Northern News. 



one finds in it teeth of sharks, occasional scales of fishes, tests 

 of Sea Urchins, large oyster-like bivalves, remains of Ammonites, 

 Cuttlefishes, Sponges, and other denizens of the deep. Here, 

 again, as in the case of the coral reef at Scarborough, we can 

 match exactly the modern deposit with an ancient one. Bearing 

 in mind the exceedingly slow rate at which the Globigerina ooze 

 is being formed, estimated by some authorities at one-quarter of 

 an inch in a century ; then, standing upon the beach at Speeton, 

 look up at the cliffs towering above to a height of 440 feet, and 

 think of the probable impression man will have made upon 

 this earth's surface in geological years still to come, and the 

 ' sermons in stones ' thus given will convince any individual, 

 no matter how important he may consider himself, of the really 

 insignificant part he plays in the history of the universe. 



Reverting for the moment to this enormous cretaceous ocean, 

 we find that this area was subjected to another change, and the 

 ocean floor was elevated to a great height above the level of the 

 water. The hundreds of feet of solidified Globigerina ooze were 

 thus raised, and formed an enormous continental plateau. 



In some areas, where elevation had gone on at a more rapid 

 rate than in others, cracks and fissures would be formed, and 

 the gradually rising land at last protruded right through the 

 chalk ; suba;rial denudation eventually caused all traces of the 

 chalk to be entirely swept away, carried by means of rivers to 

 another sea, where the detritus commingled with the newer 

 ocean floor, and again contributed to the building up of still 

 further organisms, which in time formed newer deposits ; and so 

 the cycle runs on, the wearing away of one rock resulting in the 

 formation of another. In this way 



'The earth hath gathered to her breast ag-ain, 

 And yet again, the millions that were born 

 Of her unnumbered, unremembered tribes.' 

 During the period this country was covered by chalk we 

 possibly had the orig"in of some of our present river channels. 

 The geological history of the river systems of this country is 

 one of exceeding interest and value, and in many cases there is 

 evidence that the channels occupied by, at any rate the principal 

 of our rivers, are of great antiquity. 



{To he continued.) 



Dr. R. T. Cassal has secured some specimens of the rare Trichopteron, 

 Limnophilus elegans, in the Isle of Man. This is apparently a new record 

 for the island. 



Mr. W. J. Clarke informs us that the Pacific Eider Duck recorded as 

 shot at Scarborough in ' Knowledge,' and in this magazine for Februar}-, 

 really came from the Orkneys to him, and was not shot on our shores. 



iqo5 April I. 



