where the passage beds rest upon a bed of gravel containing fragments of 

 fish bones, which were destroyed by the introduction of the sea. The 

 Punfield beds, which represent this period, are ably described by our 

 Secretary, Mr. Morton Stuart, in a paper which was read before the 

 Society last Christmas, and forms a part of the new volume of our 

 Proceedings, which has been placed in the hands of the members to-day. 

 I need not say more on these two fluvio-lacustrine beds, and will at once 

 discuss the Blashenwell deposit, which probably dates back as early as the 

 Neolithic age ; it reposes on the southern edges of the Weald, whose clay 

 beds supported the waters of a small lake, into which they flowed from a 

 spring originating in a fault at the junction of the Weald with the Purbecks, 

 depositing the lime with which it was charged as it passed through. In the 

 course of time the lake became silted up, and the little stream by a change 

 of course reached the valley by its present channel. The tufa contains a 

 remarkable variety of land, freshwater, and marine shells ; the two former 

 comprise genera and species common to the neighbourhood at the present 

 day, the latter the periwinkle and the limpet, also some mammalian bones 

 and worked flints, which were probably derived from the refuse heap of pre- 

 historic men, who at one time frequented the neighbourhood of the lake, and 

 were washed down by rain torrents. The lightness of their specific gravity 

 (the heaviest being only a few ounces) leads to the supposition that the 

 torrential force was feeble and incapable of conveying more than extremely 

 light materials. The shells are in perfect preservation ; the dark bands of 

 Helix nemoralis are unobliterated, and the characteristic porcelain feature of 

 Zonites cellarius, unimpared. The bones, which are fractured transversely 

 to obtain the marrow, and the manipulated flints point to the presence of 

 man in the neighbourhood of the lake during one period at least of its 

 history. Its history may be read from the records it contains, from the 

 deposition of the first lime atom to its becoming a marshy waste the 

 habitat of Succinca putris and other amphibious molluscs. Some discussion 

 followed, and an examination of the deposit was made, bringing to light the 

 following remains : Helix nemoralis, Zonites cellarius, Cyclostoma elegans, 

 Littorina, Patella, an Astralagus, and a Flint Implement. 



The party then returned to the village and visited the Museum. Here 

 the President undertook the task of demonstrator, and drew attention to 

 the fine collection of turtles obtained from the Purbeck beds in the 

 neighbourhood of Swanage ; also to the collection of birds found in the Isle 

 of Purbeck. 



The party adjourned to luncheon at the Ship Inn. Some business was 

 then transacted, and new members were admitted to the Society. A very 

 fine stone Celt, polished on one side, rough on the other, was handed 



