i899 THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS 9 



yards away, in excavating for a new church, a bed of 

 yellow sand was exposed, containing ammonites of a 

 different type from those at the High Beeches, and Mr 

 Smith supposed that they might belong to beds above 

 those in his garden, because the latter rest on blue clay. 

 Mr Buckman, however, pointed out that in all the sections 

 he has examined the ammonites from the church exposure 

 occupy a lower position than those from the garden bed ; 

 and his experience is that the colour of beds is not to be 

 relied upon as a test of horizon, even in a few yards. 

 Indeed, when excavations were made for a gasometer, at 

 Nailsworth, he found ammonites of exactly the same type 

 as those at the church, not in a yellow matrix, but in a 

 bed of blue colour ; while at Chalford he had obtained 

 ammonites of a blue colour but of a similar type to those 

 in Mr Smith's garden. To call these beds, as is generally 

 done, " Upper Lias " or " Cotteswold Sands," only leads 

 to confusion in Mr Buckman's opinion. Mr Upton sup- 

 ported this view, having examined several of the sections 

 mentioned by Mr Buckman. About 60 feet higher up 

 the garden the well-known Cephalophoda bed is exposed, 

 and Mr Buckman gave a description of its contents and 

 its relation with other parts of England. Before leaving 

 the High Beeches the archaeologists of the party, at the 

 invitation of Mr Smith, jun., inspected an interesting little 

 collection of antiquities found in the neighbourhood, the 

 most noticeable of which was a hand-quern — a stone 

 mortar with a handle. 



A large gravel pit was next visited, in which there is 

 evidence of deposition of gravel that had undergone little 

 rolling; and running through the pit is a clay bed contain- 

 ing fresh-water shells, showing that the Nailsworth Valley 

 has occasionally been turned into a lake. 



Another object of interest was the remains of the 14th 

 century church, formerly a chapel-of-ease to Avening, 



