 
cord, the Charles, and the Neponset, all situated in eastern 
Massachusetts. Although these streams are not large they all 
carry, in times of flood, large bodies of water. 
The general conditions of their drainage basins, as far as can 
be shown by a cross section, are exhibited in diagram No. 2. 
It will be seen from a comparison of this with the preceding 
diagram (figure 1) that the most important difference in the 
cross section is as follows, viz: Along the streams which flow 
from south to north there are no river terraces except those 
which are covered by the ordinary floods and are at times 
swampy; while in the rivers which flow in the opposite direc- 
tion there are normally several of these elevated fluviatile 
benches and even the lowest of them is well drained in the dry 
season. ‘T'he only benches are of the kame terrace character 
before adverted to and these are very conspicuous features 
in some of these valleys; in that of the Concord River they 
are particularly extensive and characteristic. At first sight 
these kame plains are likely to deceive the unwary ob- 
server into the belief that he has ordinary fluviatile terraces 
before him. Hven when he hasa considerable acquaintance with 
such terraces as abound in the region south of the glaciated area 
of this continent he may fall into this error. Seen from the 
level of the streams the faces of the kame terraces where they 
have been scarfed away by the stream are almost exactly like 
those of ordinary fluviatile benches. Observing them closely 
their escarpments are seen to be slightly more irregular than on 
the terraces formed by a stream in its down cutting, but occur- 
ring, as they do, in a somewhat fragmentary way, these pecul- 
larities are readily overlooked. 
2. 
Swamps. 
Channel. 
——y 
Yi 
Type of river valleys in New England when the streams flow from south. to 
north. 
When, however, the student ascends upon the surface of 
these plains, he at once remarks that they are essentially unlike 
the true fluviatile terraces as we may call those benches which 
have in earlier times been overflowed by the stream. In place 
of the level or slightly rolling surface characteristic of these old 
flood plains we find these kame terraces, though generally 
nearly level, to be here and there deeply indented by the 
peculiar pits termed ‘kettles’ so characteristic of the kame 
