174 OBSERVATIONS ON 



tubes, is tightly wedged around the core, and in the case 

 of the broken core there is an arrangement of pawls which, 

 when the lifting of the tube is commenced, digs into the 

 walls of the core and effectually prevents it from slipping. 



Coming nearer home, I might perhaps describe the 

 proving of some springs known as the Boiling Wells, 

 which would interest the members generally, as I believe 

 it is often a resort for naturalists in their early work for 

 the purpose of selecting different aquatic plants and 

 specimens, which are only to be found where there is a 

 perennial water supply. These so-called ^' Boiling Springs " 

 yield from half to three-quarter millions of good pure water 

 per diem, which comes from a depth of 18-21 feet below 

 surface, or at a level of 50 feet above O.D., or mean sea 

 level, and issue through the marly coverings to the sands 

 and clays of the Keuper Beds (the upper division of the 

 Trias or New Red Sandstone ranging north and south). 



Speaking geologically, the spring, I think, issues from 

 fissures occasioned by a faulted and denuded area in the 

 marls and sandy series ; that is to say, on the north-west 

 side of the valley by Ashley Hill we get the Lower Lias 

 at an elevation, and on the south-east side we get the 

 Keuper Marls at a similar elevation, showing that the lias 

 has become denuded, or is absent or disappeared, due to 

 the upthrow of the Keuper Marls and New Red Sandstone, 

 denoting that the eastern side of the valley is considerably 

 higher than it should geologically be, causing the fault 

 which produced the springs. Doubtless the spring overlies 

 the Dolomitic conglomerate, which holds up or retains the 

 supply to the springs fed from its watershed through broken 

 or faulted ground to the surface as it exists. 



The way in which I dealt with these springs to prove 

 them was to put down three 10 in. bore-holes at intervals 



