Proceedings. XCV 
- ductor, Dr. H. Franklin Parsons, who sends the following notes 
of the excursion :— 
«‘ On May 11th an excursion took place, under the guidance of 
Dr. Parsons, to Sundridge Park and Chislehurst. This was 
mainly of geological interest. The party, some of whom went 
by train and others cycled, met at the Rock Pit, Elmstead Lane. 
This is a large excavation in the beds of the Oldhaven series ; 
here consisting of current-bedded layers of sand and pebble- 
gravel, with masses of shelly conglomerate. Fossils are numer- 
ous, especially the large oyster (Ostrea bellovacina), the shells of 
which are well preserved, those of other species being mostly so 
perished that they can scarcely be removed from the matrix. 
Some good photographs of the section were obtained. 
« About a quarter of a mile distant a heap of sandy material 
was examined, which had been brought up by a shaft from the 
new tunnel of the South Eastern Railway. In this material, 
coming from a greater depth, and probably from beneath a pro- 
tective capping of London Clay, the fossils were better preserved 
than those at the Rock Pit, especially the shell Pectunculus plum- 
steadiensis, which was extremely abundant, and often in perfect 
condition, with the two valves in place. Specimens were not 
unfrequent which were perforated by a round hole made by some 
whelk or similar predatory gasteropod. 
‘“ From Elmstead the party went on to Chislehurst, and visited 
the ‘caves’ near the station. These caves are branching galleries 
driven into the hill-side in the chalk inlier, which here appears 
in the valley. They were doubtless made in former times for 
the purpose of getting chalk. The thin roof of chalk has in 
places given way, allowing the looser superjacent Thanet sand 
to fall into the tunnel beneath. When the fall is only partial, 
the result is a conical mound of débris on the floor of the tunnel, 
beneath a lofty dome-shaped roof formed by the Thanet sand ; 
but ultimately the overlying mass completely falls in and blocks 
“up the tunnel, the site of the fall being marked by a deep conical 
pit in the ground above. The wood over the caves is full of 
such pits. Tea at the ‘Bickley Arms’ concluded the day’s 
proceedings.”’ 
May 27th (Whit-Monday).—Hever to Tonbridge. Conductor, 
the President. (See Report of the Botanical Committee.) 
June 8th.—Cheam and Epsom, in connection with the Geolo- 
gists’ Association. The route taken was first to the Cheam 
Brick Works, where sections of the Woolwich and Reading beds 
are seen; thence through Nonsuch Park, passing the scanty 
remains of Nonsuch Palace, built by King Henry VIII. as a 
rival to Wolsey’s Palace at Hampton Court, to the brickfields of 
c2 
