VOL. XVIII. (3) EXCURSION— STROUD 205 



then proceeded to Cainscross. This suggestion was acted upon, and when 

 the gravel pit at Cainscross was reached (Plate XXI., fig. 2), the rain had 

 ceased. Here Mr Henry Blanch and his son welcomed the party, and directed 

 attention to mammalian remains taken from the gravel. Then Mr Richardson 

 resuming his remarks, said similar gravel extends with one or two interruptions 

 all the way from Stroud to Stonehouse along the north bank of the Frome, and 

 at Stonehouse expands, forming a wide spread. It was absent from the south 

 side of the valley until they arrived at Stanley Downton, between which place 

 and Frocester was an outlier of similar gravel. No doubt the deposit had been 

 more extensive in the valley but had been removed by the Frome, which had 

 excavated a hollow though the gravel (where it had been deposited) into the 

 Lower-Lias clay and had margined itself with alluvium which gave rise to 

 the level pastures over which they would shortly obtain a view. 



The gravels' are of local origin. They are composed of well-rolled pieces 

 of limestone from the Great Oolite, Inferior Oolite and Lias of the neigh- 

 bourhood. Intercalated in the coarser gravel is finer material, and irregular 

 layers of tough clay. Some portions of the gravel are black, owing to the 

 occurrence of carbonaceous matter around the pebbles ; while in the finer 

 material and clay-bands land and fresh-water shells had been found by a former 

 esteemed colleague, Edwin Witchell, F.G.S., and a present Member, Mr 

 Charles Upton. Witchell wrote (Trans. Stroud Nat. Hist, and Phil. Soc. 

 pt. I for 1876-7-8, p. 23) : " The following shells have been found at Ganni- 

 cox, and some of them are abundant: Ancylus fluviatilis, Limnaus auricu- 

 lari'ics, Limnaus pereger, Limnisustruncatulus, Helix nemoralis, Helix rotundata, 

 Helix umbilicata, Helix pulchella, Pupa umbilicata, Pupa muscorum, Zua 

 lubrica, Zonites excavatus, Pisidium pusillum." _ 



Mr Richardson continued that numeroui remains of mammalia had been, 

 and still are, found here. Witchell had recorded (loc. cit. supra) remains of 

 mammoth, rhinoceros, reindeer, horse and bison. A portion of a tooth of a 

 mammoth, a horse tooth, and several teeth of Bos were shown to the Members. 

 Mr Richardson said that W. C. Lucy as long ago as 1869 (Proc. Cotteswold 

 Nat. F.C., vol. v., p. 90) deplored the fact that while many mammalian 

 remains had been discovered here few had been preserved. Unfortunately, 

 he had to reiterate the complaint. However, they were going to try to 

 amend matters and collect and deposit in the Stroud Museum a typical series. 

 ^le asked those Members who possessed specimens, or knew of people who had 

 any, to bear the museum in mind. 



Having described the gravel and told them what had been found in it 

 in the way of land and fresh-water shells and mammalian remains the next 

 matter to think over was how the deposit had got there : what were the 

 conditions under which it was accumulated. He feared he could not tell them 

 for certain. He reminded them, however, that during the Glacial Period, 

 whilst the greater part of the Midlands and the North were covered with the 

 ice-sheet, there must have been a great deal of ice and snow on the Cotteswold 

 uplands and in the combs. In closing Glacial times the detached pieces of 

 rock would be borne valewards by the waters derived from the melting snow 

 and ice and deposited on the lower ground. Edwin Witchell regarded the 

 deposit as a " river-laid gravel " (Proc. Cotteswold Nat. F.C., vol. viii., p.94)- 

 Some, he believed, thought that the vale was flooded in closing Glacial times ; 

 that there was a lake, and that these gravels were arranged around portions 

 of its margin in the same way as gravel occurs on the shores of Lake Bala 

 at the present day. He personally felt that more work was necessary before 

 any suggestion of value could be made ; but one thing was certain— the 

 gravels were not of marine origin. 



The President said he was inclined to favour the lacustrine theory. 



[L.R.] 



I The gravel is principally used for drives and paths, for concrete work, and the finer material 

 for cement. 



