8 







64 



1 



40 



1 



572 



9 



18 



3 



33 







188 Reports and Proceedings — Geological Society of London. 



the residual spherulitic matter closely resembles the matrix, and 

 may in time become undistinguishable from it. A consideration of 

 the pyromerides of the continent makes it appear probable that they 

 also are altered coarsely spherulitic rhyolites, and the comparisons 

 made by Delesse in 1852 strongly support this view. 



2. " Account of a Well-sinking made by the Great Western 

 Bailway Company at Swindon." By Horace B. Woodward, Esq., 

 F.G.S. With Lists of Fossils, by E. T. Newton, Esq., F.G.S. 



This well-sinking was made under the direction of Captain William 

 Dean, while fossils were collected and notes of the strata were made 

 by Messrs. W. H. Stanier and A. E. Elliott, to whom the authors 

 were greatly indebted. The object of sinking was to seek a supply 

 of water for use in the works at Swindon. The strata proved were 

 as follows: — 



ft. in. 



Made ground 



Kimmeridge Clay 



Corallian Beds 



Oxford Clay and Kellaways Eock ... 



Cornbrash 



Forest Marble .' 



736 2 



Unfortunately for the Company, saline waters were met with in 

 the Corallian rocks, and again in the Forest Marble. 



Few fossils were obtained from the Kimmeridge and Corallian rocks ; 

 but those from the Oxford Clay and Kellaways Bock indicated the 

 upward succession of the Callovian ornalus- and cordatus-forms of 

 Ammonites. It was shown that at least 44 feet of clays, sands, and 

 sandstones might be assigned to the Kellaways Bock, which should 

 be regarded as an irregular and impersistent basement-bed of the 

 Oxford Clay. Turning to the subject of the saline waters, it was 

 shown from analyses by Mr. F. W. Harris that the Corallian water 

 contained 144 grains per imperial gallon, consisting chiefly of sodium 

 chloride and sodium carbonate. In the Forest-Marble water, which 

 had a temperature of 64°, the saline ingredients amounted to 2131 

 grains per gallon, consisting chiefly of sodium chloride, calcium 

 chloride, etc. 



Attention was then drawn to the occurrence of saline waters in 

 the Jurassic rocks, at Melksham, Holt, Trowbridge, St. Clement's, 

 Oxford, and other localities in the neighbourhood ; and also to the 

 occurrence of saline waters in the Coal-measures and older rocks 

 of the Bristol Coal-basin, etc. It was shown that the occurrence of 

 saline waters was not necessarily connected with the proximity of 

 saliferous New Bed rocks, and it was suggested that the saline waters 

 at Swindon escaped from a ridge of Falaeozoic rocks against which 

 the Lower Jurassic rocks abutted, as they do on the Mendip Hills. 



Mr. E. T. Newton said the fossils had been collected with great 

 care by Mr. Stanier and Mr. Elliott, an exact record of depths being 

 kept. He noticed some of the more important species that had been 

 met with and their distribution, especially mentioning that the Am- 

 monites from the Oxford Clay were nearly all from greater depths 

 than 400 feet. 



