322 Reports and Proceedings. 
Members, it was stated that the Society now numbers nearly 400 
Members. A paper was read On the Application of Improved Fire- 
bars to Puddling and Heating Furnaces. A new species of Trilobite, . 
a Carpolite, and a Cystidean were exhibited. 
IiI. The Second Field-meeting was held May 16th, about sixty 
Members being present. The party was conveyed from Stourbridge 
by special train to the junction of the Hayes Mineral Branch Rail- 
way with the Stourbridge and Birmingham line. The first point 
of interest was an adjacent cutting on the Hayes Branch, in 
which all, or nearly all, the seams of ‘coal found in that part of the 
district are exposed, lying at a high angle of inclination. The Thick- 
coal is well exhibited. A line of fault runs immediately eastward 
of the cutting, and throws down the measures on the Cradley side 
in some places about a hundred yards, as is proved by a number of 
workings contiguous to the fault. Three pits on the Hayes Estate, 
and very close to each other, were visited, in which the rapid deep- 
ening of the beds from the Hayes Limestone eastward is proved. 
In the first the fire-clay is only about 12 yards deep, in the second 
it is 60 yards from the surface, and in the third the same bed is 160 
yards from the top. The small patch of Silurian Limestone be- 
longing to the Ludlow series next occupied the attention of. the 
geologists. The Aymestry Limestone is the most conspicuous in this 
district. ‘The other exposures of the same formation are at Turner’s 
Hill, and along the western flank of- Sedgley Beacon. The beds - 
here dip to the east, and occupy but a very small area. These low- 
lying rocks have doubtless been brought in by the upheaving force 
which produced what is known as the Netherton Anticlinal or 
Saddleback, the effect of which was to tilt up the measures on each 
side of a line extending from Netherton through Quarry Bank to 
the Lye. A considerable number of fossils were obtained, consisting 
of fragments of Trilobites, Cup-corals, Shells, &c.: in all, twenty- 
four species of fossil forms had been made out in the short search. 
The party then proceeded up a pleasant hill which until recently 
seemed a barrier to the miner; but now a colliery has been opened, 
pear the summit. The new sinkings on the hill belong to the Crad- 
ley Colliery Company, and the plant is of modern construction, 
embracing all the improvements which have recently been intro- 
duced in the winning of coal. The winding gear is worked by two 
coupled horizontal engines, working to 60-horse power. ‘The mines 
have been sunk 188 yards to the fire-clay. The Brooch-coal lies at 
a depth of 132 yards, and the Thick-coal at 153 yards. ‘The mea- 
sures have yielded a good deal of water, but appear to be in a per- 
fectly horizontal position, which is strong presumptive evidence 
that they extend evenly under the Red rocks farther to the south. 
The Thick-coal is here about 14 yards in thickness, including part- 
ings; so that there seems little danger that this fine seam will be 
found greatly split up in its southern extension. Mr. King explained 
briefly 1 the principal points in the section of the shafts, and also in 
connection with the plant; and the party then passed down to the 
mines and extensive fire-clay works of Messrs. Harper and Moore, 
