m 



hill called the Bodge Wood, about 40 yards from a, gate leading into that wood 



(applause). 



The Rev. P. B. Brodie said that he considered the facts brought forward 

 in his friend Mr. Merewether's paper of special interest, as they were new 

 and unexpected, and formed an important addition to the Geology of the Wool- 

 hope area. The first point referred to was the existence of a much larger amount 

 of Drift than had been previously recognised, only a very small mass having been 

 hitherto recorded, and it had always been a matter of astonishment to the geolo- 

 gists who knew the district that so little should have been preserved. I had 

 the pleasure of examining the several new localities with Mr. Merewether where 

 the Drift has been detected, and I am happy co be able to confirm his statements. 

 In one place on the banks of the Wye referred to in the paper it was at least 40 

 or 50 feet thick, and future researches will no doubt give a more extended range, 

 and perhaps a greater vertical thickness, to the deposit in the district. Of 

 course an enormous mass of the Silurian Bocks there have been entirely re- 

 moved, without leaving any trace of their presence there. The amount of 

 denudation must therefore have been very great, in which no doubt water in 

 conjunction with atmospheric causes, and perhaps ice, bore a conspicuous part. 

 Anyone who has carefully examined the Drift and is well acquainted with the 

 geology of Woolhope must be satisfied that mere subaerial denudations (as my 

 friend the Bev. J. De La Touche contends) could not have broken up the 

 rocks, eroded the valleys, and carried away entirely a vast amount of detritus, 

 leaving only a limited (however large) quantity of Drift as the result. The 

 second point for consideration was the presence of the May Hill (Llandovery) Sand- 

 stone at several localities in the Woolhope area. This is a fact hitherto unsus- 

 pected, and one of which had even been doubted by my friend the late Mr. 

 Salter. Having inspected the spots indicated, I must say that my impression 

 is, that the discovery is correct. At Foulmire's farm, the disputed locality, 

 an excavation proved the occurrence of this sandstone in the usual form of 

 large tabular masses in situ, and I believe in its normal position not upheaved 

 beneath the Wenlock limestone. It lies nearly horizontally in a denuded valley 

 bounded by a ridge of Wenlock limestone on the south-east adjacent, and the 

 Woolhope (or lower Wenlock) limestone forming the high ground at Woolhope, 

 near the church, about half a mile on the north-west. The lower ground inter- 

 vening is covered by Drift. Now I think it is generally allowed by geologists 

 who have studied the palaeozoic rocks, and know the places here referred to, 

 that the May Hill Sandstones are not confined to the more central anticlinal dome 

 of Haugh Wood, but extend beneath the whole area more or less, notably to the 

 north-west and south-east, the latter point being in the direction of May Hill, 

 where they again re-appear, and form the high and remarkable rounded eleva- 

 tion similar to Haugh Wood. They also occur at Eastnor Park, Howler's Heath, 

 and other places at Malvern on the north-cast. Their presence, therefore, at 



