106 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THK NATURAL 



" Besides borrowed fossils, the diluvial beds occasionally contain fossil remains 

 of their own, coasisting of the bones of land animals, which appear to have been 

 living in this country at the time of the catastrophe which caused the deposits la 

 which they are now imbedded. This society possesses several bones of the hippo- 

 potamus found at Cropthorne, and we are in hopes of obtaining more from the 

 same place. The remains of a species of deer also occurred at Cropthorne. In a 

 gravel pit at Chadbury, bones of the rhinoceros have been found, also a fine molar 

 tooth of that animal, which has been presented to this society by Mrs. Perrott, of 

 Fladbury. Fossil bones of some large animal have also been found in Mr. Day's 

 clay pit at Bengeworth, and the society is indebted to Mr. Stokes for a fine tooth of 

 the elephant from Stratford-upon-Avon. 



*' Thus then there is ample evidence of the existence in our diluvial strata of 

 those interesting remains which carry us back to a period, and not, geologically 

 speaking, a distant one, when the hippopotamus, rhinoceros, and elephant, roamed 

 undisturbed in th« vallies of Worcestershire ; and hence I beg to recommend to the 

 attention of the society the numerous pits of gravel, sand, and clay which abound 

 in the county, not doubting that many valuable relics may thus be rescued from the 

 workmen, who, unless taught otherwise, will still continue to throw them aside as 

 worthless and unprofitable.* 



" Connected with the great plain of red sandstone, and greatly productive of 

 wealth to the county, is the bed of rock salt extending beneath it, and the brine 

 springs in connection with it. The prevailing rock around Droitwich, where the 

 salt works have been for many years situated, is a fine-grained calcareo-argilla- 

 ceous sandstone, beneath which strata of marl and gypsum alternate, till the brine 

 is met with, at a considerable distance below the surface, flowing over a bed of 

 rock salt which has not hitherto been penetrated. About three miles from Droit- 

 wich, at Stoke Prior, similar works have lately been established, and several 

 articles of commerce, as. soap, barilla, bicarbonate of soda, and salt, are produced. 



'* It is not improbable that the whole of the plain of Worcestershire was in 

 ancient times the bed of the sea, while the various hills that now appear, formed 

 the basis of rocks rising out of that primitive ocean. The red marl is gener«lly 

 stated by geologists to be formed from the ruins or debris of older rocks, but they 

 do not descend to any particulars respecting it. We conclude, however, that after 

 the deposition of the coal strata, powerful volcanic eruptions took place in the 

 antediluvian world,-f and this is proved by the various trap rocks in England, and 

 the grand basaltic columns of the Giant's Causeway in Ireland, and Staffa in the 

 Hebrides. Now one of the hills near Dudley is also crowned with basaltic 

 columns, and basalt appears in the Clee Hills and our own Abberley Hills. A 

 violent heat, then, at that period acting from beneath has caused the crystallization 

 of the salt, and the consolidation of the red marl, giving to it at the same time its 

 red and white colour, while probably at the same time the bed has been upheaved 

 from below. After these volcanic eruptions, however, a season of quiet ensued, as 

 the strata deposited upon the marl is crowded with shells. 



" From Droitwich the new red sandstone extends southwards down the valley of 

 the Severn, abutting against the elevated escarpment of the sienitic or granitic 

 chain of Malvern. This abrupt termination of the sandstone at the base of 

 Malvern Hills is very curious ; for whilst over the whole of the plain of Worces- 

 tershire the recent formations of the new red sandstone prevail, we no sooner reach 

 the eastern side of Malvern Hill than we find the very oldest, or primitive rocks." 



We wish we could also quote the interesting account of the Dudley 

 coal field, one of the most curious and instructive districts in this 

 country, and less generally visited by our young geologists than it 

 deserves. Dr. Hastings has prefixed to his lecture a geological map of 

 Worcestershire, and we hope that the time is not far distant when 

 similar maps of other counties, or of every county, may be readily pro- 

 cured. It is a first attempt. Dr. Hastings says, to represent the geological 

 formation of Worcestershire, and for which he is indebted to Mr. Lees, 

 Mr. Pearson, and Mr. Strickland. 



* '• We have also in our museum a most magnificent and perfect tusk of the Elephas 

 primigemus, weighing: nearly forty pounds, and some bones of the Siberian rhinoceros, 

 which wore found in 1815 in a bed of diluvial gravel at Little Lawford, Warwickshire, and 

 recently presented to us by the kindness of John Walcot, Esq., a devoted friend to this 

 branch of science. 



t " Dr. Ure's New System of Geology." 



