On a Deep Channel of Drift at Hitchin (Hertforbshire).

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Abstract
1. I ntroduction . Deep channels filled with Drift occurring in Scotland and in the North of England have long been noticed by geologists, and more recently the existence of similar buried valleys has been discovered in the East of England. In 1890 Mr. W. Whitaker drew attention to a deep channel of Drift in the valley of the Cam; and in 1898 Dr. A. Irving recorded a great depth of Drift in the valley of the Stort. It has long been known that a considerable thickness of Drift covers the Chalk immediately to the south of Hitchin, wells and road-cuttings indicating that deposits of sand, gravel, or Boulder-Clay were at least 60 feet thick in certain localities; a boring at Messrs. Lucas & Co.'s brewery at Hitchin in the year 1831 was carried to a depth of 466 feet, passing through 3 feet of soil and 77 feet of sand. But the Chalk is so frequently seen that an exceptional thickness of Drift was unsuspected. During the last few years five borings have been made in the neighbourhood of Hitchin, all of which have disclosed a greater thickness of Drift than was expected. They happen to have been made in a line running about north and south nearly at right angles to the outcrop of the Chalk, the southernmost being 3 miles south of Hitchin, and the northernmost 4 miles north of the town. The object of this paper is to record these borings, which, with other evidence, seem to point

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