253 



ON THE OCCURRENCE OF A LOCAL DEPOSIT OF 

 PEAT WITH SHELL MARL AT HEREFORD. 



BY T. CURLEY, ESQ , C.E. 



In cutting a deep trench for the Widemarah sewerage through the Stone- 

 bow meadow (a field of Mr. Bonnei's), below the Barr's Court station, at 

 Hereford, a section of a remarkable bed of peat was made, which on close 

 examination proved to be of a very interesting character. I told our energetic 

 President of the discovery, and he very kindly at once arranged to visit the 

 spot with the Kev. P. B. Brodie and Mr. Thompson. The three made a more 

 careful examination of the section, and obtained the soeoimens which I now 

 show you. The surface soil was about a foot deep and consisted chiefly of 

 rubbish, earth, and stones, with a few recent bones mixed in it. Below this 

 was a stratum, three feet thick, of pure brick earth, of fllue quality, without 

 stones or i)ebbles, and extending all across the field. Below the brick clay was 

 the peat bed, which was also continued across the whole meadow, and for a 

 distance of at least a hundred yards averaged full 3 feet in thickness. It 

 was of a light porous character, and contained many XJieces of wood in a more 

 or less decayed condition. It seemed composed purely of decayed vegetable 

 matter, with scarcely any admixture of earth. The only animal remains found 

 in it was the jaw bone of a small ruminating animal, which was found 

 within a few inches of the bottom. The marl below the peat presented a very 

 interesting character. Its upper layers contained well-marked impressions of 

 leaves, and indeed masses of the leaves themselves ; and immediately beneath 

 them was an abundance of fresh water shells in layers, from the large Swan 

 Anodon, which was very abundant in some places, to the smaller varieties 

 of Limnea, so common in our ponds and rivers. This shell marl was seven 

 feet below the surface, and itself — with a depth of about two feet — rests upon 

 the Old Red Sandstone, as I have shown in my geological sections published 

 in the map of the city. 



We collected many varieties of shells, some of which Mr. Brodie kindly 

 took away with him to examine more minutely. From his information and 

 from my own inquiries, the following species were distinctly recognised : — 

 The swan anodon (Anadonta cygnca), the river mussel, or painter's unio (Unio 

 pictorumj, the tentacled bithynia (Bithnia tentaculataj, the marsh snail 

 (Paludina vivipara), the fish-pond valvata (Valvata pUcinalisJ, the river 

 neritina (Nerita fluviatilisj, the horny cyclas (Cydas cornea), with several 

 varieties of the Planorhis, Limnea, and Helix, which now abound in our fresh 

 water ponds and lakes. The impressions of leaves were very distinct, as seen 

 by the specimens exhibited. Mr. Lees thinks them to be varieties of the 

 willow. 



