GRAVEL OF DEWLISIL 
207 
of a liuncired feet above tlie brook. From the top of the scarp, 
the surface, instead of continuing to rise at a less angle, falls 
gently and steadily to the eastward, towards an adjoining valley, 
now quite dry. On the west side of the Devil’s Brook this gentle 
inclination seems to be continued upward on the next ridge, 
quite independently of the valley now intervening. The steady 
slope, agreeing with the trend of the Eocene strata, appa¬ 
rently shows that there is a dip-slope to the south-south-east. 
This is an important point, for it at once explains the steep¬ 
ness of the bluff on the east of the Devil’s Brook, compared with 
that on the opposite side. The steep bank, as is' generally the 
case, shows that the strata here dip into the hill; the gentle slope 
shows that they dip towards the stream. 
The excavation made by Mr. Manse!-Pleydell was close to the 
summit of the bluff, the top of the hill being cut into until work 
was stopped at the hedge of an adjoining wheat field. This 
explanation is necessary, for the diagram section in Mr. Fisher’s 
paper shows the mammaliferous gravel apparently clinging to the 
steep slope of the bluft*. Mr. Pope, who superintended the 
excavation, informs me, however, that there was no sign of the 
deposit dying out, for the work ceased with a high vertical face 
of sand and gravel. Work was stopped, not because the bed had 
died out, but so that the hedge and growing wheat should not be 
damaged. Mr. Mansel-Pleydell’s section is; — 
Mould about 3 inches. 
Chalk rubble - - . - - 10 ,, 
Fine impalpable sand and flints, remains of 
elephant ------ 3 feet. 
Sand and ferruginous gravel - - _ p 
Flint material, water-borne - _ - p 
Sand, the lower portion with different-sized flints ? 
Chalk. 
Both Mr. Fisher and Mr. Mansel-Pleydell a>re of opinion that 
the material is water-borne, and is not merely the contents of a 
pot-hole. Many of the flints are worn and polished in an 
unusual way, explained by Mr. Fisher as probably “ due to the 
long-continued percolation of water, carrying fine silt with it.” 
The polishing is so marked that some of these flints have been 
placed in the Museum of Practical Geology, where they will 
be seen to present many points of resemblance to rock-surfaces 
that have been polished by wind driving sand across them. The 
gravel also contains small quartz pebbles, which must have 
travelled from a considerable distance. 
Mr. Fisher considers the gravel at Dewlish to belong to an old 
river terrace, cut when the Devil’s Brook flowed 90 feet higher 
than it does at present. An examination of the surrounding 
country leads me to suspect, however, that the gravel has nothing 
to do with the present minor lines of drainage. The deposit 
caps a ridge lying between two valleys, and if it belongs to any 
existing valley, it seems rather to be to the dry coombe east of 
the Devil’s Brook. The general slope of the Chalk surface trends 
