Superficial Gravels and Clays. 
316 
[July, 
II. THE SUPERFICIAL GRAVELS AND CLAYS 
AROUND 
FINCHLEY, EALING, AND BRENTFORD. 
By Thomas Belt, F.G.S. 
I. Introduction. 
PURPOSE in the present paper to show the relation 
of the Glacial-beds at Finchley to the implement- 
bearing gravels at Ealing, and the mammaliferous 
gravels and sands at Brentford. 
Possibly the objects I have in view — to demonstrate that 
the formation of the valley-deposits took place in the Glacial 
period, and that palaeolithic man was pre-diluvial — might 
have been more clearly attained by a thorough study of one 
of the more northern valleys ; but I have had much greater 
facilities for making myself acquainted with the district I 
have chosen. It has also this great advantage, that it is 
close to London, so that my descriptions and conclusions 
may be readily checked by an inspection of the numerous 
gravel- and clay-pits from which I have obtained the facts 
described in these pages. 
II. Description of the Deposits. 
1. Finchley and Neighbourhood . — The Glacial beds in the 
neighbourhood of Finchley were described in 1835 by Mr. 
Edward Spencer,* who traced the boulder-clay and under- 
lying gravels from Muswell Hill to Finchley Common. 
Mr. Whitaker has mentioned them in his “ Memoir on the 
Geology of Parts of Middlesex, &c.,”t and Mr. Henry Walker 
has described the beds exposed in the cuttings of the Great 
Northern Railway and the clay-pits in the vicinity.]; 
My own observations date from July, 1875, when I first 
visited the clay-pits near Finchley under the guidance of 
Mr. J. J. B. Ives. Since that time I have negledted no op- 
portunity of examining the numerous seeftions that have 
been exposed in excavations for the foundations of new 
* Proc. Geol. Soc., vol. ii., p. 181. 
f Mem. Geol. Survey, 1864. 
% Proc. Geol. Assoc., vol. ii., p. 289, 1871. 
