480 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



dence seems to have caused an eruption of the sea over the low-lying land, 

 which then silted up the hollow ; and a new forest, of more noble growth 

 than the former one succeeded. This forest was afterwards destroyed, 

 though hundreds of the roots and small portions of the trunks of trees still 

 remain exposed on the shore. On the old land-surface, but not below it, 

 have been found implements, ornaments, and coins of Roman, Saxon, and 

 early English manufacture. Another bed of silt — a bluish mud — next 

 occurs ; then a bed of peat which, though it may be co-ordinated with the 

 present surface, where not covered by drift sand, shows clear evidence of 

 having been subject to inundations, for there is a bed of black sandy earth 

 above it, containing, in addition to the common shells of the district, teeth 

 of the ox, and the leaves and twigs of trees, being a comparatively recent 

 deposit." The reason why Mr. Morton infers a subsidence of the whole 

 area to the extent of nearly fifty feet, is that when the old land-surface 

 beneath the Custom House, now above forty feet below high- water mark, 

 was covered with vegetation, it must have been sufficiently above the 

 sea-level to have afforded the necessary drainage for the growth of 

 trees. " The most important of these changes, — the origin of the river 

 Mersey by the irruption of the sea, in consequence of the subsidence of 

 the land, — was probably before the occupation of Britain by the Ro- 

 mans ; the subsidence of the old forest-beds of Leasowe, Dove Point, and 

 Formby, was no doubt of much more recent date, certainly within the 

 historical period." 



Catalogue of Geological Collections, etc. By J. B. Gregory. 1863. 



We have received one of Mr. Gregory's Catalogues of Collections of 

 Geology and Mineralogy, Specimens, etc., on sale at his establishment in 

 Golden Square. It contains, among other items, a long list of casts of rare 

 and unique fossils from various museums and other collections, as also a 

 useful list of geological books, periodicals, maps, and diagrams, models of 

 crystals, and other objects. This Catalogue has, moreover, the advantage 

 of being illustrated with eight tolerably good photographs of specimens, 

 cabinets, and other desiderata, which will be found very useful by those 

 who are about to commence the studies of geology and mineralogy, as well 

 as to those who wish to add to their collections. Mr. Gregory's collections 

 can with confidence be recommended, especially his elementary and edu- 

 cational series, for which he obtained a prize medal at last year's Inter- 

 national Exhibition. 



