23i 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
sidcred. It was generally admitted that the floods in the main river and 
its tributaries rose more rapidlj^than formerly ; tliere being in some loca- 
lities an advance of twenty-four in seventy-two hours within the last 
twenty years. There was a difference of opinion as to the subsidence of 
the water. As yet, however, it was believed, that land-drainage had pro- 
duced little apparent practical effect on the volume of the flood, or peren- 
nial waters of the Upper Thames. 
There was great scope for improvement in the valleys of the Thames 
and its tributaries, especially the Thame, the Ock, the Cherwell, and the 
Evenlode. ATith a view to prevent injury by floods, Mr. Bryan Wood 
had successfully carried out several important works, based on a system in 
which the local drainage was separated from the flood. If, by some such 
plan, the floods were brought under control, and the water prevented from 
remaining stagnant on the land, property would be improved, and the 
sanitary condition of the Valley of the Upper Thames would be greatly 
benefited. 
XOTES AND QUEEIES. 
FoRAMiNiFEEA OF THE CiTALK. — At ouc time I paid Considerable atten- 
tion to the microscopic organisms of the Chalk, and those met with on the 
bands of flint-nodules, with the hope that I might be able to distinguish the 
various strata of the Upper Cretaceous deposits by this means. I cannot 
say the result was as successful as I could have wished. The white and grey 
chalks seemed characterized by sufficiently marked distinctions, but the 
main object I had in view was, if possible, to be able to distinguish one 
stratum of white chalk from another. Along a wide expanse of cliff, like 
that of Dover, Brighton, or Flaraborough Head, it is easy enough, or rather 
it is practicable, to make out each bed definitely ; but in collecting fossils 
from inland qtiarries, it is not so easy, and in fact, is very often imiDracti- 
cable to make out the exact stratum exposed. It occurred to me then 
that microscopic characters might aid towards a conclusion, if the}' would 
not positively decide ; and still entertaining this view, although to a greatly 
modified extent, I should be glad to learn the results of any microscopic 
investigations which any of the numerous readers of this magazine may 
have made. — Ed. Geol. 
DeptfopvD Geavel. — The low-level sewer now in course of construction 
at Deptford is excavated between the creek and the main street, m a deep 
bed of gravel, the spoil of which is now lying in heaps favourable for in- 
vestigation. No worked flints have turned up. Fragments of elephant's 
tooth, and a whole tooth of rhinoceros (?) are the whole of the foreign con- 
tents, with the exception of some broken pottery of modern origin, and the 
singular occurrence of a few copper coins lying in apparently undisturbed 
gravel 35 feet from the surface. The gravel abounds in the usual flint 
fossils, and some fragments of the lower beds underneath have been ex- 
tracted, consisting of compact green sandy marl. The highly intelligent 
manager of the works showed me the small museum of these curiosities in 
the counting-house of the works. — S. R. P. 
[Halfpence are by no means reliable evidence ; they are singularly enough found in 
many singular places. "Workmen leaving their jackets whilst at work is a common 
source of their being lost about. Pt would be well for our contributor to state whether 
he saw these halfpence actually embedded, or only heard so ; also, what their dates. If 
they fell out of workmen's clothes, as we presume they must have done, it is not at all 
