TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 117 



ore is f jund to occur in a series of thin cementing lines in the gravels, and folio-w- 

 ing tl>e natural inclination of the beds. In one instance the gravels are set in a 

 ligh' grey and greenish-yellow cement, in which occur tiaces of lead, iron, and 

 abuninium soluble in acids. It is therefore to these conditions, namely the ad- 

 r.iixture of copper- and lead-ores with the Huntington gravels, that they owe their 

 /peculiar character as detrimental to the growth of weeds, and from whicli, but 

 previously unknown, circumstance they have a large demand as material for the 

 formation and repair of private roads and walks, the gravel ha\ing been sent so far 

 as Ireland for this purpose. 



During the early part of the present year the Fair Oak Colliery Company com- 

 menced sinking a pair of shafts for coal 4 miles to the north-east of the Hunt- 

 ington gravel-pits, about 2A miles north of the West Caimoek Colliery, half 

 a mile west of the assured boundary fault, and about 2 miles west of the 

 Brereton Collieries. The sinkings commence in drift sands and gravel, and are 

 succeeded by I3unter conglomerates. At a depth of 29 feet from the surface 

 lead-ore occurs in large quantities, disseminated ireely amongst the gravels, 

 which are coarse, and set in an excessively hard calcareous cement. The ore is, how- 

 ever, hj no means continuous or persistent in its occurrence, but is found at irre- 

 gular intervals in larger or smaller quantities, mixed up both with fine and 

 coarse gravel, downwards to a depth of 85 feet from the surface. At 75 feet in the 

 shaft copper-ore first shows itself, and is in this case distinctly separated from the 

 lead. In passing further downwards, however, both these ores are found freel}' asso- 

 ciated together and in large quantities; but the former, so far, by no means reaches 

 the percentage of the Huntington specimens. In this particular instance (that is, 

 the association of the two ores) the Fair-Oak ores difier from those of Huntington, 

 although it is of course quite probable that this may not be so in ground at present 

 unexplored. The Fair-Oak ore consists of a green carbonate, occasionally passing 

 into malachite, or carbonate and hydrate of copper; and there are also in some spe- 

 cimens traces of oxide of copper. The lead, which individually is more abundant 

 than at Huntington, occurs in the form of ordinary galena or sulphide of lead ; but 

 so far no other ores, except manganese and iron, have been detected, although it is 

 most probable that both cobalt and nickel, and possiblj^ tin, may exist in^ small 

 quantities. 



With regard to the origin of these ores, or under what condition they were pro- 

 duced, the author would not venture an opinion ; but he believed that they would 

 be found to determine the lines of some important disturbance. Their occurrence 

 at these particular and widely separated points was certainly curious and worthy 

 of investigation. How far tliej^ extended downwards in the gravels would be ascer- 

 tained by the sinkings, but they had not hitherto been met with below 108 feet 

 from the surface. The author concluded by observing that he believed this was the 

 only known instance of the occurrence of copper- and lead-ores in undoubted Bunter 

 conglomerates in England. 



On the Presence of NaJced EcMnodermata (Holothuria) in the Inferior Oolite 

 and Lias. By C. Moore, F. G.S. 



The Holothurida3 are a group of animals allied to the Echiuodermata, but are 

 destitute of shelly coverings. But sixteen recent British species are known, and 

 in size vary, according to their genera, from 2 inches to 12 inches in length ; the 

 latter belong to the Cucumarite, which on being brought up by the dredge have a 

 marked resemblance to a disagreeable-looking, thick-skinned, slimy cucumber, 

 many of the genera (of which there are but six ]5ritish) being very rare. One of 

 the rarer of these is the tSiptapta, which has imbedded in its skin a'number of very 

 minute spines in the form of anchors, by means of which, when touched, it adheres 

 closely to the fingers. A Greenland species, allied to Cliirochtu, has its skin fur- 

 nished with exceedingly minute wheels, which arc known by being very pretty 

 microscopic objects. Soft-bodied animals have almost entirely disappeared in a 

 fossil state ; but through the discovery by the author of the wheel-plates alluded 

 to, he is able to establish the presence of at least four species of Holothuria in the 



