ox THE ERRATIC BLOCKS OF ENGLAND, WALES, AND IRELAND. 427 



mittee, and it is matter for congratulation that two observers have under- 

 taken the work of recording the erratics of that county Two very im- 

 portant pieces cf work have been undertaken by the Yorkshire Boulder 

 Committee, one in the western portion of the area coming within their 

 purview, near Barnsley, and the other, by the aid of the East Riding 

 Boulder Committee, organised under the secretaryship of Mr. J. W. 

 Stather, F.G.S., by the Hull Geological Society, in the country round 

 Hull. In the latter case an exhaustive survey has been undertaken of 

 all the erratics at present visible in the area selected, the one-inch map 

 being divided into squares, and each square allotted to a worker, who will 

 record every erratic above ground. The value of such a survey, in the 

 elucidation of tlie complex problems of glacial geology, can hardly be 

 over-estimated. 



The Barnsley reports refer to a series of erratics, some of which were ob- 

 served many years ago, but only a few of which were recorded. Fortunately, 

 a local worker, Mr. W. Hemingway, preserved the information left in his 

 hands by Professor A. H. Green, and supplemented it largely by his own 

 observations. Mr. T. Tate, Secretary of the Yorkshire Boulder Committee, 

 and the present writer, went over much of the ground under Mr. Heming- 

 way's guidance, and can thus corroborate his testimony on many important 

 points ; though a very large proportion of the erratics, especially such as 

 were of a hard nature, have disappeared under the hammer of the road- 

 mender. (It would be well here to remark that a like fate is rapidly 

 overtaking many of the most interesting and significant of the ice-borne 

 boulders in the country, and to reiterate the oft-repeated appeal to local 

 observers to take prompt measures to record — and, if possible, to preserve 

 — the erratics which come under their notice.) The especial interest of 

 the groups observed lies in the fact that they are quite detached from the 

 main lines of transport, and are so placed that they conceivably may 

 have come by either of three routes — viz, : ( 1 ) with the train of erratics, 

 exclusively from the Lake District, which is traceable down Calderdale to 

 within a few miles of Royston and Barnsley ; (2) with the dispersion of 

 Brockram, Shap granite, and other Lake District rocks, with a few 

 Scottish rocks, which can be traced down Teesdale and the Vale of York ; 

 or (3) with the coast dispersion characterised by a similar series to that 

 of the Vale of York, with some Scandinavian and other crystalline rocks 

 superadded. The abundance of rocks from the northeni part of the 

 Lake District is conclusive against (1), while the occurrence of crystalline 

 rocks, red and grey granites, gneissose granites, and felspar porphyries, 

 certainly coming from neither English nor South Scottish sources, seems 

 equally against (2), leaving the third the probable direction of origin. 

 Mr. Tate recognised a Norwegian aspect of the non-British rocks. 



Another important report is that by Mr. W. Andrews, giving details 

 of the dispersion of boulders from six small bosses of syenite which crop 

 out about Sapcote, near Leicester, 



Cheshire. 



Reported by Surgeon-Major W. R. Dambrill-Davies, i^er Glacialists' 



Association. 

 Macclesfield — 



2 Lake District andesites. 



