Correspondence— Professor T. McKenny Hughes. 187 



have yet proved a jSTeozoic cover so thick as to preclude the possibility 

 of successfully Tvorking any coal which may be found beneath it. 



It is argued that the time has now come for tlie organization of 

 a systematic survey of this area by means of a considered series of 

 borings so planned as to investigate the structure of the concealed 

 Palaeozoic floor, to ascertain the thickness of cover, to locate any coal- 

 basins which may form part of the floor, and to elucidate their exact 

 tectonic conditions in order to determine their suitability for profitable 

 working. 



It is admitted that such an exploration would involve many practical 

 difficulties and would introduce a new practice into British institutions, 

 but it is pointed out that similar method shave been employed in foreign 

 countries and even in British Colonies. 



It is urged that the close dependence of the future of the nation on 

 its coal-supplies justifies a new departure, and that it would be a wise 

 act of statecraft to take deliberate measures to devise a comprehensive 

 and well-considered scheme of exploration, the results of which might 

 be at hand for application before the growing scarcity of coal shall 

 have begun to produce its inevitable economic consequences upon the 

 manufactures and upon the very conditions of existence in this country. 



The Ballot for the Council and Officers was taken, and the following were 

 declared duly elected for the ensuing year : — 



Officers :—PresifZmi : Aubrey Strahan, Sc.D., F.E.S. Vice-Presidents: 

 Professor Edmund Johnston Garwood, M.A. ; John Edward Marr, Sc.D.,F.B.S. ; 

 Richard Dixon Oldham, F.E.S. ; Professor W. W. Watts, Sc.D., LL.D., F.E.S. 

 Secretaries: A. Smith Woodward, LL.D., F.E.S. , F.L.S. ; Herbert Henry 

 Thomas, M.A., B.Sc. Foreign Secretary: Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., 

 D.C.L., LL.D., Sc.D., Pres.E.S. Treasurer: Bedford McNeill, Assoc. E.S.M. 



The other Members of COUNCIL are :— Hemy A. Allen ; Tempest Anderson, 

 M.D., D.Sc. ; Charles William Andrews, B.A., D.Sc, F.E.S. : Henry Howe 

 Arnold-Bemrose, J. P., Sc.D. ; Professor Thomas George Bonney, Sc.D., LL.D., 

 F.E.S.; Professor William S. Boulton, B.Sc, Assoc.R.C.S. ; James Vincent 

 Elsden, D.Sc. ; John William Evans, D.Sc, LL.B. ; Eobert Stansfield Herries, 

 M.A. ; Herbert Lapworth, D.Sc,' M.Inst. C.E. ; George Thmiand Prior, 

 M.A.,D.Sc. ; Clement Eeid, F.E.S., F.L.S. ; Arthur Vaughan, M.A., D.Sc; 

 and the Eev. Henry Hoyte Winwood, M.A. 



ooE,^?.E!s:po^s^II)E3^q"CE. 



DISCOVEEY OF HUMAN EEMAINS. OBLITEEATION OF TEACES 

 OF INTEEMENT. 



Sir, — A skeleton has just been found buried in the top of the 

 Barrington Beds under circumstances which are at the present time 

 of special interest. 



'Barrington Beds' is the name given to a deposit of freshwater 

 origin occurring over an area of very limited extent near the village 

 of Barrington, some seven miles south of Cambridge. The locality has 

 recently been visited by the Geologists' Association, and described in 

 their Proceedings (vol. xxii, pt. v, p. 268, 1911). 



I took a party of students there yesterday to examine the sections 

 and in order to facilitate our work" I employed labourers to remove 



