176 Notices of Memoirs. 



seemed to us to be a continuation of tlae Hessle clay and sand. The 

 thickness presented by this clay was greater than that presented by 

 the Hessle along the Holderness coast section, and it was usually 

 much fuller of boulders. This feature, however, seems due to 

 similar causes to those which account for the greater thickness of the 

 Upper clay of the North-west, since, like the area of that clay, the 

 Vales of York and of the Tees lie contiguous to the Pennine Chain, 

 and would, in like manner to the Lancashire lowlands, be copiously 

 supplied by material brought down by glaciers occupying its valleys. 

 Information furnished me by Mr. Topley, of the Geological Survey, 

 of sections in Northumberland, and the perusal of a paper by Mr. 

 Howse relative to the beds of that county and of Durham, lead me 

 to think that the Hessle Group is continued to the frontier of 

 Scotland ; but how far it may penetrate that part of Britain I have 

 no information. 



^roTiGiES <o:p ivciEiMioiias. 



I^ — SCHEBIE FOK THE CONSERVATION OF EeMAEKABLE BoULDEKS 



IN Scotland, and for the indication of their position on 

 Maps. By D. Milne Home, F.E.S.B., F.G.S. From the 

 Proceedings of the Eoyal Society of Edinburgh, 1870-71. 



THE scheme which was set on foot last summer at Edinburgh, by 

 Mr. Milne Home, for the preservation in situ of all the larger and 

 more interesting Boulders of Scotland, has now assumed a definite 

 shape. The paper in which the promoter discussed the subject, and 

 ably demonstrated its importance, has been largely circulated among 

 geologists and others North of Tweed, and, we believe, to some few 

 in the North of England. Accompanying the papers are forms for 

 recording, in a clear and uniform manner, the occurrence, size, posi- 

 tion and nature of every remarkable boulder to be found in the parish 

 or immediate neighbourhood of each observer. In this way a large 

 array of facts will fall into the hands of Mr. Milne Home's Com- 

 mittee, which it will be their business to arrange, tabulate, and 

 otherwise to mould into an available form. This work, if properly 

 conducted, should be much more than a mere catalogue, and indeed 

 would far outweigh in general value the actual preservation of the 

 more noteworthy of the boulders themselves. It would throw light 

 upon many points connected with the transport of Boulders in North 

 Britain which are at present by no means clear to us, and all students 

 of glacial phenomena would hail such a work as one of primary im- 

 portance to them. One rule, however, which the Committee have 

 printed at the head of their forms will, it seems to us, if adhered to, 

 materially lessen the value of the undertaking, and that is embodied 

 in the note limiting the stones to be registered to those above a 

 certain number of tons in weight. 



Now it is obvious that from a geological point of view a compara- 

 tively small block may in many cases be, from its position or com- 

 position, or from very distinct indications of its origin, much better 



