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ILLUSTRATIONS OF 
in enormous quantities, being dispersed indiscriminate- 
ly without reference to the age or substance of the 
rock which lies beneath them. Mr. Horner noticed 
this gravel to the north of Birmingham, and Dr. 
Buckland has traced it through the vallies of Oxford- 
shire along the course of the Thames into Berkshire. 
It thus appears that the quartz rOck of the Lower 
Lickey, the Wrekin, and Caer Caradoc, formed 
anciently one united mountain mass, which some 
convulsion has reduced to ruins, and broken and 
rolled down their angular fragments to pebbles, 
which were buried in the new red sandstone at the 
period of the deposition of that formation. From 
this lodgement they were again torn up, according to 
Dr. Buckland, by the waters of the last deluge, and 
dispersed by them over the surface of the various 
rocks on which they are now scattered. 
In the vale of Evesham, watered by the Avon, the 
diluvial deposits consist of clay, gravel, and sand, in 
various proportions, and scattered over the country 
with capricious irregularity.^ Where the sand pre- 
dominates, it is often of great service in lightening 
and fertilizing the otherwise clayey soil. The clay is 
in many places dug for brick making, and the gravel 
is a valuable material for the roads. The latter is 
composed of a variety of broken rocks, for the most 
part of older formation than those of this district, but 
chalk flints are not unfrequent, and the Echinocorys 
^ I here gladly make use of the information supplied by Hugh Strickland, Esq. 
of Cracombe House, in a valuable contribution made by that gentleman to our 
Society, on the Geology of the Vale of Evesham. 
