8 * GEOLOGY. 



Davey, E. C. The " 8poiige-Grraver' Beds at Coxwell, near Faring- 

 don ; with an Appendix on Cole's Pits. Paper contributed to the 

 Newbury Field Club. 8vo. pp. 14. 20 photographic illustrations 

 (18 of fossils). Wantage. 



The " Sponge-Gravel " crops out over a space of^ about a mile by a 

 quarter of a mile, and is from 25 to 40 feet thick, forming a plateau 

 based on Kimmeridge Clay, and capped in places by dark ironsand. 

 The bed is a conglomerate of sand and fossils, mostly hardened by a 

 ferruginous cement. There has been much dispute as to the age of 

 this gravel, it having been referred to the Lower Greensand, Upper 

 Greensand, and the highest (Maestricht) Chalk. Sharpe appears to 

 have been led to take this last view from the abundance of Poljzoa ; 

 but the author finds that of about fifty species found at Coxwell not 

 six occur at Maestricht ; nor does he think that any species of sponge 

 is common to the two deposits. 



It is now allowed that these gravels belong to the Lower Greensand, 

 on these grounds : — 1. Similarity with Lower Greensand at Seend &c. 



2. Presence of Lower Greensand Brachiopoda and Echinodermata 



3. Infraposition to the Lower Greensand ironsand of Furze Hill 



4. Dissimilarity to Upper Greensand, which is fairly developed in the 

 neighbourhood. 



The fossils are of two sorts — those that lived on the spot, and those 

 derived from Oolitic beds. The latter can be distinguished by colour 

 and condition, and they are chiefly the remains of Vertebrates; the 

 former are Sponges, Polyzoa, Echinoderms, and bivalve Mollusca, the 

 absence of univalves being remarkable. The Sponges are most im- 

 portant, both as forming a large part of thfe gravel and from their good 

 preservation. Sharpe names sixteen species, diff'ering greatly in form 

 and size. The author makes some additions to this list, and suggests 

 the omission of other forms. 



" Cole's Pits " are old excavations, extending over 14 acres. They 

 have, by some, been regarded as the remains of early British habita- 

 tions ; and the largest has been assigned to no less a person than 

 «' King Cole." The author shows that this view is untenable, and 

 that the pits are only the remains of old workings. W. W. 



Dawkiis's, W. B. Eeport of the Committee appointed for the pur- 

 pose of exploring the Settle Caves. Rep. Brit. Assoc, for 1873, 

 pp. 250, 251. 



The cave- earth, containing the remains of hyaena, bear, mammoth, 

 &c., is overlain by laminated clay, and underlain by a confused bed of 

 large limestone blocks imbedded in clay, partly amorphous, partly lami- 

 nated, with sand in some places. These deposits are covered up at the 

 mouth of the cave by a talus of angular fragments ; excavations have 

 shown that this talus graduates in its lower part into a clay containing 

 scratched Silurian stones. Mr. Dawkins thinks that the laminated 

 clay has been shown to lie at various levels ; and he considers that it 

 may be forming even now below the cave- earth, being washed there 

 by rain. Whilst the author believes that the evidence of the relation 



