The paper by Dr. Callaway, “On a Cause of River Curves,” in the Geological Magazine for October, 1902, suggests comment for two reasons: first, because the cause that he brings forward seems of doubtful application; second, because the habitual entrance of branch streams at a certain part of the curves of main streams is satisfactorily explained by controls which seem to be of surer and more powerful application than the control which he advocates.

In ascribing to a tributary the power to make a main stream bend in a definite manner towards the tributary, and thus determine the habitual entrance of tributaries on the convex side of the main stream's curves, Dr. Callaway argues that the detritus brought by the tributary will be deposited on the further side of the main stream and somewhat below the tributary's mouth. Various examples known to me of the deposits formed by side streams in the channels of main streams do not bear out this conclusion: the detritus is not deposited on the further side of the main stream, but as a delta at the mouth of the tributary or a little below it; and the main stream does not bend toward, but away from the tributary. The Rhine, the Colorado, and many other rivers that might be instanced, show abundant examples of this kind. Moreover, the assumption of an initially straight main river, as stated by Dr. Callaway, involves an extreme improbability. Rivers cannot be habitually straight in their initial stage, and the bends with which they begin are as a rule spontaneously exaggerated in their later development.

Additional Points in Stratigraphy.

In my paper published in the Proceedings of the Dorset Field Club (vol. xxiii), I dwelt at some length on certain borehole sections made towards the northern base of Creechbarrow with a view to the discovery of Pipeclay. This course was adopted in the hope that a study of these sections might throw some light on the stratigraphical relations between the Creechbarrow Beds on the hilltop and the Pipeclays lower down, if indeed there are any stratigraphical relations beyond a mere jumble of irregular deposits whose precise orientation can never be disentangled. Whether this latter supposition is the true one or not, the exceptional character of the Creechbarrow Beds, as a local feature, remains the same, even although we cannot decide whether they go under, over, or into the Pipeclay series. Before attempting any further speculation as to the possible stratigraphy of the region I will call attention, at any rate, to its topography as shown in the accompanying figure.

After the appearance of Mr. T. H. Holland's paper on Laterite in the Geological Magazine, February number (pp. 59–69), we can at once give the results of our analysis of Indian laterite, without further introductory remarks. They are as follows:—