246 Rev. P. B. Brodie on the Lias at Fretherne near Newnham. 



neighbourhood of Westbury, which clearly owes its origin to the 

 destruction of the Old Red Sandstone in the forest, and of the 

 Silurian rocks of Huntley, May Hill, and Longhope adjoining. 

 Among other things it contains many beautiful Corals from the 

 Wenlock limestone. I had hoped to have been able to have in- 

 vestigated the Pleistocene formation generally in Gloucestershire, 

 but unfortunately I have not had time to accomplish it, and I 

 must therefore leave the task to abler and better hands. Of 

 late these more modern accumulations have deservedly attracted 

 the attention of geologists, and many interesting facts have been 

 brought to light respecting them, and it is most desirable that 

 they should be carefully examined and described in different 

 localities. 



As I am so shortly about to leave this neighbourhood, to my 

 great regret, I may be excused, perhaps, in conclusion, for pay- 

 ing a parting tribute of regard to the geology of the district, to 

 which I owe many days of health and happiness, and I can only 

 say that I know of no other which presents so rich and import- 

 ant a field of research, or one wherein a diligent and active lover 

 of science may reap a more productive or abundant harvest. 



Within a circuit of twenty miles, nearly every formation, from 

 the commencement of the lower Oolite down to the lower Silu- 

 rian system, may be studied with comparative ease, and a good 

 suite of fossils from each stratum may be collected. This, as 

 many of you are well aware, comprises a very extensive series of 

 rocks of vast extent and thickness, of great value in an cecono- 

 mical point of view, and containing a varied and widely different 

 fauna, by which we obtain a knowledge of the earth's history in 

 past times, from one of the earliest ages up to a much more 

 recent period. 



The sorrow felt on leaving a neighbourhood so instructive in 

 natural phenomena is increased by the loss of these pleasant 

 meetings, and the parting with many scientific friends, whose 

 companionship has added a charm and a zest to the studies of 

 the closet and the more active labours of the field, and must ever 

 afford a great encouragement in the pursuit of those noble ends 

 and grand discoveries for which geology is so pre-eminently 

 distinguished. 



