90 Reports and Proceedings — Geological Society of London. 



Britain) " were better omitted altogether, and fail also to see the 

 object in practically rej)rinting feuch a work as that by Hudleston 

 and Wilson. 



Beyond this we have no adverse criticism to offer, and most 

 sincerely deplore the necessity Professor Blake will be under of 

 abandoning this work in the future unless the present volume 

 meets with sufficient support. Aid should certainly be given him 

 not only by individual geologists, but by those societies, large and 

 small, that in many quarters of the British Islands are formed 

 to promote the study and progress of the science of geology. 



Unfortunately the principal society does not consider Records are 

 "instituted for the purpose of investigating," or aiding in the in- 

 vestigation of, "the mineral structure of the earth;" whilst it is 

 hopeless to expect the G-eological Survey of the United Kingdom to 

 be as enterprising as its American equivalent in the United States, 

 and to undertake a work of utility such as this. 



Those prepared to support Professor Blake should remember, 

 "bis dat, qui cito dat ! " 



s-iBiPOE-ars -A-isriD :E='ie,OG:B:EZDiiNrc3-s. 



Geological Society of London. 



I.— December, 6th, 1893.— W. H. Hudleston, Esq., M.A., F.E.S., 

 President, in the Chair. The following communications were read : 



1. " The Parbeck Beds of the Vale of Wardour." By the Eev. 

 W. R. Andrews, M.A., F.G.S., and A. J, Jukes-Browne, Esq., B.A., 

 E.G.S. 



The authors have obtained better evidence than previously existed 

 for calculating the thicknesses of the several parts of the Purbecl 

 series in the Yale of Wardour, and comparing the different sub 

 divisions as developed in that Vale with those exposed in othe 

 localities. Putting together 22-24 feet of basement-beds of th( 

 Lower Purbeck strata seen in the Wockley section, 21 feet in Kidgt, 

 Quarry, and 17 feet in Teffont Quarry, more than 60 feet of Lower 

 Purbeck Beds are actually seen, and allowing for the gap between 

 the Wockley and Eidge sections, 70 feet seems a fair estimate of the 

 average thickness of the Lower Purbeck strata. 



In the Teffont and Chicksgrove quarries, a little over 12 feet may 

 be measured between the basal clay of the Middle Purbeck Beds and 

 the Cinder Bed ; while the great cutting on the Teffont line shows 

 19 feet of strata above the Cinder Bed, and the beds of Dinton 

 cutting may be all on a higher horizon ; so that an estimated 

 thickness of 32 feet for the Middle Purbeck Beds is probably below 

 the mark. 



The clay and sand in the Dinton cutting must be 18-20 feet 

 thick, and between its summit and the top of the second seam of 

 calcareous grit there is a thickness of at least 8 feet. This grit 

 forms the floor of Dinton Well, about 40 feet deep ; hence there is 

 a thickness of at least 66 feet of Upper Purbeck strata, and probably 

 more than 2 and less than 12 feet in addition. 



