231 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



sidered. It was generally admitted that the floods in the main river and 

 its tributaries rose more rapidly than formerly ; there being in some loca- 

 lities an advance of twenty-four in seventy-two hours within the last 

 twenty years. There was a difference of opinion as to the subsidence of 

 the water. As yet, however, it was believed, that land-drainage had pro- 

 duced little apparent practical effect on the volume of the flood, or peren- 

 nial waters of the Upper Thames. 



There was great scope for improvement in the valleys of the Thames 

 and its tributaries, especially the Thame, the Ock, the Cherwell, and the 

 Evenlode. With a view to prevent injury by floods, Mr. Bryan "Wood 

 had successfully carried out several important works, based on a system in 

 which the local drainage was separated from the flood. If, by some such 

 plan, the floods were brought under control, and the water prevented from 

 remaining stagnant on the land, property would be improved, and the 

 sanitary condition of the Valley of the Upper Thames would be greatly 

 benefited. 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



For aminifeka op the Chalk. — At one time I paid considerable atten- 

 tion to the microscopic organisms of the Chalk, and those met with on the 

 bands of flint-nodules, with the hope that I might be able to distinguish the 

 various strata of the Upper Cretaceous deposits by this means. I cannot 

 say the result was as successful as I could have wished. The white and grey 

 chalks seemed characterized by sufficiently marked distinctions, but the 

 main object I had in view was, if possible, to be able to distinguish one 

 stratum of whire chalk from another. Along a wide expanse of cliff, like 

 that of Dover, Brighton, or Eiamborough Head, it is easy enough, or rather 

 it is practicable, to make out each bed definitely ; but in collecting fossils 

 from inland quarries, it is not so easy, and in fact is very often impracti- 

 cable to make out the exact stratum exposed. It occurred to me then 

 that microscopic characters might aid towards a conclusion, if they would 

 not positively decide ; and still entertaining this view, although to a great]}' 

 modified extent, I should be glad to learn the results of any microscopic 

 investigations which any of the numerous readers of this magazine may 

 have made. — Ed. Geol. 



Deptfobd Gravel. — The low-level sewer now in course of construction 

 at Dcptford is excavated between the creek and the main street, in a deep 

 bed of gravel, the spoil of which is now lying in heaps favourable for in- 

 vestigation. No worked Hints have turned up. Fragments of elephant's 

 tooth, and a whole tooth of rhinoceros (?) are the whole of the foreign con- 

 tents, with the exception of some broken pottery of modern origin, and the 

 singular occurrence of a few copper coins lying in apparently undisturbed 

 gravel 35 feet from the surface. The gravel abounds in the usual flint 

 fossils, and some fragments of the lower beds underneath have been ex- 

 tracted, consisting of compact green sandy marl. The highly intelligent 

 manager of the works showed me the small museum of these curiosities in 

 the counting-house of the works. — S. 11. P. 



[Halfpence are by no means reliable evidence ; they are singularly enough found in 

 many singular places. Workmen leaving their jackets whilst at work is a common 

 source of their being lost about. It would be well for our contributor to state whether 

 he saw these halfpence actually embedded, or only heard so; also, what their dates. If 

 they fell out of workmen's clothes, as we presume they must have done, it is not at all 



