334 Rqjorfs and Proceedings — 



existed in Ordovician times. An appendix furnished by Prof. Bonney 

 tended, by microscopic evidence, to confirm the proof furnished by 

 the paper. 



2. " On the new Railway-cutting at Guildford." By Lt.-Col. H. 

 H. Godwin-Austen, F.E.S., F.G.S., and W. Whitaker, Esq., B.A. 



In this paper the authors described a section exposed in a new 

 railway-cutting just north of Guildford station. The beds exposed 

 are chalk and Eocene strata at the base, with overlying Pleistocene 

 or drift-beds. The Eocene beds appear at each end of the cutting, 

 the London Clay resting upon Woolwich and Reading beds as 

 described in 1850 by Prof. Prestwich ; and the interest of the sec- 

 tion is due in part to this exposure of the Woolwich and Reading 

 beds, which are rarely seen in this neighbourhood, and in part to 

 the thick mass of Pleistocene clays and gravels overlying the Lower 

 Tertiary deposits. The latter appear to be only the remnants of 

 more extensive deposits in the gorge of the Wey, which were spread 

 over the area to the north before the river had cut down to its 

 present level. Some of them are in pai't of fluviatile origin and 

 composed of materials derived first from the Lower Greensand and 

 afterwards from the Chalk, ironstone predominating in the former 

 and flints in the latter. Resting unconformably upon these are 

 deposits consisting of irregularly bedded coarse loamy sands, beds of 

 large flints, with an admixture of fragments of chalk, and with nests 

 or large lumps of red clay. These are regarded as glacial beds, and 

 in the sands beyond the bridge at the London Road remains of 

 Mammalia (Elephas, etc.) were found ; these sands are exposed as 

 far as Watford farm, where they terminate abruptly against a steep 

 bank of Woolwich and Reading beds. On digging through them at 

 this point the dark gravels with greensand ironstone were met with. 



The authors pointed out that the most interesting questions con- 

 nected with these high-level gravels and sands of the ancient Wey 

 are as follows : — 1. What was their relation to the topography of the 

 country in the past ? 2. What relation do they bear to the outlines 

 of the country at the present day ? 3. What is their age ? 



They showed that when the gravels and sands were deposited, the 

 main drainage of the country was the same as it now is, though the 

 river was 60 feet above its present level. The sands with mammalian 

 bones were probably an accumulation in a re-entering bend of the 

 river, similar to one now existing a little further north. The river 

 appears at first to have been more rapid, when the lower ironstone 

 gravels were deposited, then slower, when the sands accumulated. 

 Some change of levels ensued, and a considerable portion of the 

 deposits was removed before the upper strata of loam and flints 

 were formed. It is probable that the gorge of the Wey was no 

 longer an outlet to the north whilst these beds were being deposited. 

 In general the loam and flint beds are horizontal, whilst in some 

 localities they are displaced in a manner remarkably like what is 

 seen in the glacial deposits of Alpine valleys. They contain land- 

 shells in places. The land surface indicated by the lower gravels 

 and sands at Guildford is of older date than that described Mr. R. A. 



