112 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
REVIEW.
The Evolution of the Essex Rivers and of the Lower Thames, by J. W.
Gregory, D.Sc., F.R.S., Professor of Geology at the University of Glasgow,
1922, demy octavo, 68 pp., 10 illust. Colchester: Benham and Company
Limited, 2s. 6d. net.
In this little volume Professor Gregory adds one more to the many
attempts that have been made to determine the relative ages of our various
Essex gravel patches. He accepts the view that the larger Essex river
valleys and their older terrace-gravels are pre-glacial, and postulates the
existence, in late Oligocene or early Miocene times, of an east to west river
across mid-Essex, coming from the head-waters of the Ouse, linking on
with the upper course of the Lea, and emptying into the Blackwater estu-
ary; in this way he accounts for the introduction of Buckinghamshire
detritus (Rhaxella chert) into our Roding gravels.
Professor Gregory gives some important new facts concerning the oc-
currence of Pleistocene foraminifera in Glacial deposits, supporting the
view of the marine deposition of these beds as against the more generally
accepted opinion that they were formed by land-ice, which he regards as
unconvincing. "That the Essex Boulder Clay was deposited in water
and not on land under a sheet of ice seems to agree best with the available
evidence."
Whether the author's deductions satisfy all the puzzling facts of the
distribution of the various constituents of the Gravels of our County
remains open to debate, but his hypothesis is at least a plausible one, and
is worked out with considerable ingenuity and with local knowledge. No
student of our Essex drift deposits can afford to neglect this suggestive
book.—P.T.
WILLIAM COLE, A.L.S, F.E.S
It is with deep regret that we announce the death, on June
27th, 1922, in his 79th year, of William Cole, Founder and for 42
years principal Honorary Secretary of our Club. A full biographi-
cal notice, with portrait, of the deceased will be given in the
next issue of the Essex Naturalist, For the present it suffices
to record the great sense of personal loss which his fellow-officers
of the Club, who have worked with him for so many years, feel
at his death.
Requiescat in pace.