49 



occurs in the parish of Mathon ; and although I saw no pits open. I succeeded in 

 establishing the fact in my own mind, by observations on the sides of lanes, and 

 collecting Lias erratics that had been dug up by the cottagers. 



Now, the occurrence of these remains at all on the western side of the 

 Malvems seemed to me so important, that I wrote to Sir R. Murchison, 

 mentioning the discovery, and requesting the favour of his opinion. In reply, 

 Sir Roderick wrote as follows :— 



16, Belgrave Square, June 3, 1852. 

 My Dear Sir, — I do not think that the occurrence of Liassic and Oolitic 

 fragments and remains at Cradley would indicate clearly what I mean by the 

 northern drift. 



The probability is that such materials come from the S.W. It is difficult 

 nowa-days to bring to the mind's eye the country covered by the waters at the 

 period of the Straits of Malvern ; but I see no great difficulty in imagining a 

 western bay of the same Straits extending from Gloucester by Ledbury to 

 Cradley^a back water. I am not very fond of reasoning too much on existing 

 outlines ; but the facts you mention, and the form of the ground, might favour 

 the view I should be disposed to adopt. 



In this way, eddies from the Straits of Malvern might certainly carry some 

 true northern drift to the localities in question, but the Lias and Oolite have 

 probably travelled only from the banks of the Severn. Pray do not attach any 

 value to this surmise, and believe me, yours very truly, 



RODK. I. MURCHISON. 



My observations have led me to form a contrary opinion. 



On the 8th of March I visited the gravel pits between Eastnor and Clincher's 

 Mill, which lie quite at the extremity of the Malvern range, and, after a careful 

 search for 'two hours, was unable to find any erratic of the Lias or Oolite. The 

 Clincher's Mill pits are nearly twenty feet in depth, and the beds are for the 

 most part in regular layers. The lowest of all is very interesting, and for some 

 time it is difficult to divest oneself of the idea that it is not a rough underbuilt 

 wall ; it is entirely made up of large angular fragments, in a half stratified mass, 

 and consists of slabs of syenite, Caradoc sandstone, Ludlow and Wenlock rocks, 

 and here and there a trace of greenstone and Hollybush sandstone. These 

 fragments have no appearance of being water worn. I found no trace of 

 Cambrian pebbles ; the beds are entirely made up of detritus from the neigh- 

 bouring hills. Above these, several beds appear in succession, and the higher we 

 ascend the evidences of attrition become more apparent ; but the fossils I collected 

 were all local, and must have been washed out from the local rocks. It was only 

 in the upper layer, not more than three feet below the alluvium, that I could find 

 any trace of the northern drift. This was associated with fossils of the Silurian 

 rocks, and consisted of water-worn pebbles of the well-known Lickey quartz and 

 other altered sandstones. In the same layer with the rounded erratics laid before 

 you this day, I found remains of pleurotomaris, orthides, terebratula Wilsoni, 



