133 



excellent luncheoti, pro\'ided by tlie kindly forethought of 

 Richard Foley Onslow, Esq., of Stardens. Time did not admit 

 of long delay, so having thanked their host for their entertain- 

 ment, the party moved forward to Gorsley, at which place 

 there is a fine exposure of " Silurian," in quarries where the 

 " Ludlow " Rock — here a hard impure limestone with " Chonetes 

 lata," and other characteristic fossils — is extensively quarried 

 for road material. These strata, which are nearly horizontal, are 

 capped by the yellow beds known as the "Downton Sandstones," 

 which form the junction between the "Siliman" and "Old Red" 

 deposits. From this point the party made the best of its way 

 to the George Inn, at Newent, where dinner was awaiting 

 them. After dinner Mr. Stmonds read a paper which he had 

 prepared, on the "Newent Coal Field." After describing at 

 some length the geologic conditions which govern the Coal- 

 bearing strata in the Newent district, he showed how the 

 speculators after coal in that field had always selected the very 

 edges of lines of "fault" wherein to sink their shafts, all 

 which was waste of time and money, and might have been 

 avoided had the adventurers possessed the most elementary 

 knowledge of physical geology. He further gave it as his 

 opinion, that if ever coal-speculation is to be prosecuted with 

 any hope of a renumerative result in that district, it must be 

 at some point further removed from the hues of " fault " which 

 he had indicated. They might dig under Newent itself with 

 more hope ; at Colin Park and westwards of it with better hope 

 still ; so also eastwards of Pauntley or Tibberton ; but he held 

 it to be a pity that good gold and labour should be squandered 

 on faulted ground. In conclusion he recommended prospecting 

 for coal in these parts to Companies, not to individuals, and 

 above all, not to his own friends. 



The Second Field Meeting of the Club was held at 



WESTON, NEAR BATH, 



on Thursday, 25th June. 



The programme for the day included an examination of the 

 Rhsetic and Lower Lias, Weston ; of the coal-sinkings at 



