40 Reports &, Proceedings, — Geological Society of London. 



low down. This fact, and the general relations of the clay and 

 gravel in which they were found, suggest that the forest was 

 destroyed by the flooding of the surface with gravel from the 

 migrating cones of rejection, a process which may be seen still in 

 operation in other parts of South Island. The roots were held 

 firmly by the gravel so that the trunks could be snapped off leaving 

 the stumps in place and undisturbed. This occurrence, therefore, 

 is additional evidence in favour of the idea that the Canterbury 

 Plains were formed almost entirely above water, from the gravel of 

 the alluvial fans of rivers, and that the material was not deposited 

 under the sea. 



W. H. W. 



EEPOETS -A-USTID PBOOEEDIITG-S. 



I. — Geological Society of London. 



November 20, 1918.— G. W. Lamplugh, F.P.S., President, in the 



Chair. 



The President referred with regret to the loss that the Society has 

 sustained by the death of Miss Maude Seymour, on November 6 

 last, after a very short illness. He alluded to the high value of her 

 services as an Assistant in the Library, and to her energetic 

 assistance in the preparation of the "List of Geological Literature". 



The following communication was read : — 



" The Geology of the Meldon Valleys, near Okehampton, on the 

 Northern Verge of Dartmoor." Bv Richard Hansford Worth, 

 M.Inst.C.E., F.G.S. 



The area dealt with lies between the London and South- Western 

 main railway line, from a point a litte east of Meldon Viaduct to 

 near Sourton, and the ridge of Dartmoor occupied by Black Tor, 

 High Wilhays, Yes Tor, and West Mill Tor, being the greater 

 part of the valley of the Eedaven and a portion of the valley of the 

 West Okement. 



The southern extreme of this area is occupied by the Dartmoor 

 Granite, north of which are shales, in which occurs a patch of 

 limestone, and these are intersected by numerous bands of igneous 

 rock. 



The shales as a whole, with but slight local deviations, strike 

 north-east and south-west and dip north-westwards, the mean angle 

 of dip being about 50°. 



The sedimentary rocks are divisible into : — 



1. An alumino-arenaceous series, extending from the granite northwards 



for a breadth of somewhat over half a mile. 



2. A. calcareous series, abruptly but conformably succeeding the last. 



3. A limestone, which occurs a short distance south of the railway. 



4. Radiolarian cherts a little above and a little below the horizon of the 



limestone. 



5. An aluminous bed north of the railway. 



