Professor T. McKenmj Hughes, F.R.S., F.G.S. 3 



tbe Geological Society in 1866) gave reasons for believing that the 

 layer was due to the dissolution of the top beds of the Chalk after 

 the deposition of the Thanet Sand. He also dealt with Sheppey, the 

 rapid waste of its coast, and the curious mounds in the adjacent 

 marshes, that had been a puzzle to antiquaries, but might well 

 be attributed to tidal action and the modifying effects of subaerial 

 denudation. He pointed out that the Medway, below Cuxton, flows 

 along the line of a gentle anticlinal axis in the Chalk, and he 

 discussed the effects of denudation on the permanent water-level in 

 the Chalk. 



Working later (1865-6) in the country near Hertford and 

 St, Albans, Mr. Hughes described the drift gravels under two heads ; 

 that of the Lower Plain, which for the most part is the ordinary 

 mixed glacial gravel associated with the Chalky Boulder-clay, and 

 that of the Higher Plain, consisting chiefly of pebbles of flint, quartz, 

 etc., which he regarded as a marine deposit, and he hinted at its 

 possible Pliocene age. 



In 1866 Mr. Hughes was transferred to the Lake District where 

 the Geological Survey had commenced operations under the super- 

 intendence of W. T. Aveline. In that region he had the satisfaction 

 of meeting his old master, Sedgwick, on his own ground, working 

 in the neighbourhood of Kirkby Lonsdale, Dent, and Sedbergh. 

 There, too, he was ever a welcome guest in the country houses, and 

 after a hard day's tramp across mountain and moor, he frequently 

 rode many miles on horseback from his quarters to dinner or dance. 

 His personality has always readily turned strangers into friends 

 amongst rich and poor. Once, after a long day's work in the Crossfell 

 country, he went into a lonely cottage and asked the good woman to 

 give him something to eat. She did so, and when he had finished 

 he said, "What is there to pay?" "Nowt at a', nowt at a'," she 

 replied, "yer cumpany's good ! " 



He now zealously paid attention to the fossils of the Silurian and 

 other rocks on the borders of Westmorland and Yorkshire, and his 

 observations communicated to the Geological Magazine for 1867 

 led him to confirm the breach between the Upper and Lower 

 Silurian, and to support the view of Sedgwick that the Coniston 

 Flags formed the base of the upper division. The publication of 

 these views was, we believe, received with some disapprobation on 

 the part of the Director-General of the Geological Survey. 



The main results of his field-work were printed subsequently in 

 Memoirs on the geology of the neighbourhood of Kirkby Lonsdale 

 and Kendal (written in conjunction with Mr. W. T. Aveline and 

 Mr. R. H. Tiddeman), and on the geology of the country around 

 Kendal, Sedbergh, Bowness, and Tebay (with W. T. Aveline). 



In describing the " Upper Old Eed Conglomerate " he remarked 

 on the unfortunate introduction into the district of the term " Old 

 Eed," as the conglomerate was truly the Basement Bed of the 

 Carboniferous Series. With reference to the Yoredale Eocks, he 

 observed that "They thus form a kind of passage from the Mountain 

 Limestone to the Millstone Grit, and should, perhaps, be considered 



