HO 



No party of Australian gold-diggers could be more excited in their search 

 than were our naturalists. The blows of the hammers at work resounded at every 

 corner, exclamations of astonishment here, delight there, and eager enquiry ail 

 around were heard without intermission, to the no small astonishment of the 

 work-people, whose countenances showed evident marks of the wonder within. 



Hugh Miller's eloquent description of life in those early seas in which the 

 surrounding rocks were deposited, and in which lived those extraordinary animals 

 whose remains lay entombed in every fragment around, was brought forcibly to 

 mind. In opening his description ot the Middle formation he says : — " The curtain 

 rises, and the scene is new. The myriads of the Lower formation have disappeared 

 and we are surrounded on an Upper platform by the existence of a later creation. 

 There is sea all around, as before ; shoals of Cephalaspides, with their broad arrow- 

 like heads and slender angular bodies, feathered with fins, sweep past like crowds 

 of cross-bow bolts in an ancient battle. We see the distinct gleam of scales, but 

 the forms are indistinct and dim : we can merely ascertain that the fins are elevated 

 by spines of various shapes and patterns : that some of the coats gUtter with 

 enamel, and that others — the sharks of this ancient period — bristle over with 

 minute thorny points." 



On their route to Puddlestone, the members visited several other quarries 

 equally abounding in organic remains. 



From the summit of Lever Hill, Mr. Lewis directed attention to the general 

 geological features of the extensive view from that commanding spot. Looking 

 towards the north, to the left lay his own peculiar district of Aymestrey, where 

 he laid the solid foundation upon which Sir R. Murchison raised his splendid 

 superstructure of the " Silurian System." In front lay Tinker's Hill and Caynham 

 Camp, a remjurkable and isolated upheaval of Upper Silurian rocks, lying between 

 the Ludlow district on the west, and on the east the Clee Hills, which last 

 are composed of the upper beds of the " Old Red," capped by Mountain Lime- 

 stone and workable Coal Measures, and surmounted by basalt, which is seen to 

 have been erupted through the entire series, and to have overflowed on the top 

 of the hill. 



Thence the members proceeded in a south-easterly direction towards the 

 pretty little church of Puddlestone, recently restored, which was visited by the 

 whole party, and much admired. 



Mr. EUas Chadwick, the High Sheriff of the County, here met the Club, 

 and kindly invited them to Puddlestone Court, where they partook of his hospit- 

 ality in the form of luncheon. The Court, an elegant castellated building, is built 

 of stone taken from a quarry hard by, opened in the " Old Red," and supplying 

 materials of a most beautiful and durable description. 



Bidding adieu to their kind entertainer, who conducted them personally 

 through his grounds, the members proceeded to examine the quarry in question. 

 Here a discovery was made which we believe to be unique in the history of the 

 " Old Red," of Hereford. Upon blocks of a purplish rather thinly laminated 

 sandstone were distinctly observed the ripple marks produced by waves of 



