192 Correspondence — Mr. R. 8. Hemes — Prof. Wiltshire. 



THE BAGSHOT SANDS. 



Sir, — Mr. Irving commences an article in the GEOLoaiOAL Maga- 

 zine for March (p. Ill) with the following statement : "The chief 

 object of this paper is to describe an unmapped outlier of Bagshot 

 Sand." I have no desire here to raise the question of the age of the 

 beds he has described in that article, especially as that subject was 

 fully discussed on a paper read by Mr. Irving before the Geological 

 Society in January last. But I wish to point out that, unless I 

 have greatly misunderstood Mr. Irving's account of the geographical 

 position of the outlier which he describes, the Bagshot Sand in 

 question is neither unmapped nor does it form an outlier. In the 

 Survey Map the Lower Bagshot Beds are represented as extending 

 from the main mass westwards, between Barkham and Bearwood 

 Park, including pai't of the latter, and sending off spurs to the south- 

 ward, one of which " is crossed by the main road from Arborfield 

 Cross to Wokingham," exactly as described by Mr. Irving. The 

 only difference appears to be that Mr. Irving gives the beds a rather 

 greater northerly extension than the Map. Moreover, the beds are 

 not only mapped, they are also described. In the " Memoirs of the 

 Geological Survey," vol. iv. page 314, we find the following: — • 

 "About three-quarters of a mile N.N.W. of Barkham, near Woking- 

 ham, there is light-brown fine micaceous glauconiferous sand, with 

 thin layers of pipe-clay towards the top, about 12 feet thick, over a 

 pebble-bed in whitish micaceous sand." This may possibly have 

 been a description of the " Barkham Pit " described by Mr. Irving 

 on p. 112. It agrees well enough in position, and the pit is said 

 (p. 113) to have been "re-opened only last winter, after having 

 been disused for years." It is true we find no mention of these 

 beds in the list of outliers given in the memoir (loc. cit. p. 316) ; 

 but, as I have stated above, the Survey considers that the sands are 

 connected with the main mass. 



It would seem, therefore, that in the alleged new outlier of 

 Bagshot Sands, with which he has lately been puzzling those who 

 are interested in Bagshot geology, Mr. Irving has only discovered 

 an old friend. R. S. Herribs. 



PAL^ONTOGEAPHICAL SOCIETY. 



Sir, — The volume for the year 1886, price one guinea, containing : 

 (1). Stigmaria ficoides, by Prof. W. C. Williamson, with 15 plates; (2) Fossil 

 Sponges, Part I. by Dr. G. J. Hinde, with 8 plates; (3) Jurassic Gasteropoda, 

 Part I. No. 1, by Mr. W. H. Hudleston ; (4) Inferior Oolite Ammonites, Part I. 

 by Mr. G. S. Buckman, with 6 plates ; (5) Pleistocene Mammalia, Part VI. by 

 Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, with 7 plates, is now with the binder, and will be issued 

 to the Members toward the close of the present month, 



The volume for 1887, of which nearly all the plates are ready, will be placed in 

 the printer's hands at once, and will be distributed before the end of the year. 



The new Monographs, on the Fossil Sponges, the Stromatoporoids, the Jurassic 

 Gasteropoda, and the Inferior Oolite Ammonites, will require many plates for their 

 illustration, and will be very costly. It would be a considerable aid to the Society 

 if Members would mention these Monographs to those of their friends who are 

 interested in such subjects, and if they would try to bring in new Subscribers. 



25, Granville Park, Lewisham, Thos. Wiltshire, 



London, 7th March, 1887. Secretary. 



