Yol.  49. J  AXXIVERSARY  ADDRESS  OF  THE  PRESIDENT.  7  I 
Coming  nearer  home,  there  are  two  papers  relating  to  Glacial 
deposits  in  the  Thames  basin,  which  raise  questions  of  considerable 
interest.  That  by  Dr.  Hicks  on  some  recently-exposed  sections  in 
the  Glacial  deposits  at  Hendon  relates  mainly  to  beds  below  the 
Chalky  Boulder-clay.  But  he  observes  that  recently,  on  the  Finchley 
and  Hendon  side  of  the  Brent  Yalley,  there  is  good  evidence  that 
Boulder-clay  extends  considerably  below  the  200-feet  contour-line, 
and  it  sometimes  reaches  downwards  through  the  underlying  Drifts 
until  it  has  completely  penetrated  them  and  touched  the  London 
Clay  floor.  It  is  these  underhung  Drifts  which  are  of  such  extreme 
interest  in  that  district.  The  view  originally  expressed  by  Dr. 
Hicks  that  the  sands  and  gravels  at  and  near  Hendon  should  be 
classed  with  the  so-called  Huddle  Sands  and  Gravels  of  the  Eastern 
Counties  is  now,  the  Author  says,  generally  adopted.  It  is  well 
within  the  recollection  of  many  of  the  Fellows  that  our  Secretary 
successfully  conducted  a  large  party  of  geologists  over  these  sections 
in  April  last.  The  singular  appearance  of  a  mass,  consisting  mainly 
of  reconstructed  London  Clay,  sandwiched,  as  it  were,  between  an 
upper  and  a  lower  gravelly  series,  will  not  be  readily  forgotten  by 
those  who  were  able  to  verify  the  sequence.  These  deposits  reach 
downwards  on  the  slopes  below  the  200-feet  contour,  and  it  is  thought 
that  they  may  be  traced  on  other  heights  in  HAY.  Middlesex.  The 
Author  also  considers  that  the  implement-bearing  deposits  on  the 
higher  horizons  in  the  Thames  Yalley  should  be  classed  as  of  con¬ 
temporaneous  age  with  these  'undoubted  Glacial  deposits  at  Hendon 
and  Finchley,  which  they  so  closely  resemble.  It  would  be  more  to 
the  point,  however,  to  find  palaeolithic  implements  in  these  latter. 
Still  more  conclusive  evidence  as  to  the  existence  of  low  ground 
in  what  is  now  the  basin  of  the  Thames  was  adduced  by  Mr.  Holmes 
in  his  paper  on  the  new  railway  from  Grays  Thurrock  to  Bomford. 
In  the  Hornchurch  cutting  15  feet  of  Boulder-clay  was  seen  to  rest 
directly  upon  the  London  Clay  near  the  100-feet  contour-line.  This 
Boulder-clay  is  overlain  by  about  12  feet  of  sands  and  gravels,  which, 
if  we  take  the  Boulder-clay  as  the  time  test,  are  locally  post-glacial. 
It  is  in  all  respects  a  typical  deposit,  such  as  commonly  occurs  in 
Essex.  Except  in  this  cutting,  we  are  told,  Boulder-clay  has  never 
been  seen  in  conjunction  with  the  overlying  deposits  of  the  Thames 
Yalley,  either  north  of  Bomford  or  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Finchley 
and  Hendon,  the  most  southerly  spots  where  it  has  hitherto  been 
known  to  occur. 
The  great  series  of  papers  by  Prof.  Prestwich  on  the  WestLeton 
