193 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



GEOLOGICAL PEEPS. 

 In a paper contributed to the ' Annual Report of the York- 

 shire Philosophical Society,' noticed elsewhere (p. 190), the 

 Rev. W. C. Hey gives the following- ' Pictures ' : — A Picture 

 OF THE Oolitic Age. — Coral reefs are forming- in a warm sea. 

 Huge Phasianellai and elegant Delphinulae crawl upon the 

 rocks ; Oysters and Pectens and Limas form beds ; now and 

 again a big Ammonite drifts by. Exquisitely beautiful Sea- 

 urchins abound, and the pools are enlivened by fishes and 

 crustaceans. A Picture of the Great Ice Age. — Millions of 

 years have gone by. The chalk has been formed at the bottom 

 of the sea and raised into the Wolds. The Tertiary period has 

 come and gone and left no trace. Then the temperature lowers 

 and eventually a huge glacier towering to the height of 400 feet 

 pushes in between the chalk wolds and the oolitic hills, driving 

 back the drainage of the district, and compelling it to force 

 itself away into the Vale of York. This glacier advances as 

 far as Wykeham. The hill which forms the park of Wykeham 

 Abbey is its terminal moraine. The drainage from the north 

 comes through Forge Valley and is deflected by the glacier 

 sharply to the west, and deposits on the hill sides the gravels 

 which the trench cuts as it rises up the slope by the Infant 

 School at West Ayton. 



A YORKSHIRE LIBRARY. 

 The citizens of Hull are to be congratulated on their acquisi- 

 tion, by purchase, of the library of the Yorkshire Naturalists' 

 Union. Ever since the formation of the Union, books, periodicals, 

 and pamphlets relating to the natural history and geology of the 

 county have been placed in its library. In addition, most of the 

 important scientific magazines and transactions of various learned 

 societies have been purchased or received in exchange for the 

 Union's publications. For some years the library has been 

 housed in the Leeds Institute, but recently has grown beyond 

 the control of an honorary librarian. In order that its useful- 

 ness might not be impaired, however, the Union decided to 

 offer it to some permanent institution within the county. This 

 was accepted by the Public Libraries Committee of the Hull 

 Corporation. The books are now in Hull, and will shortly be 

 available in the Central Reference Library to any who may wish 

 to consult them. 



1904 July I. N 



