98 



and a punisliment he was not disposed to inflict on the members 

 of the Cotteswold Club ; but that any one wishing to know how 

 the matter stands, should read his paper in Vol. 16 of the 

 Quarterly Journal for 1860, pp. 34-47, where they would find 

 the Birdlip and Dorset Sections correctly given. 



Mr. WiTCHELL then read a paper on the angular gravel of the 

 Cotteswolds. After referring to the opinions of former writers 

 on the subject, and quoting from Mr. Lucy's paper on the 

 gravels, read in 1869, he proceeded to state that the opinions 

 formerly entertained upon the origin of this gravel were greatly 

 modified. He then discussed the opinion held by Mr. Ltjct as 

 to the deposit of the gravel, which that gentleman attributed 

 to frozen snow and ice, which on the approach of spring, during 

 a period when we had a colder chmate than at present, slipped 

 down the hill sides, carrying with it the detritus of the rocks. 

 Mr. WiTCHELL contended that there was no trace of ice action 

 to be found, and referred to a section of a gravel-pit at 

 Longfords, near JN"ailsworth, in which the angular gravel was 

 interstratified with the river gravel found at the bottom of the 

 valleys, but which could not have been so intercalated if it had 

 been due to the agency of ice. He attributed the deposit of 

 the gravel to the action of rain and surface drainage, but 

 thought that in some instances it was brought down the slopes 

 of the hills upon a surface of frozen snow, which, dissolved by 

 the rains of spring, would facihtate the transport of the gravel 

 to the positions in which it is found. The gravel-beds are very 

 numerous in the Cotteswolds, and are by no means confined to 

 one level. The period of their deposit commenced at the same 

 time as that of the rolled river gravel, as shewn by their inter- 

 stratification at Longfords ; but in a lesser degree the deposit 

 may have continued to Recent times. 



THE SECON^D FIELD MEETING 



took place by invitation of Messrs. Cosshah and Wethered, on 

 Wednesday, 18th June. It will be remembered that at the 

 June Meeting in the previous year (1872) the Club had enjoyed 

 the privilege, by the kind invitation of Mr. Handel Cossham, 



