288 Correspondence — Mr. Whitaker — Mr. WMdborne. 



THE BAGSHOT BEDS OF THE BAGSHOT DISTRICT. 



Sir, — Being greatly interested in the geology of the London Basin, 

 and having just read Professor Jones's paper on the Bagshot District 

 (Proc. GeoL Assoc, vol. vi. No. 9), I at once turned to Mr. Herries' 

 article with the above title, on receiving the current Number of the 

 Geological Magazine, to be however "brought np sharp" by the 

 first paragraph (p. 171). 



The statement that " the only authority for the beds included in 

 this area is Professor Prestwich, who .... lias supplied all the in- 

 formation about the district that is at present known," quite astonishes 

 me, at least as far as regards the words which I have italicized. No 

 one is more ready to bear witness to the great value of Professor 

 Prestwich's many papers on the London Basin than I am, for no 

 one, probably, has used them more ; but that great authority on 

 Tertiary geology would never claim such an exclusive right to the 

 Bagshot District, the structure of which he made out and first 

 described in detail. 



There happens to be an institution known as the " Geological 

 Survey," whose work consists in recording the details of the geology 

 of these islands. Some of its officers (chiefly a former colleague, 

 Mr. Polwhele, a Cambridge man) years ago surveyed the Bagshot 

 District, and the result of their work has been published on the 

 Geological Survey maps. Moreover, in the course of my own work 

 on that Survey, I have a distinct recollection of running one of the 

 so-called " Horizontal Sections " across that district, and of having 

 corrected the proofs of a Memoir (vol. iv. 1872) that gives a detailed 

 description of the Bagshot Beds, and in which, I believe, the pebble- 

 beds were for the first time described at any length. 



This note is not written with any wish to disparage Mr. Herries' 

 work ; on the contrary, I welcome an addition to the ranks of our 

 Tertiary geologists, and congratulate him on his enlargement of the 

 local Bagshot fauna. My object is to caution young geologists 

 against rashly assuming that they know everything that has been 

 done in any district. That such an error should have come from the 

 Woodwardian Museum is astonishing, as Professor Hughes, himself 

 an old Survey man, could at once have enlightened his pupil. 



To conclude, I assure Mr. Herries that, should a second edition of 

 the Geological Survey Memoir on the London Basin be called for, I 

 shall make use of his paper and acknowledge his discoveries, to 

 which I hope he may make many additions. 



Geological Survey Office, William Whitaker. 



28, Jermyn Street, London, S."W., 11 April, 1881. 



PENTREMITES IN THE MIDDLE DEVONIAN OF DEVON. 

 Sir, — Pentremites not being as yet in the British Middle Devonian lists, may I 

 mention their probable occurrence in the neighbourhood of Torquay ? I have placed 

 two specimens, apparently of different species, in the hands of Mr. R. Etheridge, 

 jun., -who (with Mr. P. H. Carpenter) has kindly promised to examine and describe 

 them. lie pronounces them to be Blastoklea, though from their state of preservation 

 the genus requires further investigation. One bears a superficial _ resemblance _ to 

 Fcntremites planus (Sandb.). A third specimen, also fragmentary, is in the collectiou 

 of Mr. J. E. Lee. 



Charante, ToRauAY. G. F. 'Whidborne. 



