156 



The broad valley of 'Wenlock Shale was then passed to gain the hospitable 

 shelter of Woolhope rectoiy. At Fowmer's farm there is a good section of this 

 shale, and fortunately recently made, for it so soon decomposes to mud that 

 no section can be permanent. Here Jlr. Merewether guided some of the 

 visitors to a rock he considered to be May Hill Sandstone. It was a very 

 ■unexpected place to find it, but such nevertheless it turned out to be. It waa 

 not another outbreak of this rock, but a series of large broken fragments resting 

 on the shale, transported as drift by some more modern agency, and so arranged 

 as really to look like a bed of the rock in situ. 



At "\7oolhope, the celebrated limestone that bears the name of this village 

 emerges from beneath the shale, and near the rectory shows itself as a tesselated 

 pavement of rock. Time did not admit of any close examination of the strata 

 here, or of the dome of May Hill Sandstone in the central Haugh Wood. 

 The whistle of the leader was imperative, and it was well it was so, for days 

 instead of hours could well be occupied in this interesting locality. 



A rapid descent by the Littlehope or Scutterdine quarries, which could 

 only be glanced at, showed again that this, like all other "Hopes" in the district, 

 was at fault. The word "Hojje" means "a sloping ascent between hills," and 

 they are evidently here caused by " faults." The rapid change of the dip and 

 the curving of the strata indicate them ; but, of comse, better evidence is 

 afforded by the abrupt juxta-position of strata which should lie part. Such, 

 for instance, on leaving the ground, as was seen in the Pentelow brook, where 

 the AVoolhojje Umestone lies cheek by jowl with Aymestrey rock, and May 

 Hill sandstone abuts against the Wenlock shale. 



We should have noticed, that on the road to Sellers Hope the party 

 slighted for awhile, and the President and Mr. Salter, who had been working 

 together jireviously in the Old Red Sandstone, foimd both plants and Crustacea 

 (Ptcryijotus) in the Old Ked Sandstone of Nash Tump. 



The coaches pulled up at Slordiford Toll-gate, and a rush was made for 

 th3 entrance to the grounds of Sufton Court. Here a very fine and complete 

 "fairy ring " of the large or horse mushroom f'^f/fO'/cws arvensis) was visited, 

 and many of them canied off. Some specimens of the yellow Boletus (Boletiis 

 hitcusj were also gathered, and it is as weU perhaps to say at once, that both 

 were cooked and eaten with much relish at the dinner in the evening. 



The coaches were quickly regained and as they make theb- way back we 

 will take the opportunity of naming those who were present at the meeting — 

 the President, Dr. M'CxiUough ; the Vice-Presidents, Chandos Wren Hoskyns, 

 Esq., and James Rankin, Esq. ; J. W. Salter, Esq., F.G.S. ; the Rev. Wm. 

 Hougliton, M. A., F.G.S. ; Professor Gairdner, Glasgow ; R. M. Lingwood, Esq. ; 

 Elmes Y. Steele, Esq., and Mr. Elmes Steele ; the Rev. J. F. Crouch, Pern- 

 bridge ; Dr. Bull and Master Bull ; John Lloyd, Esq. ; the Rev. F. Merewether, 

 Woolhope : the Rev. Arthur Gray, Orcop ; the Rev. Thomas Phillipps, Dewsall ; 



