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examined somo pits, where a gravel is worked to some ten feet in 

 depth, composed of rolled pebbles exactly like a sea beach, con- 

 sisting of quartz, variegated sandstone, Silurian sandstone, traps, 

 and some chalk flints. The workmen talked of shells, but on 

 examination the shells proved to be grypheao from the clay below. 



I must now, however, give the Secretary's account in his own 

 words. " Our way up the hill led us by some remarkable masses 

 of rock, called the King and Queen ; others were seen of a similar 

 nature afterwards, one very large one near the Summer House, as 

 a tower on the summit is facetiously called. "We came to the 

 conclusion that they belonged to the ferruginous beds (pea grit), 

 near the base of the inferior oolite. They resemblea angular 

 blocks of stone united together by a calcareous cement, and might 

 almost pass for the remains of a very thick ancient wall. We 

 afterwards reached a quarry of great depth, the rock being singu- 

 larly fractured and fissured, from top to bottom. Looking at the 

 extensive plateau of uneven land (thrown up into hillocks, and 

 scooped out into hollows, which resembled a succession of old 

 quarries, but is far too extensive to have been so caused), upon 

 which these fractured rocks rest, the Secretary was led into theo- 

 rizing on the subject, and it. may give rise to some enquiry and 

 discussion on the matter if he ventures to communicate his ideas 

 to the Club. May it not be possible that the clay of the lias shale, 

 which underlies the lower beds of the oolite, has been washed out 

 by the water percolating through the porous oolite, and has thus 

 caused hollows, which, when they reach a certain size, cause a fall 

 of the strata above and a disruption of the rocks, such as we see 

 occur in coal mines where the mineral has been taken out ? 

 There are issues of mud along the face of Bredon Hill, whence 

 occasionally a sort of flowing bog bursts forth, and covers some 

 of the land below with clay. The stratum of rock being thus 

 broken up, the harder and larger masses, like the King and Queen, 

 might easily be supposed to stand in situ, while the surrounding 

 softer parts were gradually washed away. However this may be, 

 the shaly beds of the lias clay are well seen at the bottom of the 

 oolite escarpment ; and beyond them the marlstone, forming an 

 uneven line, and another steep escarpment which is usually 

 clothed with a belt of wood." 



Should this opinion of our Secretary's be disputed, I cannot 

 but hope that it may lead to a discussion like that at Cirencester, 

 in which even men as ignorant as your President may pick up 

 some useful information. 



In our way down, we spent some time at a quarry of the marl- 

 stone, full of fossils : a vertebra of an Icthyosaurus, a fish tooth, 

 numerous belemnites, and a page full of other species being col- 

 lected. 



"We then asked hospitality, where hospitality was never wanting, 

 at "Woolashill, the interesting and beautiful Beat of Mr. Hanforu, 

 and returned to Bredon, where Dr. "Wright, notwithstanding the 

 small size of the party, read us the conclusion of his interesting 



