CiRC. 160. 



throughout the 'Field,' 'Naturalist,' ' Zoologist,' etc., and Clarke and Roebuck's 

 * Handbook of Yorkshire Vertebrata,' may be usefully referred to for Mr. Carter's 

 notes on the various species. 



WEEK-END ARRANGEMENTS.— The Headquarters will be at the 

 King's Head Hotel, Masham. Terms : — Bed and attendance 2/6, double-bedded 

 room 2/- each per night ; cold meat tea or breakfast 1/6, hot ditto 2/- ; evening 

 dinner 3/-. As the accommodation is limited, and in gfreat demand, Members 

 requiring it must communicate direct -with the proprietor, Mr. T. Harper, 

 not later than July 22nd. It is hoped that a large number of members will be 

 able to spend the week-end in the district so as to thoroughly investigate its 

 Natural History. 



SATURDAY'S ROUTES. — As members will arrive at various times dur- 

 ing the day, it is inadvisable to arrange definite routes, so they are recommended to 

 visit the immediate vicinity of Masham, Swinton Park, Nutwith Cote, etc. Those 

 arriving on Friday evening v^ill be able to visit the more distant parts of the district, 

 with aid of conveyances, which may be arranged for, if a sufficient party. 



Geologists are recommended to examine the sections in the JNIagnesian Lime- 

 stones, mentioned in Mr. Gregson's paragraph. 



MONDAY'S ROUTES.— The main body will leave Masham Station on 

 arrival of 9-36 a.m. train, and proceed by way of Swinton Park up Colsterdale, 

 under the guidance of Mr. Wm. Forbes, Mr. B. M. Smith, and members of the 

 Ripon Naturalists' Society. 



Geologists. — The arrangements for a Geological Party were not completed 

 in time for printing in this Circular, but will be communicated to those attending, 

 the start being made from Jilasham Station on arrival of 9-36 a.m. train. 



THE DISTRICT. — The tract of country appointed for examination is 

 Colsterdale, the valley of the river Burn with its two main feeders, Birk Gill and 

 Arnagill, the full length of the stream being about ten iiiiles. It .seems to be an 

 absolutely uninvestigated and therefore virgin soil for the Union, which has never 

 before in its history appointed a district for an Excursion about which so little is 

 known. It was not explored by the Union when meeting at Masham in 1880, 

 all the work then being done south of Masham, and about Hackfall ; and the dis- 

 trict scarcely seems to have been worked by individual naturalists at any time. It 

 is one of the tracts for which Mr. J. Gilbert Baker, in his ' North Yorkshire,' men- 

 tions no plants whatever, and all he says of the district is as follows : — ' On the 

 south of the river [Yore] we have now an undulated moorland gritstone country, 

 sloping suddenly towards the east, and penetrated by a eugeogenous dale, the 

 stream [the river Burn] of which runs from west to east and has numerous branches. 

 It is about ten miles in length, and the dale is called Colsterdale. The town of 

 Masham stands upon the banks of its stream, not far from the point where it joins 

 the Yore, the latter being here 250 feet above the sea-level, and the top of the 

 ridge which separates Colsterdale from Coverdale being upwards of 1500 feet above 

 it. The country about Masham itself and along the banks of the Yore in its vicinity 

 has, however, been investigated zoologically, and few districts can have been better 

 observed for birds, mammals, fishes and reptiles than that which has been for up- 

 wards of forty years systematically and closely investigated by Mr. James Carter 

 and his relatives. 



GEOLOGY. — This section will be officially represented, 

 Mr. W. Gregson, F.G.S., writes that the pretty little market town of Masham 

 is built on a bed of river alluvium of comparatively recent date. This overlies an 

 extensive deposit of Palaeozoic rocks belonging to the IMillstone Grit formation, by 

 which most of the hills overlooking the charming valley of Wensleydale are capped. 

 These rocks, a few miles west and north-west of Masham, attain considerable thick- 

 ness, and consist of coarse, massive grits, with alternating beds of shale, sections of 

 which may be observed in the bed of the River Yore, both on the north and the 

 south of the town of Masham. These beds are of varying thickness, and they con- 

 tain, occasionally, thin seams of impure co.-il. Coal, iron, and lead were worked in 

 this neighbourhood at a very early period, as proved by ancient documents stillin 

 existence. The charm which is so characteristic of the Yoredale scenery, and which 

 adds so materially to the beauty of the landscape, undoubtedly arises, in some 

 degree, from the absence of uniformity, and to the varied character of these Mill- 



