EXAMINATION OF DRIFT. 901 
EXAMINATION OF DRIFT. 
RAILWAY CUTTING, NEAR WALSALL. 
BY G. H. TWIGG,. 
On June 14th, 1879, some members of the Birmingham Natural 
History Society, on the suggestion of Dr. Deane, visited the above locality, 
and subsequently I have examined it upon two other occasions. The 
railway is intended for a loop line to connect the South Staffordshire 
Railway with the Grand Junction Line, and starts from a point near the 
level crossing over the former, about one mile south of Walsall Station, 
and proceeds in a south-westerly direction, joining the latter line near 
James Bridge Station, the total length not exceeding one mile. The 
cutting commences before reaching the main road from Walsall to Wed- 
nesbury, and it is in the section lying to the east of this road that the 
principal boulders have at present been found; those which I have per- 
sonally examined occurred in a deposit of fine soft clay varying in colour 
from red to grey, and mixed up with beds of gravel. They are as 
follows :— 
Fine-grained Basalt boulder ae ae fas heoe aay So SH 
” ” ats oa 14” diameter. 
Decomposed 5 FS is AS 90" te 
” ” ” se oy 24" Aj 
Partly decomposed a » With geodic cavities 
(similar to Toadstone) 12” a 
a i) » butsmaller cavities 28" x 15” x 15” 
Carboniferous Sandstone boulder ne ae Sf 50 os BLOM Sa BIC went EC 
Red ” ? oe ae +h is oe 12” diameter. 
” ” ” ee ee ee ee ee 8” ” 
Carboniferous Sandstone (with plant remains) .. Ac era 14” a 
” ” ” ee oe ee ee 12" ” 
The two boulders with geodic cavities appear to have one of their 
constituent minerals decomposed, the cavities now being filled with a 
pink mineral in which radiating marks are discernible; in the larger 
boulder this decomposition does not seem to have gone so far, for there 
are found on the face of a newly-fractured surface what appear to be 
green crystals, one point only of which is yet tinged with pink; but 
whether these are crystals of Augite or Olivine, or some other mineral, I 
have not been able to determine. 
The cutting in this direction has not yet reached the turnpike road, 
but some hundred and fifty yards on the west side of the road other 
operations have been going on, and the cutting there exposes a deposit of 
quite a different character, the clay giving place to gravel, to which 
succeeds a considerable thickness of sharp white sand. Through this sand 
the cutting is not yet complete ; but a little further on, at a point opposite 
to Bescot Hall, another cutting is being made, in which the deposit is 
distinctly stratified and has a dip of 8° north, the strike running in the 
same direction as the cutting, and along the banks the beds can be traced 
parallel and horizontal for some distance. The dip is shewn very distinctly 
FF 
