' 
A. S. Woodward—The Walton Museum. 361 
Bletchley points to the conclusion that the Kellaways beds are there 
thicker than usual, that they include blocks of a peculiar kind of 
granitic rock, and yield a saline water which contains large quantities 
of sodium chloride and sodium sulphate. 
The occurrence of blocks of microgranulite naturally suggests 
the possible proximity of some portion of the eastern Paleozoic land. 
It is generally conceded that the floor of Paleozoic rocks which 
underlies the eastern counties formed part of a land area during the 
ereater part of the Jurassic period, and indications of the neighbour- 
hood of land are especially abundant in the Great Oolite group 
which underlies the Oxford Clay. How far the Oxford Clay sea 
encroached on this land area we do not know, but at the time of the 
Kellaways Rock the shore is not likely to have receded far from 
the line which it occupied in Great Oolite times. 
The granitic boulders may have been carried to their present 
position by floating trees borne by currents from the eastern land ; 
or they may have formed part of a small island which had been 
gradually reduced in size by the encroachments of the sea till a more 
rapid subsidence enabled the waves to complete its destruction ; the 
last peak of the microgranulite may have been broken up in a storm, 
and its component blocks scattered over the surrounding sand-banks. 
Let us hope that other borings in Buckinghamshire may afford 
further information on this point; and if I were asked to indicate 
a site for a trial boring in search of the Paleozoic floor with its 
possible Coal-measures, I should mention the neighbourhood of 
Aylesbury. 
VI.—PaLmontotocy In tHE Matron Museum. 
By A. Smite Woopwarp, F.G.S., F.Z.S. 
MONG the local Museums of recent foundation, it would be 
difficult to find one of more scientific interest and importance 
than that of the Malton Field Naturalists’ and Scientific Society. 
The commencement of the collection, indeed, was made so lately, 
that it might naturally be expected to have attained little beyond the 
nucleus-stage ; but as an exponent of local Natural History it already 
rivals many of the older Museums, and the object of the present 
notice is briefly to call the attention of paleontologists to the material 
it affords for all interested in the investigation of Jurassic and Cre- 
taceous fossils. 
The oldest portion of the Paleontological collection is a series of 
Corallian fossils obtaimed many years ago in the neighbourhood of 
Malton by Mr. §. King; but the recent discoveries form by far the 
greater portion of the series, and these have been collected by Mr. 
Samuel Chadwick, F.G.S. The only difficulty presented to the 
student is the limited amount of cabinet and exhibition space, which 
renders it impossible to arrange more than a small typical collection, 
and it is to be hoped that, ere long, the Society will be in possession 
of sufficient funds to erect the long-projected new building, and 
rescue the stowed-away treasures from the dark cellars in which 
they are still placed. 
