CiRC. 91. 



GEOLOGY.— Mr. R. II. Tiddeman, M.A., F.G.S., writes : The journey 



from Skipton to Grassington will give a good idea of the general aspect of the 



Lower Carboniferous rocks on the south side of the Craven Faults. The following 



will be visible and most of them traversed : — 



ROCK. LOCALITY. 



Millstone Grits Cracoe and Rylstone Fells. 



Bowland Shales On the slopes beneath. 



Pendleside Limestone From Cracoe to Thorpe. 



Shales with Impure Limestones. Not well seen. 



Clitheroe Limestones Haw Park, Skipton, and Rylstone Vicarage. 



Bowland Shales give place to the Yoredale series on the north side of the 

 Faults beyond Grassington, though this is not so well developed as in the country 

 to the north-west, and the Limestone on the north side is one undivided mass, 

 the ' Shales-with-Limestones ' being aljsent. The most interesting feature in the 

 expedition, so far as geology is concerned, is the curious arrangement of the Pendle- 

 side Limestone in conical mounds near Cracoe. These are full of well-preserved 

 fossils, and there is much probability of their having been formed as reefs on a 

 sinking sea-bottom from the growth and death of organisms. 



BOTANY. — Mr. L. Rotheray states that the district offers a rich and varied 

 field to the botanist, owing in a great measure to its being situated on the mountain 

 or carboniferous limestone, the scars of which offer a good and safe habitat for many 

 rare and interesting species of limestone-loving plants. Especially so at Grass Wood, 

 an old and very extensive piece of woodland, well stocked with trees and shrubs, 

 thickly interspersed with an undergrowth of smaller plants and grass, amongst 

 which are scattered various outcrops of the limestone; this is intersected with 

 crevices, in which many of the rarer montane species find a home. In such places 

 will l:ie found Thalictnini iniiiiis var. /noiitaiinni, Draba iiicara, Spinva Jilipen- 

 diila. Jleliantliemuni vidgare, Riibtis saxatile, R. cicsiiis, Hippocrcpis, Hypericimi. 

 hirsiituDi, Geraiiiiiin saiii^uimnm, Rosa inollis, Epilobiuni augiistifoliiini, Hicra- 

 ciitiii tmiroriiiii, II. iiiacnlatiim, Polemoniiim, Aniicria maritinuiiii, Taxics, Tamils, 

 Paris, Polygonal II 1)1 officinale, Convallaria, Allinni scorodoprasiim, Asplcniiim 

 viridc, Polypoditini dryopleris, whilst the following occur in the more grassy and 

 open parts, especially if at all of a moist nature: Trolliiis, Sagiiia nodosa, Cala- 

 iniiilha clinopodiiiin, Galeobdolon, Primula farinosa, Tricnlalis, Ritniex aquaticiis, 

 Ophrys miiscifcra, and Gymnadiiiia coiiopsia. On dry banks, both in the wood and 

 in the lanes and pastures : Acjtiilcgia, Viola odornla, V. liitnx, Alsinc veriia. 

 Geranium sylvatiiiim, Thlaspi alpcslre v. occitanum, Silene inflata, Cnicus helero- 

 phyllits, Ccntaiirea scabiosa, Melaiiipyrum pralciise. Origanum, Az'ena pratensis, 

 Koeleria, Brachypodiuin sylvaticuin, Tritittim canintim, and others nre to be found. 

 Careful attention also deserves to be paid to the river l)anks \\\ the vicinity of the 

 village. Mere are Salix phylicifolia, S. laurinas, Equisctum sylvatictim, Scirpus 

 paiitijlorus, and Carex muricata, and it is very prol)al)le that a careful investigation 

 of both sides of the river banks may yield otlier species which have not yet been 

 recorded for the district. ^Vhen the varied nature of the ground and its conforma- 

 tion is taken into consideration, the above list does not at all yield a suflicient 

 return for such a wide district, and it is not expressing too much to say that many 

 more species ought to be Hiund than are now given if a searching investigation be 

 made of it. As, however, the lateness of the season has in a great measure 

 retarded the fl(jwering of the plants, it is very probable that only a very few, 

 comparatively speaking, may be met with in that state. 



Fungi. — Mr. II. T. Sopj^itt writes: Upper Wharfedale is fairly rich in Fungi, 

 esjiecially (Jredineic, of which many species have been found during the past few 

 years lietween Barden and (irass Woods. The .I'xidium condition of several 

 interesting species will be found by specially looking for such as Puccinia pha- 

 laridis on Arum mnculafum, P. sessilis on Allium ursiniim, J\ variabilis on 

 Taraxacum officinale, and P. sanicuhc on Sanicula curopcca. Xenodochus carbona- 

 riits is abundant in Grass Wood in Burnet, as is also Puccinia andersoni on 

 Cardtius hetcropliyllus, while Phragmidium sangtiisorbcc is not uncommon on 

 l^otcrium sanvuisorlhc in the fields. 



