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THE GEOLOGIST. 



westward of the ISTeedles, will not doubt but tliat tlie two promontories 

 were once united, forming a rocky neck of land from- Dorset to the 

 IS'eedles. This chain of chalk might, or might not, be so cleft in twain as 

 to allow the rivers of Dorset and Wilts, to find a passage through them to 

 the main ocean. My opinion, however, is that they had no such outlet, 

 but that, at that far distant period, the entire drainage of more than two 

 counties, embracing the rivers that join the sea at Poole and Christchurch, 

 flowed through what is now called Christchurch Bay, down the Solent, ancl 

 joined the sea at Spithead. 



According to this theory, the Solent was at that time an estuary some- 

 what like the Southampton Water, having but one opening to the British 

 Channel ; but of so much more importance than the latter as it was fed by 

 a vastly greater flow of fresh water ; and it further supposes that* the 

 bed of the Solent was scooped out originally by a river, which from tlie 

 extent of its drainage one may guess to have been little inferior to the 

 Thames or the Humber. And this opinion acquires countenance from the 

 circumstance that it accounts, in a most satisfactory way, for the equality 

 of depth and breadth in the Solent Sea. Of course, according to this view, 

 this sea would lose its original condition as an estuary at the time when 

 the British Channel had so far made a breach through the chain of rocks 

 connecting the Isle of Wight with Dorsetshire as to give an opening into 

 itself for the Dorsetshire rivers, somewhere opposite to the town of Christ- 

 church. From that time forth the Solent \^'ould become what it is at pre- 

 sent, losing its character as an estuary, and assuming that of a long narrow 

 sea. And at the same period, of course, the Isle of Wight would part with 

 its peninsular character, and be severed from the mainland, but at a point 

 far apart from that at which the severance is usually supposed to have 

 taken place. The distant period at which such changes took place it would 

 be hopeless to guess at, amid the dimness of the data on which calculations 

 could be founded. It could not be less, however, than many thousands of 

 years, seeing that since that time, the British Channel has not only made 

 a broad breach of twenty miles through a chain of slowly yielding rocks, 

 but has also pushed its way gradually across the broad, extent of the Poole 

 and Christchurch Bays. 



In conclusion, I would observe, that if your correspondent at Lyming- 

 ton simply put his question about the separation of the Isle of Wight as 

 an archaeological inquiry, I fear he will consider my answer to it as some- 

 what dreamy. But I am confident, if he and others who may honour me 

 with a careful perusal of my observations, are tolerably acquainted with 

 the geology of the neighbourhood, and have had their minds disciplined 

 for realizing the operations of nature on a large scale and through length- 

 ened periods of time, they will perceive in this paper opinions indicative of 

 more than novelty, having, as I believe, very important geological facts 

 to uphold them. Yours, etc., 



W. Fox. 



Brixton, Isle of WigM, Nov. 8. 



Trades, Trails, and Imprints. 



Deae Sir,— At nearly the same time, probably, when t was pointing out 

 the desirability of careful drawings and casts being made of the tracks 

 and trails of living annelids, mollusks, insects, etc. ('Geologist,' No. 52, 

 p. 138, April, 18G2), for the guidance of the palaeontologist in decipher- 



