VOL. XVI. (1) THE OLD-RED-SANDSTONE 83 
same synclinal structure, have been found, and are now 
being worked in Rhodesia and in West Africa. 
The reported discovery of gold in the conglomerate of 
the Forest of Dean, some months ago, naturally aroused, 
by its suggested possibilities, the interest, not only of 
those more particularly concerned with the district, but 
also of English geologists and miners generally. Opera- 
tions of an exploratory kind are at present being conducted 
on the ground, and these are likely to prove highly 
instructive. 
One of us recently visited the place, about one-and-a-half 
miles south-west by south of Mitcheldean Road Station, 
where an adit is being driven into the hill-side with the 
object of striking the easterly dipping conglomerate ata 
lower and therefore more convenient level. In the “ Deep 
Cutting,” about a mile north of Drybrook, is the section in 
the basal beds of the Carboniferous System, and the top-beds 
of the Old Red Sandstone, of which a very detailed record 
was published by John Jones id WW es Lacy in Boe 7. 
Having passed through the Deep Cutting, and descended 
the hill for a short distance, the Old-Red Conglomerate 
is seen cropping out by the road-side. While the road 
descends, the trace of the outcrop is continued to the 
north almost horizontally, the outcrop of the bed con- 
stituting a distinct feature in the wood on the hill-side to 
and beyond the place where the adit above mentioned is 
being driven. This, however, is only one of many 
localities on the outskirts of the Forest where the bed 
may be seen and examined either in natural or artificial 
exposures. 
Various contradictory rumours as to the actual occur- 
rence of gold in the rock, or as to its amount, have from 
time to time prevailed, and with the object of getting first 
1 Proc. Cotteswold Nat. F.C., Vol. iv, pt. 2 (for 1866), pp- 175-195; 
