TKANSACTIONS OF SECTION C, (393 



with Trit/onia signata, Ag., T. Lycetti, Waif, is covered with two feet of shattered 

 siliceous stone pierced with vertical markings. These are the Oxfordshire repre- 

 sentatives of the Northamptonshire E^tLlarine Sands. 



So far, tlien, the Stonestield section enables ns to get a better understanding of 

 the relationships of the Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire Inferior Oolite. 



Though the zones of the Northamptonshire Inferior Oolite appear at present to 

 be ill-defined, we may hope in Sharpe's Series D to recognise the representative of 

 the well-known Clypeus grit of West Oxfordshire and the Cotteswolds. 



TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17. 

 The following Papers and Reports were read : — 



1. The Trial-boring at Stutton. By W. Whitaker, F.R.S. 



This, the first attempt of the Eastern Counties Coal-horing Association, is in 

 the low ground southward of Crepping Hall, and has been successful in reaching 

 the base of the Cretaceous beds at the depth of 994 feet, and in proving that these 

 are at once underlain by a much older rock. The Tertiary and Cretaceous beds 

 passed through are as follows : — 



Feet 



Drift (River Gravel) 16 



London Clay and Reading Beds 54 



Upper and Middle Chalk 720 



Lower Chalk, with very glauconitic marl at tlie base (almost a 



greensand) 154^ 



Gault 49i 



Beneath this is Palaeozoic rock, with a high dip, which has been pierced to the 

 depth of over 200 feet. au at 



The thickness of both Chalk and Gault is slightly less th Harwich, and 



there is also a little less of the Tertiary beds. 



A full account will be brought before the Geological Society. 



2. The Dip of the Underground Paheozoic Bocks at Ware and at Cheshunf. 



By Joseph Francis, M.Inst.C.E. 



Ordered to be printed in extenso. — See Reports, p. 441, 



3. On the Impoi'tance of extending the Work of the Geological Survey oj 

 Great Britain to the Dee2)-seated Rocks by meaiis of Boring. By F. W. 

 Harmer, F.G.S. 



The systematic exploration of the subterranean geology of these islands is equally 

 important from a scientific and a practical point of view. At present our know- 

 ledge of the structure of the rocks whicli lorm tlie foundation of our island home 

 is due either to isolated and occasional borings, such as that of the Ipswich Syndi- 

 cate in search of coal, or to deep wells sunk by mercantile firms, but the latter do 

 not reach further than is necessary to obtain a supply of water, and the work is 

 generally suspended just where it becomes geologically "most interesting. But such 

 a Survey is important practically, because unsuspected sources of wealth may be 

 hidden under our very feet. 



It is a mistake to suppose that a discovery such as that of a new coal-field 

 would enrich only the landowners of the district, because whenever any apprecia- 

 tion of real property takes place, the State at once claims its share of the increased 



