of lara and threw up its Bcorise at periods of time so distant from each other 

 that sedimentary accumulations in the surrounding ocean had become deposited 

 between them. 



Then came the Upper SUurian Rocks, abounding in the remains of marine 

 animals ; indeed, in some of their Umestones it was scarcely possible to break off a 

 portion without finding some shell or fossil denoting the existence of Kfe. All 

 these beds presented erfdence of having been formed beneath the sea ; and if he 

 was asked to point out the first traces of land, the first plant that bloomed upon 

 the shore, or the first animal that lived on the land, he must admit that there 

 was no such evidence in rocks beneath the Wenlock limestone. In the Upper 

 Ludlow Bonebcd some smaU bodies had been feund, which had been carefully 

 examined by the most celebrated botanists, and pronounced to be tho humble 

 seeds of a humble plant, the seed of a club moss, or Lycopodium, closely allied 

 to the common sphagnum, or club moss of our hiUs. These seeds gave the first real 

 proof of dry land. The first evidence of fishes appeared in the Upper LucUow 

 Rocks, which Mr. Lightbody, of Ludlow, had done so much to elucidate ; and 

 the Pteraspis found by l^Ir. Lee, of Caerleon, in the Lower Ludlow rocks, pre- 

 sented the very first evidence of fish life as yet found. It was a great gratifica- 

 tion to him to see both Mr. Lee and Mr. Lightbody out in the field that day 

 day (applause). 



Above the Upper Silurian Rocks came the Old Red Sandstone, upon which 

 we were now standing. The transition was gradual, and without any signs of 

 earthquake, action, or convulsion. Here is evidence of existing fishes of a very 

 peculiar kind, and sometimes in great abundance, not like our modem fishes, but 

 fishes with external plates ; cartiliginous fishes, with armour, of which one repre- 

 aentative in our day is the pike with bony scales which is found in the great lakw 

 of NorthAmerica. AU the fishes of the Old Red Sandstone had this character, 

 and belonged to the Ganoid class. Now it was curious to observe that aU th« 

 Ganoid fishes known at the present time, and there are upwards of 100 varieties, 

 all more or less fresh water fishes, which would seem to imply that these Old Red 

 Sandstone beds were the deposit of lakes. Marine sheUs mixed with the remains 

 of fresh water fishes, as in Devonshire, might, of course, be explained by the 

 connection of the lakes with a neighbouring sea. Hugh Miller had very graphi- 

 cally described the fishes of the Old Red beds in Scotland, and now it was most 

 interesting to know that undoubted remains of a Pteraspis had been found in 

 the Old Red Sandstone of Devonshire. Of the Denudation of the Old Red 

 Sandstone in Herefordshire, much might be said if time permitted. The remains 

 of the rocks which are the summit of the.Old Red Sandstone could still be seen 

 in situ on the Black Mountains-but from the surface of Herefordshire these beds 

 had been swept off by the currents of preglacial and glacial seas. Denudation 

 offered a wide field of study to geologists. Whilst the rocks of softer structure 

 were swept away, the harder ones were left and gave beauty of outline to the 

 sylvan scene. The charming undulations of Herefordshire are chiefly due to the 



