Carefully plotted engineer’s sections will be found in Mellard Reade’s papers, and his account of the succession is so interesting that it is worth quoting. He postulates two periods of elevation, alternating with three periods of depression; but in this area, as in the Thames Valley, it appears as though all the phenomena can be accounted for by one long period of intermittent depression. His generalised section of the deposits in these estuaries is as follows:— 3rd period { Blown sand of depression { { Recent silts with beds of peat; { _Scrobicularia_, occasional { freshwater shells, red-deer, horse, { _Bos primigenius_, _Bos longifrons_, { and human skull 2nd period } Superior peat- and forest-bed of elevation } 2nd period { Formby and Leasowe marine beds; human of depression { skeleton, bones of horse and red-deer, { _Scrobicularia_, _Tellina baltica_, { _Turritella communis_, etc. 1st period } Inferior peat- and forest-bed of elevation } 1st period { Washed drift-sand (apparently no of depression { contemporaneous fossils) { Boulder clay It may be an accidental coincidence; but it is noteworthy that both the Mersey and Thames show two main peat-beds separated by marine strata. The forest exposed on the foreshore at Leasowe (frontispiece) is a particularly good example of these old land-surfaces, and it is often visible. It evidently once formed a wet, peaty flat on which grew swamp plants, brushwood, and some large trees. Parts of it show a perfect network of the rhizomes of _Osmunda_. This “superior peat- and forest-bed” was forming when the sea was only a few feet below its present level. The “inferior peat- and forest-bed” probably indicates a drier soil; but it is difficult to get at and requires fuller investigation. The excavation for an extension of the Barry Docks, in Glamorganshire, exposed in 1895 an interesting succession of deposits, and fortunately a particularly competent observer, Dr Strahan, was on the spot to note them and their exact levels. He also obtained masses of material from each of the beds, and from an examination of the contents of these I was able to gather a clear idea of the changes of sea-level which had affected this part of South Wales. The following sequence was met with:— 1. Blown sand. } } Recent subaerial 2. _Scrobicularia_-clay. } and 1. Blown sand. } tidal deposits. 3. Sand and gravel with rolled } shells (_Scrobicularia_, _Tellina_, } _Cardium_, _Patella_, _Littorina_).} Strong line of erosion. 4. Blue silt with many sedges, and at the bottom a few foraminifera.