29 REPORT—1874, 
prise was solicited on the ground that it was of national importance, and that 
such an exploration had been recommended by a Parliamentary Committee 
(Coal Commission). In response a Treasury Minute was received to the effect 
that a maximum grant of £1000 would be recommended to Parliament, £100 
of which is to be paid for every 100 feet bored beyond the first 1000 feet*. 
This recognition will, it is hoped, induce the Members of the G eneral Com- 
mittee of the British Association, at the Meeting at Belfast, to vote a liberal 
grant in aid on similar conditions ; for under the most favourable calculation 
from £3000 to £4000 (including the cost of lining-tubes) will be needed ere 
2000 feet (or Paleozoic strata) are reached. 
* No favourable opportunity having presented itself for observing the under- 
ground temperature, owing to the constant obstruction in the hole, these ex- 
periments are postponed until the bore-hole shall be lined. 
The cost of the lining-tubes will approximate £500, towards which it is 
proposed to apply the grant which it is hoped will be made at Belfast. 
Geological Report by W. Topley, F.GS., Assoc.Inst.0.H., Geological Survey 
of England. 
When the last Report upon the Sub-Wealden Boring was read at the 
Bradford Meeting of the Association, a depth of 300 feet had been attained, 
but no good fossils had been observed, and no certain information could be 
given as to the age of the beds traversed. ‘The only point certainly esta- 
blished was that the higher beds of the boring, as well as the “‘ Ashburnham 
Beds” of the neighbouring district, belonged to the Purbecks; but how 
deep the Purbecks extended, and what was the age of the underlying strata, 
were points then undecided. 
We are still in some uncertainty as to the first point. Some imperfect 
specimens of Hstheria (Cyclas) were observed by Mr. Peyton at about 100 
feet from the surface, but no other fossils were noticed until the Kimmeridge 
Clay was reached. It is then only by the lithological characters of the 
intermediate strata that we can form any idea as to their age. A detailed 
section of the strata was given in the last Report, and specimens are still 
preserved at the boring. We should probably not be far wrong in as- 
signing the beds down to the depth of 180 feet to the Purbecks, and re- 
garding all between that depth and 290 feet as Portland. This classifica- 
tion places the gypsum and associated gypseous marls with the Purbecks, 
the sandy beds (sometimes almost a sandstone) and all the beds containing 
chert nodules with the Portland. Almost at the base of the Portland beds 
there are some veins of gypsum in pale shale. Some of the Portland sand or 
sandstone is rather greenish in colour. 
At the last Meeting of the Association some specimens of the strata tra- 
versed were shown, including pieces of clay from the lower part. After the 
Report was read this clay was broken up by Mr. Peyton, who noticed some 
fragments of fossils which Prof. Phillips recognized as Lingula ovalis, a 
characteristic shell of the Kimmeridge Clay in England, but which was then 
unknown in the Boulonnais. Shortly after this, Mr, Peyton, in examining 
the cliffs near Boulogne, was fortunate enough to find there several examples 
of the same species, 
* The grant was subsequently made by the House of Commons. 
