﻿346 J. Pi,. Dahjns — Geology of the West Biding. 



other insects were taking advantage of a few gleams of sunshine, and 

 I had great sport amongst them. 



The current of the Kama is a little more rapid than the Volga, and 

 here, with the wind blowing against it, it was curled up and flecked 

 with patches of white foam. Our repairs being ended, we started 

 up the Kama. We had, however, not been very long afloat, when, 

 through running on a sandbank, our machinery again gave out, and 

 we were detained for the remainder of the night. Next day we 

 were again afloat. Upon our western side an occasional red cliff 

 was to be seen, whilst nearer to the river brownish earthy banks 

 were well marked with lines which showed the height to which the 

 water sometimes rises. 



During our second evening on this river an immense number of 

 delicate white ephemeral-looking flies fell upon our deck and into 

 the water. These were so thick in places that they fringed the 

 windward shore of the river with a white line. On the Dneiper a 

 somewhat similar fly sometimes occurs in such quantities that the 

 fishermen light fires to attract them. The creatures, whilst hovering 

 round the light, get their wings singed, and fall down on and round 

 the fire like snow. They are then swept together, mixed with clay, 

 and used for ground bait. 



A passenger on board, a man apparently of some intelligence, told 

 me that mineral coal had been found on the Kama near Piani-Vor. 

 If this is proved to be correct, it will not only give a new locality 

 for the mineral, but also another point for the outcrop of the 

 Carboniferous formation. In the Kama there are a few low islands, 

 which take the place of the sands I saw upon the Volga. With 

 this exception, I do not think that there is any choice, as far as 

 picturesqueness is concerned, between the two. As a whole, they 

 are both flat and dull. As we progressed upwards, we saw some 

 pleasaiit upland slopes chequered over with square plots of cultiva- 

 tion. In outline these hills are not unlike our downs, but they are 

 perhaps more furrowed by the small streams which cut through the 

 soft red Permian strata of which thej'^ ai-e composed. The shore is 

 everywhere slipperj^and muddy. As we neared Perm, we had upon our 

 western side high sloping hills of red earth bounded with white rock. 



On the afternoon of Thursday, September 3rd, we came in sight 

 of Perm, and in the afternoon we landed, after a wearisome eight 

 days' steaming along two rivers, which, for flatness and monotony, 

 would rival, I think, any in Europe. 



{To be continued in our next Number.) 



II. — A Sketch of the Geology of Keighley, Skipton, and 

 Grassington.^ 

 By J. R. Dakyns, M.A., of H.M. Geological Survey. 

 N Derbyshire the Millstone-grit series consists of four or five well- 

 marked grits, separated by shales, viz. the so-called first or 

 topmost grit, named, from its coarse character, the rough rock ; 



1 Originally read -^'ith the Director's permission before the British Association at 

 Bradford, but not heretofore published. 



