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remarkable straightness seems to distinguish it from any mere river 

 formation. But it is probable this is only a feature induced upon the 

 lower Test by geological causes. At this point the strata are rising 

 towards the north-east as they approach that boundary of the 

 Hampshire basin, and their " strike " runs in quite remarkable 

 parallelism with the line of Southampton water. 



It seems as though the lower Test had taken advantage of the 

 outcrop of some specially yielding bed of the Barton series, which 

 resulted in its following the line of that outcrop or strike, without 

 deviation. The Lymington and Beaulieu rivers are also " strike 

 streams." These two have both some noticeable features. The 

 Lymington occupies the line of a subsidiary anticline within the 

 main Hampshire syncline, and thus reproduces a well known 

 geological phenomenon, namely that what the forces of elevation 

 would make a hill actually appears as a valley, owing no doubt to 

 the line of weakness and possibly fracture caused by the up-bending 

 of the strata being taken advantage of by the first stream there 

 forming. The Beaulieu river is remarkable for its stout defence of 

 its small rectangular territory bounded by the Southampton water 

 on the east and the Bartley water on the north. The Bartley almost 

 receives no contribution at all on its southern side, the Beaulieu 

 feeders advancing close to its main channel. This contest, which 

 all lies near the road between Lyndhurst and Totton, deserves very 

 close attention. 



This Bartley water is the last western affluent of the Test, which, 

 however, still has to receive on its eastern side the three strong 

 additions of the Itchen, the Hamble, and the Meon (the Titchfield 

 river). These are all dip streams {consequent 's). But passing south- 

 westward to the promontory, barely four miles wide, between the 

 Beaulieu and the Southampton water, we find in this narrow strip 

 two more " strike streams " which flow to the Solent and keep in 

 independence of both their greater neighbours to east and west. 



The whole area is very remarkable in its drainage, and must 

 be studied carefully with the lines of dip and outcrop. It certainly 

 seems at all events as though the Bartley water, which flows as an 

 obsequent, up the dip, had been in part at least captured from the 

 Beaulieu by the Test. But which way is the struggle now tending ? 

 Is not the Beaulieu recovering her own ? 



The endeavour has now been made to indicate some of the lines 

 on which river investigation may be carried out, and examples, 

 largely local, have been called in evidence. Though perhaps not 

 strictly a geological enquiry, yet it must never be forgotten that 

 physical geology forms its basis. Especially the careful examination 

 of gravel deposits with a view to the sources of their constituents 

 and their mode of deposition forms an essential part of the complete 

 study. But in the first place general ideas can be foreshadowed and 

 perhaps a working hypothesis formulated (however liable to be later 

 discarded) by an examination of a good map giving the larger con- 

 tours, such as Bartholomew's half-inch, in conjunction with the one- 

 inch geological survey sheet. The one will be found to be the 



