to coarse stuff seems to increase with the distance from the glacier. An old moraine on the right bank of the river, just below the confluence of the Vorder and the Hinter Rhine, will serve as an example.1 A general idea of its structure may be obtained from the annexed sketch. Angular blocks, mostly of lime FIG. 3.-Section (diagrammatic) of an old Moraine, near stone, varying in size from nearly 100 cubic feet downwards, together with a few, usually more rounded, of granitoid rock, are embedded in an earthy material full of fragments, which commonly range downwards from a cubic inch to one sixty-fourth of the same. This finer material, including the sandy clay, seems 1 Fresh sections can be seen by the side of a little path which turns off from the highroad just before the bridge at the entrance to Reichenau from Chur. to be about one-half of the whole mass, and in it not a trace of stratification could be detected. From this moraine, which is a good instance of the débris left by the ice in the larger Alpine valleysthat is to say, by the glaciers at a time when they occupied numerous glens from which they have now disappeared, and when their trunk streams were some forty miles in length-we pass to examine the deposits on the lowlands. Those which occur in the neighbourhood of the Lake of Zurich may be taken as an example, for here we are on ground which is classic in the history of the work of ice. This region affords clear evidence that during the Ice Age the great glaciers advanced and retired, probably more than once. For the moment, however, we shall refrain from entering into the details of this question, and shall content ourselves with describing the nature and general relations of the associated deposits. The first, and by no means the least interesting example, is to be found on the Uetliberg, a rather long and narrow ridge, the summit of which, commanding a lovely view of mountains and lowland, is 1522 feet above the level of the lake. Its crest consists of a mass of gravel, which is sufficiently consolidated to form rather precipitous crags. This rock presents a superficial resemblance to the well-known Nagelfluh, a conglomerate of Middle Tertiary age; that, however, is so hard that, when it breaks, the included pebbles are split, while in this they tear out rather readily from the matrix.1 On the Uetliberg this gravel is full 50 feet thick. Very many of the pebbles are from 2 to 3 inches in diameter; occasionally they are larger and more subangular in form, now and then exceeding a foot. Sandy partings, from a few to perhaps a dozen inches in thickness, occur here and there, sometimes showing false bedding. The mass passes down into stratified sand, in which smaller pebbles occasionally form a seam, but generally are scattered sparsely. This finer material is seen to underlie the gravel for a depth of 6 to 8 feet, and beneath it comes a mass of earthy stuff, including boulders and stones, more or less rounded and sometimes striated; the volume of the finer material apparently exceeding that of the coarser. Large blocks seem to be not very common; some, however, are preserved in the hotel-garden, one being a mass from the true Nagelfluh. That this is a glacial deposit is as obvious as that the overlying mass is a river gravel. Further down the Limmat the "Deckenschotter" may be seen much nearer to the level of the river. On its left bank, near the old-fashionedtown of Baden, is a prominent hill, noted for a picturesque ravine called the Teufelskeller. The pebble-bed apparently forms not only the crags at 1 Hence the latter rock is called the löcherige Nagelfluh, or "pitted' Nagelfluh, to distinguish it from the former. Similar gravels occur in many other places along the northern outskirts of the Alps; and as they not unfrequently form "caps" to more perishable underlying beds, they have also been named Deckenschotter. the top, but also no small part of the whole hill, so that its base, which rests on molasse, can hardly 1 be more than a couple of hundred feet above the stream. The materials vary from coarse to fine, and from subangular to fairly rounded, the smaller stones as a rule being the better worn. In the upper part of one section they run large, some of the blocks being about half a yard in diameter, while in the lower part the pebbles seldom exceed the size of a goose-egg, and are commonly less. Many of the minor inequalities in the town of Zurich are really moraines, the origin of which is still betrayed by their form, notwithstanding the covering of houses. The Lindenhof, a low hill overlooking the Limmat, is one instance; the same is true of the Hohe Promenade, and of all the terrace on which the Polytechnic is built. Similar deposits may be traced on the Zurichberg.2 Excavations in this locality are usually sufficiently numerous to give a good idea of the material. The matrix is a greyish earthy loam or clay, fairly stiff; the stones represent a great variety of rocks from the mountains about the glens of the Linth and Limmat, and they commonly run from about six inches in diameter downwards. Boulders a foot or two in length occur, but are far from common. They vary in form from sub 1 A sandstone about Middle Tertiary in age. 2 These, however, are considered by Swiss geologists to belong to a different epoch of glaciation. angular to sub-rotund; a few being quite angular, and a rather larger number well-rounded pebbles. The peculiar shapes suggestive of subglacial transport, and striations are by no means rare. Perhaps about three-fifths of the material would go through a riddle with meshes large enough to pass a small hazel-nut. The mass is not stratified, except perhaps in one or two places, where this structure seems to be very faintly indicated. In one opening the base of the mass was exposed. It was underlain by about five feet of clay, into which it passed rather abruptly. This was yellowish in the upper part, greyer and more sandy in the lower, and one or two dark streaks suggested the presence of carbonaceous matter. Below this clay was the usual molasse, its surface being rather rough and slightly broken. On the hill above Thalwyl, on the left bank of the Lake of Zurich, is another group of excavations in a morainic deposit, which requires a brief description. The clayey matrix contains rather more sand than in the last-named instance, and fragments, from the size of a horse-bean downwards, are more numerous. Larger blocks also are commoner, some occasionally occurring which are four feet or more in diameter. These are usually angular, but those of smaller size, as a rule, are more or less worn, even rounded pebbles being not very rare. Stones smoothed and striated by ice action appear to be more abundant here than in the pits near Zurich. A general idea of the |