332 Reports and Proceedings — Geological Society of London. 



Devonian from Tottenham Court lloacl, Turnford, and Brabourne ; 

 Old lied Sandstone from "VVillesden, Chiswick, Southall, Richmond, 

 Streatham, Beckton, and Crossness ; Coal-measures and Carboniferous 

 Limestone from Ebbsfleet, near Bamsgate. 



The President stated that, no papers having been ready for 

 presentation at the meeting, he had obtained the consent of the 

 Director of the Geological Survey to exhibit the specimens. He 

 drew attention to many points of interest which came up for con- 

 sideration. The red rocks reached by the Richmond, Streatham, and 

 Crossness boreholes had been originally classed, with some doubt, as 

 Poikilitic or JSTew lied Sandstone. He had himself, however, always 

 held to the opinion that they were of Old Bed Sandstone age and liad 

 so entered them in the Table of Borings published in the Report of 

 the Royal Commission on Coal-Supplies; the recent borings at 

 Willesden, Chiswick, and Southall confirmed this view. 



Another point of interest to which he specially directed attention 

 was tlie existence of rocks of Old Red Sandstone aspect, in the same 

 region as rocks witli Devonian fossils and of Devonian appearance. 

 It would be of the greatest interest to ascertain the relations of the 

 two types one to the other. 



The exhibits included three of particular interest, namely, the 

 rock from the Harwich boring showing a structure which was 

 mistaken for a ' Fosidonia', but which Professor Watts had shown to 

 be an accidental fracture ; the Upper Old Red Sandstone fishes which 

 liad been obtained by Mr. Procter from the Southall cores ; and the 

 Carboniferous Limestone from Ebbsfleet, the first recorded occurrence 

 of that formation in the South-East of England. 



June 5, 1912.— Professor W. ^Y. Watts, Sc.D., LL.D., F.R.S., 

 Vice-President, in the Chair. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. "The Further Evidence of Borings as to the Range of the 

 South-Eastern Coalfield and of the Palaeozoic Floor, and as to the 

 Thickness of the Overlving Strata." Bv Hon. Professor W. Boyd 

 Dawkins, M.A., D.Sc, F.R.S., F.S.A., F.G.S. 



In this paper the author gives an outline of the history of the 

 experimental borings made in order to verify Godwin-Austen's theory 

 concerning "the Axis of Artois ", which led to the discovery of the 

 South-Eastern Coal-field. The first of these was at Netlierfield 

 (1872-5) near Battle (Sussex). Here the borehole, ending in Oxford 

 ('lay at a depth of 1,905 feet below the surface, showed that the 

 Palreozoic floor is buried under so great a thickness of rock that it was 

 advisable to look farther north for a site for further experiments. 

 The second boring (1886-92), under the Shakespeare Cliff, Dover, on 

 the site of the Channel Tunnel works, resulted in the discovery of the 

 Coal-measures belonging to the Pennant or Middle Series of the 

 Bristol and South Wales Coal-fields, at a depth of 1,100 feet below 

 O.D. This affords a practical basis for further exploration. The 

 extension of the coal-field to a distance of 8 miles north of Dover was 



