_The Scantic._ In the Scantic we have a typical example of a river whose lower course is manifestly of a later date than the upper. In this it is similar to several of our Atlantic rivers, notably those of North Carolina, whose upper courses are on the Piedmont crystallines, being probably established previous to the Cretaceous baseleveling, and whose lower courses stretch seaward over the unconsolidated Tertiary deposits of the coastal plain. As the plain of these recent deposits emerged from the sea, the rivers were forced to extend their courses eastward over the freshly raised surface to the retreating shore line. The Scantic river has a similar history. Its upper course in southern Massachusetts on the crystalline plateau is a remnant of the drainage established before Cretaceous baseleveling and revived by the subsequent uplift. How much that revived drainage has been modified by drift can only be determined by long field study, but the topography, as read from the topographical atlas would seem to indicate, that it has not been much. The valleys were undoubtedly clogged with drift, and the drainage area may be somewhat modified, but the drainage seems to be substantially along the same lines. Just below the village of Hampden, the Scantic leaves the plateau and enters the Triassic lowland. From this point to its mouth at the Connecticut, opposite Windsor, a distance of twenty miles, it flows nearly all the way through the gravel, sand and clay deposits of the period of ice-retreat. The topography of the lower course of the river is entirely characteristic of a stream which has recently attacked a level, easily eroded district. The inter-stream surfaces are broad and flat; the descent to the stream bed which is sunk seventy or eighty feet below the general surface is exceedingly steep. These two lines, that of the inter-stream surface and that of the valley side, meet at a sharp angle. The side streams are as yet very short, and have cut narrow gorges down to the main river. Tributary to them are deep side ravines, whose bottoms ascend rapidly to the inter-stream surface, the whole making a dendritic system of drainage in its earlier stages. The Scantic, having reached base level in its lower course, has developed a narrow flood-plain.