The article which appeared by Dr. Ball in the February number of the Geological Magazine (pp. 71–6), strongly urging the origin of the Egyptian Nile Valley as due to erosion rather than faulting, is the first public expression of a widespread feeling that the familiar rift theory is based on comparatively feeble foundations, and either requires strengthening or withdrawal. It must be remembered that when the Geological Survey of Egypt commenced its operations in 1896 the relation of deep African depressions to rifts was an accepted theory which had been found applicable in a number of striking instances. As one who has studied portions of the Nile Valley and the neighbouring deserts of Egypt for some years, I submit these few remarks, adopting a somewhat more personal point of view than is usual in papers of this nature, not from a desire for controversy, but because the subject is one worthy of discussion.