320 



THE NATURALIST. 



consequence of this direction it lies open to the east winds, which make 

 it very cold during their prevalence, but at the same time the town is 

 to some extent sheltered from northerly ones. Several other valleys 

 intersect the hills on both sides, but only one of them — the Hughendcn — 

 or more properly Hitchendean Valley, is watered by a stream. This 

 however, is very often dry and when runnino- is very small ; it flows 

 into the Wyck, formerly called the Ouse, a tributary of the Thames. 

 Through these valleys go the high roads, winding round the slopes of 

 the hills, along tracts of country most deligLtfol from their tranquil 

 scenery. 



All the hills are composed of chalk, the uppermost of the Secondary 

 Formations, and where sections have been cut, they have laid open to 

 view the TJpjder Chalh, with numerous flints nearly always in regular 

 lines of stratification, and the Chalk marl with scarcely any flints at all. 

 Immediately beneath the Upper Chalk in a few localities, is found the 

 Chalk Rock, which, owing to its greater hardness and durability is some- 

 times used for building purposes. Over the chalk is a thin stratum of 

 soil, often only a few inches in depth, which produces clover and all kinds of 

 cereals under the diligent hand of the husbandman. The only pasture 

 land is to be found down in the valley. Numerous beech woods cover 

 the sides of the hills, and form good hunting grounds both for the ento- 

 mologist and the botanist. 



The highest ground in the neighbourhood is that known as Whit- 

 tington Park near Lane PZnd, about four miles from Wycombe ; it is a 

 large wood consisting mostly of beech trees, the summit being crowned 

 with a cluster of Scotch firs, which stand out in dark contrast to their 

 lighter-hued brethren. It is very damp, in some parts boggy, notwith- 

 standing its elevation ; this is owing to a considerable thickness of clay 

 that here caps the chalk ; many plants mentioned in the list are peculiar 

 to this locality. The village of Lane End stands on the Tertiary formation 

 which has never been properly examined, but which is of the Middle 

 Eocene period, many of the fossils found in it having been identified as 

 belonging to the Bagshot Beds. Various kinds of sand, gravel, and clay 

 are dug up here, and used for industrial purposes. It is evident to the eye 

 of the geologist, as he stands on a summit commanding an extensive view, 

 — on West' Wycombe Hill for instance — that the London Clay, or some 

 Tertiary deposit answering to it in contemporaniety, once covered all these 

 hills, but has been washed off; all the summits appear to lie nearly in the 



