10 



Upper Chalk, subsequently in the Upper Greensand of Cambridge- 

 shire, and quite recently in the Gault and Hastings sands. The 

 Kimmeridge fossils, Pterodactylus Manselii (Owen}, and Ptero- 

 dactylus Pleydellii ( Owen), are fragmentary ; but sufficient to 

 justify their separation by the distinguished palaeontologist into 

 distinct species. The bones are hollow, with large air cavities 

 to render the animal light and capable of flight. 



I must now invite your attention for a few moments to one 

 or two subjects which, although they stand outside the border of 

 the County, have a direct claim upon our attention as naturalists. 

 I will first refer to the Wealden boring, the object of which 

 has been to ascertain the depth of the secondary strata in the 

 Wealden area of Sussex, and the underlying Palaeozoic forma- 

 tions, which comprise the surface beds in Belgium, and which 

 pass under the Chalk in the north of France, re-appearing in 

 Somersetshire and South "Wales ; they must, therefore, occur 

 beneath the beds of the south-east of England. The first 

 attempt at boring was abandoned, but the second reached a depth 

 of about 1871 feet, but touched only the Coral Eag, after passing 

 through about 1,600 feet of Kimmeridge Clay. By this result 

 one part of the problem has been solved namely, that at 

 Netherfield the Palaeozoic rocks are considerably more than 2,000 

 feet below the surface. 



The published rainfall investigations which Mr. GK J. 

 Symons has undertaken for several years past have largely 

 increased the number of observers, which now reach to more 

 than a thousand. On the utility of reliable rainfall records and 

 the maintenance of an efficient organization, such as Mr. Symons 

 provides for verification and reference, it is needless to dwell. 

 As the merchant is guided in his mercantile transactions 

 by a keen observation of the signs of the times, political and 

 social, so will the Agriculturist be collaterally guided by the 

 scientific records of meteorological phenomena, and thus success- 

 fully contend with the dangers which ignorance on the subject 

 entails. During the past year more than one period of disastrous 

 weather has occurred, attended with much damage to the farm- 

 ing interest I refer to the months of July and October. In 

 July the whole of England appeared to be under a belt of 

 storms, these atmospheric disturbances shifted about; but where- 

 ever the rain fell it had the same characteristic of persistency 

 and unparalleled quantity. The damage to the hay crops was 

 beyond description ; in the Yale of Blackmoor large quantities 

 of hay were transported and stranded upon far distant meadows, 

 spoiled, damaged, and a nuisance to the occupiers by this other- 

 wise welcome visitor. On the 15th of July no less than 3*58 

 inches of rain fell at Longthorns. England was visited by 

 a still greater rainfall in October, although the greatest 



