63 REPORT— 1867. 



rents, and not as an eifect of ice action. He exliibited some Admiralty charts, 

 sliowing the submarine banks and spits existing in the English Channel, all of 

 "which were in like manner parallel to the sea-coast. If this bank was formed in 

 that way, the sea must have stood at least .350 feet higher than now; and, in that 

 idew, an explanation was aftbrded of several phenomena in the district, such as the 

 smoothed appearance of the hard whinstone rocks of Stirling, Craigforth, Airthrej-, 

 Castleton, and Logic. He thought it, however, not at all improbable that ice then 

 floated on the sea; otherwise he could'not account for the position of some enormous 

 boulders which he described situated to the east of Stirling, and which evidently 

 had been in some way carried to their present positions. He next adverted to the 

 fact of the old beach-line sloping upward to the westward, there being a rise of at 

 least 20 feet. He did not consider this owing to any unequal rising of the land ; 

 he thought it might be explained by the laws of tidal action. He knew a different 

 explanation had been given of the old beach-lines of the Altenliord of Norway ; 

 but, whatever may he the case there, this theory of unequal elevation need not be 

 resorted to for the estuary of the Forth. He next adverted to the o^nnion recently 

 expressed, that the last change of relative levels between sea and land had occiu-red 

 since the occupation of this country hj the Romans. In that opinion he could not 

 concur. Several facts militated against it. If the sea covered the extensive plains 

 to the west of Stirling, up to the old sea-cliiF shown on the map, it would have 

 been impossible for the Romans to have had their road, which had been discovered 

 across the moss of Kincardine, or to have had their fort on the banks of the river 

 below Stirling. Moreover, the caves hollowed out bj' the sea at Wemyss, in Fife, 

 before the last change of the relative levels, must then have been occupied by the 

 sea, and therefore the remarkable sculptures found on their walls, lately described 

 by Sir Jame.s Simpson, must have been executed since the Romans left our island, 

 a notion which, he believed, all archteologists would repudiate. In conclusion, he 

 expressed a hope that some one would undertake a survey of the old sea-cliffs con- 

 nected with the estuary of the Tay, as he had no doubt they would lead also to 

 interesting conclusions, and serve to check the results he had arrived at after exa- 

 mining the estuary of the Forth. 



On the Stntcture of tJie Pendle Uange of Hills, Lnncashire, as ilhistratinr/ Ihe 

 South- easierhj Attenuation of the Carboniferous Sedimenfari/ Hocls of the 

 North of England. By Edward Hvll, B.A., F.R.S., of the Geolor/iccd Sur- 

 vey of Scotland. (Communicated ivith the consent of the Director- General.) 



The author stated that the completion of the Geological Sun-ey of a large por- 

 tion of South Lancashire had enabled him to arrive at the conclusions stated in 

 this paper. 



Alter describing the general trend of the Pendle range of hiUs throughout a 

 distance of about thirtj' miles, from the neighbourhood of Lathoni Park on the 

 south-west to that of Colne on the north-east, the author showed that along this 

 range, and especially at Pendle Hill itself, the "sedimentary" strata of the Car- 

 boniferous group attains a vertical development surpassing that of the same beds 

 in any part of Great ]3ritain. Several carefully-measured sections in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Buniley gave the following results : — 



1. Middle Coal-measiu'es (only partially represented in this district). 



2. Lower Coal-measures 2,000 feet thick. 



3. Millstone-grit series .5,.500 ,, „ 



4. Yoredale series 5,025 „ „ 



Total 12,-525 



}> 



Aiid if to this be added the beds of the IMiddle and Upper Coal-measures which 

 occur in South Lancashire, but have been removed by 'denudation from off the 

 Burnley district, a total thickness of 18,785 feet would be the amount of thickness 

 which "the "sedimentary" beds alone of the Carboniferous group originally attained 

 in this part of England. 



This estimate excludes the Carboniferous limestone, which, for special reasons, 



