250 



HARDWICKK S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



entrance of Spetchley Park. Here again we are 

 tempted to leave the dusty highway for the cool and 

 shady avenue of magnificent old elms, the long vista 

 terminating beyond the brow of the next ridge in a 

 mass of verdant foliage. Breezy and refreshing is 

 this avenue on the most sultry day of summer. 

 Every prospect pleases, for " art preceptress nature 

 weds." Presently an opening in the trees reveals the 

 stately mansion of Robert Berkeley, Esq. The trees 

 are all alive and joyous with the music of birds, the 

 fields are peaceful with the presence of cattle and 

 sheep. Suddenly, however, the fields present an 

 animated appearance as hundreds of rabbits scamper 

 off and as suddenly disappear. The path takes us 

 into the Evesham road at Sneachill, when the fields 

 are entered again, and the main road is eventually 

 reached at Churchill, and a mile farther on the 

 quarries are situate. The return journey may be 

 made by the highway ; not a tedious walk by any 

 means. Picturesque and well-wooded fields stretch 

 away on either hand with occasional glimpses of 

 Malvern on the left, and wooded heights on the 

 right. A sharp turn of the road will bring us into 

 the spreading shade of copses of oaks and beech 

 trees, in whose branches the squirrel, "flippant, 

 pert, and full of play," loves to gambol with his 

 neighbours. In addition to the health and pleasure 

 derivable from the ramble, the geologist is always 

 sure of a good bag. Ostrea liassica, Ammonites 

 planorbis, and Plagiostoma, abound, while the 

 vertebrae and teeth of saurians are by no means rare. 

 I well remember some three or four years ago being 

 told by the men at the quarries that just previous to 

 my visit a "crocodile" nine feet in length, with 

 jaws and teeth, and ribs and tail complete, was 

 unearthed. " Well, what have you done with it ? " 

 I immediately inquired. " Burnt him for lime," 

 was the laconic reply. Quaint and well-worn 

 theories have these men to account for the presence 

 of such monsters in the rocks. "You know, sir," 

 remarked one, "at the time of the flood the earth 

 was all of a swill, and he must have been buried up 

 then." Another man calmly assured me that he had 

 seen the skeleton of a man, and he knew it by the 

 ribs. The fossils are not scattered indiscriminately 

 in the blue lias, but occupy definite horizons. Upon 

 one occasion I took a sketch of the quarry at 

 Himbleton, from whence I have obtained some of my 

 finest specimens. The beds of limestone are six in 

 number, and each one is known by a distinctive 

 name. No. I. The Rotch ; 2. the Diamond ; 

 3. the Top ; 4. the Lanky ; 5. the Paving Stone ; 

 6. the Brick Bed. At the base of the last the saurian 

 remains and Ostrea liassica occur. Below this there 

 are said to be three other beds which do not pay for 

 working: the "Owl," the "Hawk," and the 

 " Magpie." 



It is not only amusing but interesting too at the 

 close of the day, over the nut-brown draught, and 



" the pipe with solemn interposing puff, which makes 

 half a sentence at a time enough," to hear discussed 

 the fact that the " Lanky " would be got out by 

 breakfast-time next morning. 



The marlstone at Bredon Hill yields plenty of 

 good fossils, ammonites, belemnites, pecten, terebra- 

 tula, rhynchonella, gryphcea, and nautilus ; and the 

 inferior oolite above, Pentecrinites, or lily stems, and 

 spines and plates of echini. 



The walk to Bredon, although rather long, has 

 proved very pleasant to some of the vigorous members 

 of our club. Starting at daybreak when " the sun 

 with ruddy orb ascending, fires the horizon," and 

 "the lark is gay, and dries his feathers, saturated 

 with dew, beneath the rosy cloud, while yet the 

 beams of day-spring overshoot his humble nest : the 

 peasant too, a witness of his song, himself a 

 songster, is as gay as he." And while the dew is 

 yet fresh upon the wild flowers and new-mown hay, 

 and the hedgerows of unfrequented lanes are fes- 

 tooned with wild roses and honeysuckle shedding 

 their fragrance upon the fresh morning air, then it 

 is that the pulse begins to bound, and the steps grow 

 lighter, and new life seems to circulate in every 

 part. Bredon Hill may be reached before the sun 

 is very high in the heavens ; before the light fleecy 

 morning clouds have been dispersed by his beams. 

 While some of us have enjoyed an early al fresco 

 luncheon on the slopes of the hill, the morning clouds 

 have swept down and obliterated the landscape. 

 Upon a clear day a series of magnificent views may- 

 be obtained. From the summit of the hill the well- 

 known outline of Malvern stands out clear and sharp, 

 and the course of the Severn may be traced down the 

 intervening valley. The summit also overlooks what 

 has been aptly termed the garden of Worcestershire, 

 through which the Avon in numerous windings 

 threads it way. 



At the top of Bredon Hill the lowest member of 

 the inferior oolite is exposed ; but none of the 

 remaining secondary nor any of the tertiary rocks 

 occur anywhere near Worcester. 



In the table-case at the north end of the room, and 

 also in the Strickland and Winnington-Ingram col- 

 lections, there are some very fine remains of Pleisto- 

 cene mammalia, obtained principally from the Avon 

 valley. There are teeth of the horse, and humerus 

 and tusk of elephas from Fladbury ; tooth of hip- 

 popotamus from the gravel at Little Comberton j 

 lower jaw and teeth of elephas and femur of horse 

 from Cropthorn ; portion of tusk from Droitwich j 

 femur of elephas, and humerus of hippopotamus from 

 Eckington. There are also some fine antlers of 

 cervus from Charbury, Brookside Hanley, and 

 Tewkesbury, and also from the Severn at Diglis. 



Canon Ingram has said of his own collection, 

 recently bequeathed to the Worcester Museum, that 

 " the cattle and other animals that roamed the hills 

 in the environs of the Vale of Evesham, in pleisto- 



