L. J. Wills—Wind-worn Pebbles in Gravels. 299 
Fic, : 
3a. Orthis (Scenidium?) equivocalis, sp.nov. Portion of surface of same valve. x 10. 
4. Ditto. Internal cast of same pedicle-valve. x 4. 
5. Orthis duftonensis, sp. nov. Internal cast of brachial valve. Nat. size. 
6. Ditto. Internal cast of pedicle-valve. Nat. size. 
7. Ditto. Internal cast of brachial valve. Nat. size. 
8. Ditto. Internal cast of pedicle-valve. Nat. size. 
9, Ditto. Brachial valve of complete specimen. ~ 1}. 
9a. Ditto. Posterior view of same specimen. x 1. 
94. Ditto. Lateral view of ditto. x 14. 
9¢. Ditto. Portion of surface of ditto. x 23. 
10. Ditto. Brachial valve of another complete specimen. Nat. size. 
11. Ditto. Pedicle-valve of another complete specimen. x 13. 
ITV.—On tHE occuRRENCE oF WIND-worRN PEBBLES IN HIGH-LEVEL 
GRAVELS IN WORCESTERSHIRE. 
By Lronarp J. Wits, M.A., F.G.S., Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge. 
(PLATE XXY.) 
IND-WORN pebbles are somewhat rare in England, and 
accordingly it may be of interest to record the occurrence 
of a deposit of which they form a prominent feature. ‘This has been 
met with in several quarry-sections at Hill Top, near Bromsgrove in 
Worcestershire, at about 350 feet above sea-level. I am indebted to 
Mr. Willcox, the owner of one of the quarries, for pointing out these 
pebbles to me. 
The quarries are opened in the Lower Keuper Sandstone, and the 
deposit under consideration occurs on the ridge of the hill in channel- 
like depressions cut out of the underlying sandstone. To the north- 
west there are patches of gravel capping the hill, but so far I have not 
detected wind-polished pebbles in them, and I am rather inclined to 
regard the two deposits as distinct.! 
As exposed in the quarries, the deposit is a loose red-brown sand, 
with occasional streaks of tough clay, and may attain a thickness of 
about 10 feet. In places the sands are blackened by an infiltration 
of an oxide of manganese. In cases where pebbles le in clay, 
sand-grains may be cemented to them by this oxide. The sand is 
largely composed of fairly fine quartz-grains, usually angular, and 
rarely rounded, but there is also a great quantity of very much smaller 
and quite angular material, and a few large flakes of white mica. 
The wind-worn pebbles le in a somewhat discontinuous layer 
towards the base of the deposit and occasionally higher up in it. 
They are, as I hope to show, more or less highly polished, according 
to the nature of the material of which they are composed, but nearly 
all show a dimpling which has resulted from the selective action of 
the wind. These little depressions are polished like the rest of the 
stone. But possibly the most striking feature that nearly all of the 
pebbles show is the presence of sharp angular ridges, which give 
1 One large quartzite pebble, having a very typically wind-cut appearance, has 
been found about 14 miles to the north-east of Bromsgrove, while other pebbles 
with a considerable polish may be seen in the fields near Apesdale. So it is possible 
that similar deposits to those at Bromsgrove may eventually be discovered im that 
neighbourhood also. 
