486 Rev. T. G. Bonney — Burrows in Limestone Bock. 



I have long had suspicions that they are not ; and the very fact of 

 their discovery some 1,400 feet ahove the sea on the hills of Derby- 

 shire/ appeared, by proving too much, to do worse than prove 

 nothing. Is it not in the highest degree improbable that such 

 burrows, so easily weathered, should have survived the atmospheric 

 waste of so many centuries ? What is there to show that these hUls 

 of central England have been submerged since the period when the 

 valleys of Wales and the Lake- districts were filled with glaciers ; 

 and, without very strong corroborative evidence, are we justified in 

 assuming such an inequality of upheaval as would be required in 

 this case ? If, however, the Pholas burrows belong to an earlier 

 epoch, say to that of the drift shells on Moel Tryfaen, is it likely 

 that they would have escaped the action of ice and weather during 

 the subsequent glacial period? But to return to the supposed 

 Pholas burrows at Llandudno. Most of the limestone of which the 

 neighbouring hills are composed appears to have a tendency to 

 weather in generally oval or circular pits; so much so, that not 

 unfrequently a face of rock appears to have suffered from a kind of 

 gigantic small-pox. Still, besides these and other cavities, often 

 curiously regular, which may be set down to atmospheric action in 

 one form or another, there are a considerable number occurring at 

 various elevations above the sea — roughly speaking, almost all over 

 the Great Ormeshead — which cannot be thus accounted for. Of 

 these I select two groups for especial description. 



The first is in a block of limestone which projects from the steep 

 turfy slope on the northern face of the Great Ormeshead, a few yards 

 below the pathway which surrounds the mountain. It is in the line 

 of a slight glen or depression by which a narrow track leads to the 

 upper plateaux, some three or four hundred yards to the east of St. 

 Tuduo's Church. The burrows are clustered about a natural sub- 

 angular step on the north-western face of the block, the lowest being 

 about a foot from the turf. The annexed sketch (Plate XVII., Fig. 1) 

 will show their general character better than any description. The fol- 

 lowing are some notes on the burrows numbered in the figure: — (1). 

 About an inch in width, and two in depth, it curves gently upwards, 

 having a small aperture in the side at the point.* (2). Does not 

 extend any further into the stone. (3). Ex- 

 tends, curving gently upwards, for about 

 1^ inches ; this contained a small specimen 

 of a banded Helix. (4). Extends nearly 

 four inches upwards into the stone, present- 

 ing in section through its axis, roughly, the 

 form indicated in the accompanying figure. 

 (5). Descends slightly. (6). About one inch 

 deep, and at right angles to the channel in 

 which it is placed. (7). A curved channel, 

 „ . , „ , , about one inch wide, not extending up into the 



Section of Burrow, No. 4. . /o\ a -it i <i • i 



stone, (o). A curved channel, rather irregular 

 in section, perhaps a natural depression. (9). A curved channel, 

 ^ See note and references at the end of Mr. Darbishire's paper. 



