EE VIEWS. 
299 
THE GAULT.* 
M R. PRICE has conferred a boon on the student of Cretaceous geology 
by the publication of his work on the Gault, the result of some years’ 
special study of that formation. It comprises a succinct account of the 
geographical distribution, lithological characters and fossil contents of this, 
the chief argillaceous member of the Cretaceous system ; from which we 
learn that the sea, in which thi3 deposit was formed, must have occupied an 
extensive area in what is now part of south-east England and part of the 
Continent, so that its waters on the west washed the Triassic and Jurassic 
cliffs of the midland counties, and to the east its waves beat against the 
northern sides of the Hercynian mountains. 
Erom the varying mineral character of these old coast lines, the nature of 
the deposit, although mostly argillaceous, must have slightly differed accord- 
ing to locality, as described by the author, while the now imbedded fauna 
would differ somewhat in character according to depth, and hence probably 
the number of zones described by Mr. Price, as well shown in the sections 
at Folkestone and elsewhere. 
Chapters are devoted to the geographical range of the formation, and a 
valuable table of 800 species of fossils arranged under twenty localities, oc- 
cupies about half the work, which also contains a full bibliography and 
comparative tables of strata, so that the entire work forms a useful handbook, 
as intended by the author, of the Gault formation. 
CAMBRIDGESHIRE GEOLOGY, f 
T HE Sedgwick Prize was established for the purpose of rewarding the 
writer of the best essay on some subject of Geology, and is given every 
third year. The competition is, however, restricted to graduates of Cam- 
bridge under certain restrictions. The last essay for 1873 treated of the 
Potton and Wicken phosphatic deposits, and the subject proposed for 1876 
was “The Post-Tertiary Deposits of Cambridgeshire.” The Prize was 
awarded to Mr. Jukes-Browne ; but circumstances prevented the publication 
of his memoir until the autumn of last year, and our notice has been unfor- 
tunately delayed. The various drift and superficial deposits of the county 
have engaged the attention of geological writers since the beginning of this 
century ; but the object of the present essay is to add more facts to the stock 
of information on these points, and to present as complete an account as 
possible of the accumulations met with in the Cambridgeshire district. 
After giving a general account of the literature of the subject, the author 
treats of the physical features of the county, of the glacial deposits, followed 
by a description of the hill gravels, the valley gravels of the early and present 
* “ The Gault : ” being the substance of a Lecture delivered in the Wood- 
wardian Museum, Cambridge, 1878, &c. By F. G. H. Price, F.G.S. 8vo. 
London : Taylor and Francis, 1879. 
t “ The Post-Tertiary Deposits of Cambridgeshire : ” being the Sedgwick 
Prize Essay for 1876. By A. J. Jukes-Browne, B.A., F.G.S. 8vo. Cam- 
bridge : Deighton, Bell & Co. ; London: G. Bell & Sons, 1878. 
