Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 28.djvu/499

1872.] melting snow from the mountains, and by a few hot or warm springs along its banks. In August 1870 it was fordable with difficulty, except about 9, when it is usually at its lowest. I suppose that the rise and fall of the river alternately fills and empties the bottoms of the pits, and the water left in these pits gradually gets concentrated by evaporation, I am not aware how much salt the water contains; but there is saline efflorescence all along its banks, and the prevalence of tamarisks shows that the water or soil, or both, contain salt. It is difficult to account for the extreme regularity in the shape and size of the pits. Mr. Shaw gives four to seven yards as the diameter of those he noticed; those seen by me were not above four to seven feet as a rule. Possibly we have both observed correctly; and in some localities they may be large, and in others small. Mr. Etheridge has suggested to me that these pits may be analogous to the sand-pipes and swallow-holes in the Chalk noticed in the 'Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Middlesex,' pp. 11 and 12, or more probably to some natural pits on the heaths of Dorsetshire, described by the Rev. Osmond Fisher in this Journal, vol. xv. p. 187; but on these points I feel I am not competent to give an opinion.

Mr. pointed out that the pits seemed due to quite another cause than the pipes in the Chalk and other calcareous rocks, as they did not appear to arise from erosion by carbonic acid.

Mr. suggested an analogy between the phenomena in Yarkand and those at Nantwich, and thought that the pits might be due to solution of rock-salt below the surface.



the very remarkable and little-known Cervidæ from the Forest-bed of Norfolk, there is one form which is certainly new to Britain, and which I cannot identify with any of the Continental species. It is represented by a series of antlers in the Museums of Norwich and of the Geological Survey of England and Wales, in the British Museum, and in the collection of Mr. Jarvis, of Cromer. The clue to the restoration of the perfect antler is afforded by a specimen which was obtained by my friend the late Rev. S. W. King from Happisburgh.

The series of antlers in question is characterized by the sudden