WORK ON THE PALAEOZOIC ROCKS. 103 



side of this axis being smaller than the western, in which 

 case there would be a considerable extension of the eastern 

 part of the basin below the newer rocks. It may be ob- 

 served, however, that if the Pennine Chain, as is probable, 

 is one of a series of monoclinal folds of which another is 

 concealed to the east of this coal-field, the chances are that 

 this concealed one has a steep westerly dip, which would 

 considerably curtail the area of the basin in that direction. 

 The author comments on the thickness of the newer rocks 

 above the concealed coal-field, which would depend on the 

 slope of the old post-carboniferous land surface, and the 

 presence or absence of different members of the newer rocks, 

 concerning which we require more information than the 

 limited amount supplied by the Scarle boring. He refers to 

 two other borings, details of which are not yet published : 

 one at Carlton near Snaithe on the Aire, and the other 

 between this and the Scarle boring on the Trent. In 

 the discussion on this paper Mr. C. E. Rhodes, referring 

 apparently to this Trent boring, says that a seam, assumed 

 to be the Barnsley, was proved at a depth of 3300 feet, 

 midway between Doncaster and Gainsborough. 



The next group of papers refers to a question of still 

 greater interest, namely, the possible existence of concealed 

 coal-fields in the south-eastern counties of England. Mr. 

 Harrison (16) has issued a pamphlet in three parts, referring 

 to the possible existence of coal beneath the newer strata of 

 Essex. The first part was written in 1887 and the second 

 in 1 89 1, whilst the third part is new. He suggests that 

 the Ardennes- Mendip axis turns northward between Calais 

 and Dover, and then in a westerly direction under London 

 and the Thames Valley to the Mendip Hills, and that the 

 Calais coal may lie to the north and the Dover coal to the 

 south of this axis. Ouotin^ the magnetic observations of 

 Professors Thorpe and Riicker, he refers to the possibility 

 of two ridges of older rock running northward from this 

 axis, from near the town of Reading, the easterly one 

 towards Cambridge, and advocates the desirability of 

 searching for coal to the east of the latter ridge, in North- 

 west Essex, in the neighbourhood of Ouendon. 



