74 report — 1865. 



and steep escarpments, from Pistyll Cain, and far northward they extend to Clogau 

 and Vigra mines, and are especially to be noticed in the Great Lower Cambrian 

 nucleus of the Merioneth anticlinal, defining the north and south ridges of the 

 mountains, and the great Trawsfynydd valley. This series of faults is the latest, 

 and is probably of very wide extent — the north and south valleys of the Lake dis- 

 trict in Westmoreland, and the great north and south faults of the carboniferous 

 series in Lancashire, Yorkshire, &c. being very probably included in it. 



All the above faults are of course connected by short cross faults at the angles of 

 intersection ; and the author believes that to this cause are due the minor lake 

 valleys of North Wales, which, so far as he lms examined them, seem always to he 

 in the lines of intersecting faults. 



The author is not so certain of the exact order of the series 3 and 4, as he is that 

 the east and westerly faults and lodes, containing gold, are the oldest ; and the north 

 and south faults the newest in the district. 



That the ascertaining of the principal lines of fault, and their order of succession, 

 must be of value to the practical miner in any given district is obvious enough ; 

 and it behoves those engaged in such operations to ascertain, as has been partly 

 done in Cornwall, the relative age and contents of each of the series. If lodes be 

 in lines of fault, as they certainly are, it is of consequence to the owners of mining 

 property to ascertain what is the number and direction of any given series, con- 

 taining, for instance, zinc and gold, and whether the slides and cross courses which 

 interrupt and often spoil these may be advantageously searched for lead, silver, or 

 copper. 



There are eight series of faults known in the Cornwall districts and in Germany, 

 as we learn from Sir C. Lyell's Manual. And the contents of each series are in 

 part known ; but it must be borne in mind that each successive crust movement, 

 while it opened fissures for the metals of its own age, would by reopening the old 

 fissures, tend to redistribute their contents, and possibly to commingle them with 

 the deposits of newer age. The whole subject, as it is one of great scientific interest, 

 so also demands very careful observation, the result of which will certainly be to 

 diminish mining risk, and increase the sources of our metallic wealth ; for faults 

 and the lodes that accompany them are extremely numerous and definite in direc- 

 tion. 



On the Drift in the Parish of Exludl, North of Coventry. By A. Staetin. 



In this paper the author pointed out the existence of a strictly local stream of 

 northern boulder drift about two miles wide, passing from north to south over the 

 centre of the parish of Exhall, and showed that although the drift overlying the 

 country to the eastward, from the evidence of its fossils, was undoubtedly derived 

 from the Lias, the Oolite, and the Chalk, and that on the high land at Corley, and 

 the whole district to the westward being rounded quartzose pebbles and small gravel; 

 was probably brought from the Bunter conglomerate of Staffordshire, yet that this 

 drift-stream consisted almost entirely of angular fragments and large boulders from 

 the Millstone-grit, and detritus from the coal strata outcrop between Nuneaton 

 and Atherstone, only from 7 to 10 miles to the northward. lie produced speci- 

 mens from the drift, and also from the rocks in situ, and explained that the carbo- 

 niferous strata and millstone-grit at Hartshill, a short distance to the north of 

 Nuneaton, dip to the S.W. at an angle of 40 degrees, and form an elevated escarp- 

 ment about 600 feet above the sea, overlooking the plane of the New Red marls to 

 the eastward. From the sharp angular character of the boulders, and also from 

 the fact that no marks of striation have been observed, he expressed an opinion 

 that they had been probably earned southward by coast-ice during an epoch when 

 the high lands of the Warwickshire coal-field formed an island in a shallow sea, 

 and he suggested that the necessary contour of the supposed coast-line would ac- 

 count for this drift-strearn being found in its present position. 



On some Ancient Drifts and Old River B<ds of Sihiria. 

 By the Rev. W. S. Stmosds, F.G.S. 

 The author stated that, as far as his experience extends, there are no stratified 



