Suppose the bank A (Fig. 4) to be thus formed with a steep sloping side, and, the water being in a tranquil state, the layer of sediment No. 1 is thrown down upon it, conforming nearly to its surface. Afterwards the other layers, 2, 3, 4, may be deposited in succession, so that the bank B C D is formed. If the current then increases in velocity, it may cut away the upper portion of this mass down to the dotted line e, and deposit the materials thus removed farther on, so as to form the layers 5, 6, 7, 8. We have now the bank B, C, D, E (Fig. 5), of which the surface is almost level, and on which the nearly horizontal layers, 9, 10, 11, may then accumulate. It was shown in Fig. 3 that the diagonal layers of successive strata may sometimes have an opposite slope. This is well seen in some cliffs of loose sand on the Suffolk coast. A portion of one of these is represented in Fig. 6, where the layers, of which there are about six in the thickness of an inch, are composed of quartzose grains. This arrangement may have been due to the altered direction of the tides and currents in the same place. Fig. 6: Cliff between Mismer and Dunwich. Fig. 7: Section from Monte Calvo to the sea by the valley of the Magnan, near Nice. The description above given of the slanting position of the minor layers constituting a single stratum is in certain cases applicable on a much grander scale to masses several hundred feet thick, and many miles in extent. A fine example may be seen at the base of the Maritime Alps near Nice. The mountains here terminate abruptly in the sea, so that a depth of one hundred fathoms is often found within a stone’s throw of the beach, and sometimes a depth of 3000 feet within half a mile. But at certain points, strata of sand, marl, or conglomerate intervene between the shore and the mountains, as in the section (Fig. 7), where a vast succession of slanting beds of gravel and sand may be traced from the sea to Monte Calvo, a distance of no less than nine miles in a straight line. The dip of these beds is remarkably uniform, being always southward or towards the Mediterranean, at an angle of about 25°. They are exposed to view in nearly vertical precipices, varying from 200 to 600 feet in height, which bound the valley through which the river Magnan flows. Although, in a general view, the strata appear to be parallel and uniform, they are nevertheless found, when examined closely, to be wedge-shaped, and to thin out when followed for a few hundred feet or yards, so that we may suppose them to have been thrown down originally upon the side of a steep bank where a river or Alpine torrent discharged itself into a deep and tranquil sea, and formed a delta, which advanced gradually from the base of Monte Calvo to a distance of nine miles from the original shore. If subsequently this part of the Alps and bed of the sea were raised 700 feet, the delta may have emerged, a deep channel may then have been cut through