Geologists' Association. 383 



ton, thinning to the north-east. The overlying Great Oolite Clay 

 is thickest at Houghton, near Northampton, but has frequently been 

 thinned or removed by denudation. The Forest Marble only occurs 

 over a small area near Peterborough. The Cornbrash only in the 

 Northern division of the county, ranging in from Bedfordshire, 

 near Higham Ferrers, capping the high grounds, north of the Nene, 

 near Thrapstone and Oundle, and covering a considerable area near 

 Peterborough. The Oxford Clay caps the southern escarpment of 

 the Nene Valley from near Thrapstone to the vicinity of Peter- 

 borough ; occurs in considerable patches, in the same elevated posi- 

 tion, north of the Nene, in the neighbourhood of Oundle ; but only 

 occupies low situations near Peterborough, where it spreads out into 

 the great level of the Fens. High table -land occurs near Naseby, 

 from the watershed of which rise — the Avon, which flows westward, 

 by Warwick and Stratford-on-Avon, to the Severn; the Welland, 

 which flows easterly, by Stamford and Spalding, into the Boston 

 Deeps, marking the northern boundary of the county throughout 

 the greater part of its course ; the Nene, which flows by Northamp- 

 ton and Peterborough, and falls into the Boston Deeps near Wis- 

 beach ; and the Ise, a tributary of the Welland : the Ouse rises in 

 the Southern division of the county, but attains to no magnitude 

 until it has passed into Bucks and Beds. Many other minor streams 

 are tributaries to these. The intersections of the county by the 

 valleys indicated by these rivers and streams present innumerable 

 escarpments, from which, in consequence of the alternation of per- 

 vious and impervious beds, flow the numerous springs for which the 

 county is famous. The author, after remai-king upon the mineral 

 wealth of the county, derivable from the formations described, alluded 

 to the recently revived agitation for a search for coal in the district ; 

 which he stigmatized as being both delusive and unwise. 



2. " On some New Crag Fossils," by Alfred Bell. 



The author's observations since his former paper on the Crags was 

 read confirm the views he then expressed as to the divisibility of 

 the English Crags into four divisions, founded on palEeontological 

 evidence. He had determined 145 species (some new to the 

 Crags, and some new to particular divisions) in addition to those 

 given in his published lists. After reiterating his opinion that the 

 Belgian Sables gris were intermediate in age between the Coralline 

 and the Bed Crags, the author described generally the new forms of 

 each division of the Crags. 



3. " An Account of the Eruption of Mount Vesuvius of April, 

 1872," by J. M. Black, Esq., J.P. 



In this paper the brief but violent and destructive, eruption of 

 last year was described by the author, who had carefully noted the 

 various phenomena that occurred during its continuance. An ascent 

 of the volcano was made by Mr. Black a few days after the eruption, 

 and the form and condition of the crater observed. The principal 

 feature of this eruption was the formation of a rent down the north 

 side of the cone, and extending 800 or 1000 yards into the Atrio del 



