TllANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 85 



association of interest, and lay there unnoticed till last year. It had then hecome 

 more opaque, and consequently of more interest to him. It has now all the ap- 

 pearance of a solid crystal of gold, and for which it has frequently been taken. 

 The colour is pale, hut he had observed that all gold found in quartz in that loca- 

 lity is light coloured, owing to the presence of a large percentage of sUver, some- 

 times as much as 20 per cent. 



He exhibited, also, some ounces of water- worn gold, some pieces weighing from 

 20 to 30 grains each, recently found in the Cain, a tributary of the Eiver Mawd- 

 dach, north of Dolgelly, and also a very rich specimen, broken from a quartz-lode 

 at the Gwynfynnydd mine, adjoining the Cain and Mawddach rivers. He said he 

 brought before the Section as mineralogical facts : — that of the change of the 

 crystal, that the gold where the crystal was found is of 14 carats fine only, that 

 from the quartz-lode at Gwynfynydd 18 carats fine, and the water-worn gold 

 from the Cain and Mawddach 23 carats tine — giving them as facts open to a good 

 deal of interesting speculation. 



On Sections of Strata hetiveen H^iyton and St. Helenas. 

 B>j Charles Kicketts, M.D., F.G.S. 



The exposures made in the formation of the new railway between Huyton and 

 St. Helen s, whilst confirming the general accuracy of the maps of the Geological 

 Survey, have disclosed important features which would not otherwise have been 

 determined. 



In the Lower Coal-measures or Gannister beds, a little north of, but somewhat 

 lower in the series than, those in Huyton Quarry, a succession of beds of sandstone, 

 shales, and clay was displayed, surmounted by a bed of coal a foot and a half thick, 

 probably the equivalent of the " Mountain Mine" coal formerly worked at Knowsley. 



As the line to the south of Prescot crosses the Upper Coal-measures, several 

 outcrops of coal are exposed, viz. " the Bastions," in the situation marked upon the 

 map ; a bed called in the six-inch map " Little Delf," and the " Sir John " coal, 

 about one hundred yards to the eastward of the places given from information as 

 the position of their outcrop ; and at the site proposed for the Prescot Station, the 

 two beds constituting the " Prescot Main " coal, a short distance beyond which, 

 and sixty yards from the Rainhill road, a considerable north and south fault 

 occurs, not marked upon the map, which throws down to the east purple and 

 mottled sandstones and shales of upper beds of the Coal-measures ; these con- 

 tinue as far as the Survey boimdary fault, by which the Lower Bunter is thrown 

 down to the east. 



As on the formation of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway the presence of 

 Coal-measures was discovered near Whiston, so likewise in a situation marked 

 upon the maps as Lower Bunter, there occur two small areas of purple Coal-mea- 

 sure strata similai' to those near the Eainhill road, having intervening beds of 

 Triassic sandstone, which have been thrown down by faults. 



The boundary fault of the St. Helen's Coal-field is seen at Thatto Heath, having 

 an intermediate step-fault on the west or dovrnthrow; it has likewise caused a 

 considerable amount of fracture and displacement in the Pebble-beds or Middle 

 Bunter. The Sutton-Heath fault is crossed by the railway where the two beds 

 forming the " Ravenhead" coal are cut off on its downthrow ; a little below the 

 lower or "main" coal trees were seen in situ, and the Rev. H. H. Higgins has 

 obtained from the same locality numerous specimens of the stems, leaves, and 

 fruits of Calamites, and also of Lepidodendron, with ferns &c. ; also a beautifully 

 preserved wing of an Orthopterous insect : these have been deposited in the Liver- 

 pool Museum. 



At the entrance to the deep cutting in the Pebble-beds near Scholes Farm, 

 wherever the surface is covered with the sands and clays of the Boulder-clay period, 

 it remains beautifully planed, grooved, and striated, the strioe being from south- 

 east to north-west. 



In the Lower Bunter sandstone, previously alluded to, there are several fissures 

 without much displacement of the oeds, the interstices being filled with a debris 



