HERTFORDSniKE NATTTRAL HISTORY SOCIETY. XXIX 



bettor than when noted by the Geological Survey some years ago, 



the beds now seen in the upper pit being as follows : — 



Clayey gravel, resting in hollows in the bed below. 



■p +11 (Brown and grey sandy clay, with a ferrnginous bed in wliich 



Jlasement-bed \ ^ ^^^^ ^^ j'a„op<ea was found, ? 5 feet. 



T J /-.I "l Line of flint-])ebbles. 

 London Clay. / d i i i. •> f i 



•' \_lirowu loam, about 3 loet. 



Eeading Beils. Mottled plastic clays, thick. 



A lower small pit showed about ten feet of brown sand, with 

 clay above, and some apparently in it. This sand also belongs to 

 the Reading Beds, and must dip under the mottled clays. The 

 surface of the sand was very hard from exposure. The gravel is 

 apparently part of the same bed as that on the top of the chalk 

 near Harefield. This section presents rather an unusual feature in 

 a pebble-bed in the midst of the basement-bed of the London Clay, 

 and none at the bottom. The mottled clays below, Mr. "Whitaker 

 stated, were unfossiliferous, there being nothing like them at Wool- 

 wich, etc., where the Woolwich beds contain many kinds of fossils. 



In crossing the fields from Woodcock Hill to Rickmansworth, 

 on the summit of a hill from which was obtained an extensive view, 

 embracing the valleys of the Colne, Chess, and Gade, a bed of 

 pebbly gravel was examined. This, Mr. Whitaker said, must be 

 as old as Middle Glacial, and might be older than Glacial, and he 

 pointed out the cliificulty, and sometimes the impossibility, of 

 definitely fixing the age of such isolated masses of gravel. We 

 have here the usual features of a gravel-capped hill — a flat top and 

 a steep slope. The stones are nearly all water-worn, not angular, 

 mostly of flint, but some of quartz. 



From Rickmansworth station the train was taken to Watford, 

 Dr. A. T. Brett having kindly invited the party to tea at his 

 residence, Watford House. Refreshments were served under a 

 large tree on the lawn, after which votes of thanks to Dr. Brett 

 and to the Directors were proposed and heartily responded to.* 



Field Meeting, 24th Jitne, 1882. 

 LEAVESDEN WOODS, WATFORD. 



A considerable number of the members and their friends assembled 

 at the Watford railway station, and thence proceeded, some in 

 carriages and some on foot, to the entrance to that portion of the 

 Leavesden Woods known as Long Spring Wood. 



At the lodge-gate they were met by the President of the Society, 

 Mr. George Rooper, who conducted the party through the glades 

 and avenues which constitute the special attraction of these woods. 

 The foliage of both beech and elm was everywhere observable in its 

 natural beauty, but it was noticed that many of the oaks had been 



* I have to thank IVfr. Whitaker for revision of this report and for the addition 

 of the section at Woodcock Hill. — Ed. 



