small sizes, through a gradation, to that of large angular blocks. The far-carried detritus comprises green slates, porphyry, and basalt, which occur in the form of pebbles, boulders, and some large blocks. The fragments of granite are only small and often angular. Among these various stones may be found the representatives of most of the rocks of the Lake-district.

South of Horseleyhope Mill and Cold Rowley, the Drift occupies the flank and summit of the hill, and from the latter place it spreads down to the Derwent. On this declivity it is of a sandy character. From Consett eastward it prevails rather partially on the higher grounds until we come to Whickham, where it would seem to be more regular. Boulders of Shap Fell granite lie on the bank below Whickham. Carrock Fell granite also occurs in the valley of the Derwent, with others which are evidently from Scottish localities. From the third point down the hill-side to Witton-le-Wear, there is apparently an absence of Drift. This may probably be the case on the slope to the Wear eastward. On the north side of the hill, from its summit to Dean House, it occurs in not a very marked character. Such it may likely continue to be on the declivity towards the river Browney. It is slightly traceable from the ridge south of Consett to near Lanchester. Thence to Durham it is apparently not traceable. At this place much sand occurs. Among this there seems to be no granite or other stones to mark it as the true drift. These sandy accumulations at Durham, and those previously noticed, have evidently resulted from the denudation of the Millstone-grit.

From Witton-le-Wear bridge, following the road by West Auckland to near Staindrop, no indications of the Drift are met with. At and near this place a few stray boulders of Shap Fell granite occur. There are others in the neighbourhood of Barnard Castle. Thus from a little north of Staindrop to Barnard Castle may probably be near the range of the Drift-elevation on the north side of the Tees. But on the south side of the river, Shap Fell granite occurs at Lartington, and is likely to be found strewn down from here to Barnard Castle. Thence down the north side of the river to Darlington the miscellaneous character of the Drift prevails. Boulders of Shap Fell granite are observable near Winston. In the North Street at Darlington lies the well-known granite Shap Fell boulder. Others of the same kind occur at Cockerton. On the road between Cockerton and West Auckland there seems to be an absence of the true Drift. Granite from Shap Fell and green slate and porphyry from the Lake-district make up a part of the drift-materials on the Tees. From what has been previously stated respecting the Drift on the Stainmore ridge and on the eastern slope to Lartington, it will now appear obvious that it has been carried over the ridge and down to the mouth of the Tees. At one time it may have lain on the Stainmore ridge in considerable quantity. From the Tees the erratic blocks of Shap Fell granite have found their way along the eastern declivity of the Pennine chain as far as the mouth of the Humber.

PROCEEDINGS

OF

THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

POSTPONED PAPERS.

On some FLINT IMPLEMENTS lately found in the VALLEY of the LITTLE OUSE RIVER, at THETFORD, NORFOLK. By JOHN WICK – HAM FLOWER, Esq., F.G.S.

In consequence of the recent discoveries of flint implements of the St. Acheul type at Hoxne on the river Waveney, and at Icklingham on the Larke, it seemed to me probable that they would also be found in the valley of the neighbouring river known as the Little Ouse— a stream which, rising at Lopham, in the marsh in which the Waveney has also its source, flows in a direction nearly parallel with the course of the Larke (distant about nine miles), and, running from Thetford to Brandon, falls into the Great Ouse between Ely and Lynn.

During the last two or three years I have frequently looked for these implements in the gravel-beds on the banks of this river; but my search was for some time unsuccessful, having been chiefly directed to the left bank, on which they very rarely occur. About six months since, however, several of them were found in the gravelpits on the right bank by a labourer who had gone from Icklingham to work at Thetford. They were taken by him to Mr. Henry Prigg of Bury St. Edmunds, who at once recognized their true character and their close resemblance to those found in the valley of the Somme. In December last Mr. John Evans and Mr. Prigg found amongst the gravel several other good specimens, both of the oval and pointed forms; and within the last three months I have been able to procure upwards of fifty others. Mr. Evans and Mr. Prestwich have also obtained several; and Mr. Fitch, of Norwich, after spending some hours at the pits, procured a very good specimen, which the labourers dug up in his presence at the depth of fourteen feet. It would thus seem that this deposit is quite as productive as any hitherto examined, either in England or France.

From the accompanying plan and section it will be seen that the river here flows through a wide and shallow valley, excavated in the Chalk and Boulder-clay. The hills on either side rise to the height

Elvedon

of about one hundred feet above the river-surface; and, when measured from the summit of Boulder-clay on the north to the Chalk

Fig. 1.-Geological Sketch Map of part of the Valley of the Little

Ouse River.

Little Ouse River

a. Ferruginous sands and coarse flint-gravel, 12 to 15 feet thick. b. Boulder-clay in blue and laminated strata, 25 to 30 feet thick. bb. Boulder-clay not laminated, 20 feet thick.

c. Chalk.

Fig. 2.-Section across the Little Ouse Valley at the second stanch between Thetford and Santon Downham.

summit on the south, the valley is from a mile to a mile and a half On the south side, to the extent of three miles parallel with

wide.

the river, and at the distance of nearly a mile from it, the hills are in several places capped with coarse flint-gravel, resembling that in which the implements are found, and containing some large nodules. On the right bank of the river a terrace of siliceous and ferruginous sands, irregularly laminated, and containing layers of flint-gravel, is found resting upon the Chalk. This terrace commences about a quarter of a mile below the town; it extends along the course of the river for about a mile and a half, and is on the average about forty yards distant from the bank, and rises about eight or ten yards above it. The base of this bed, to the extent of four or five feet in thickness, is composed of large nodules of subangular flint, with some chalk-pebbles and calcareous sand; and it is in this coarse gravel, at a spot known as Red Hill, near the second stanch in the river below Thetford, that nearly all the flint implements have been found, usually at from twelve to fifteen feet below the surface, and within a foot or less of the chalk. Some specimens (like those at Fisherton described by Dr. Blackmore) were found in pot-holes in the chalk. On the left bank the terrace does not generally rise more than twenty feet above the river, and the gravel here is deposited much more irregularly. It is of a darker colour, showing no traces of lamination, and in some other particulars differs from that on the right bank, until the river reaches a small farm at Santon Downham. At this place the ferruginous sands and gravels of the right bank reappear, and in them at least one flint implement has been found.

As regards the general form of the implements, most of them bear a close, and, indeed, almost perfect resemblance to those discovered in similar deposits in France and in other parts of England; and the accurate description which Mr. Evans has given of the St. Acheul specimens, in his paper read before the Antiquarian Society, will apply to nearly all of those found at Thetford. It would seem as if there were two predominating types, the ovoid and the pointed, examples of both of which are given in the accompanying figures. As formerly it was said that the wood which would not make a shaft might serve for a bolt, so the stone which was not sufficient for a pointed implement was doubtless worked into an oval; and occasionally it would be found convenient to fashion those intermediate varieties which are often met with.

There are one or two slight peculiarities in these implements, whether French or English, which seem to deserve notice, as they may tend to explain the uses to which they were put. Thus in several of those of the pointed form the point is seen to be slightly recurved; and in many of them we find that a flat space or surface has been left or formed, exactly adapted to receive the thumb of the right hand, which, if it had been constantly pressed upon a sharp or rugged surface, would soon have become sore and inflamed. I have never shared the opinion that these things were either weapons of war or of the chase; and the peculiarities alluded to (coupled with the circumstance that the pointed end is almost always found to be broken and blunted) tend to support the belief that they were used as hand-spades or díbbles, perhaps for digging roots.