316 Rev. T. G. Bonney — Lithodomous Perforations. 



From Miller's Dale station, a few minutes' walk brought me down 

 to the side of the river Wye, which is crossed by the railway on a 

 high viaduct. A short distance down the stream we pass a mill, 

 where a stream from Monk's Dale enters the Wye, and then come to 

 a small inn ; and a little beyond this, on the left-hand side of the 

 road, are the burrows in question. They occur at intervals on a low 

 scarp of rock, precisely as I described them ; and, though not so 

 large or so abundant as I have seen them elsewhere, are sufficiently 

 characteristic to be beyond all doubt. 



On referring to my previous account of the position of these 

 burrows, I find it is perfectly correct ; except that I should have 

 called the inn " The Anglers' Eest " instead of " The Anglers," and 

 have written " rather less than a hundred yards beyond which," for 

 " about a hundred yards," etc. From the inn-door it is about eighty- 

 six paces to the first group ; near it is a tree (ash), growing just 

 above the scarp, and about eight paces further on is another larger 

 ash-tree, near to which are some more burrows. One or two bushes 

 intervene, and burrows may be seen here and there between the 

 above-named groups. There are some twenty in all, but I did not 

 count them carefully. The road is from two to three yards above 

 the stream (the Wye), as near as I can guess it ; and, after a careful 

 examination of the locality, I am now convinced that this road must 

 have been excavated out of the hill-side, and so the scarp of lime- 

 stone in its present condition is artificial. From the larger tree to 

 the first spot where the toadstone appears is about 130 steps ; but it 

 is only exposed for a very short distance, and the principal mass is 

 somewhat further down the dale. 



I next proceeded to search the neighbourhood much more 

 thoroughly than I had thought needful on the previous occasion. 

 Between the aforesaid ash-tree and the inn is a small orchard, planted 

 on the sloping bank between the above-named road, and another 

 which branches off near at hand, and goes, I believe, over the hills 

 to Tideswell. This grassy slope is broken by a small reef of lime- 

 stone, the upper slab of which projects a foot or so, and is polished 

 by the friction of sheep's backs.^ It is about four yards nearer the 

 inn than the smaller tree, and five yards up the bank. The under 

 side of this projecting slab is pierced by many burrows ; some of 

 which are full two inches deep and three-quarters of an inch wide. 

 Again, between the larger tree and the first boss of toadstone, about 

 thirty-eight paces from the former, and on the sloping bank — some 

 five feet below the wall of the upper (Tideswell) road, and twenty- 

 five above the lower (exactly above a ruined sheep-pen by the side 

 of the Wye) — is a projecting block of limestone, about two feet high, 

 with nearly twenty burrows ; three of these contained very old dead 

 shells of Helix nemoralis cemented into them. 



Again, a few yards beyond the first appearance of the toadstone, 

 and about forty feet up the bank, several bolder cliffs break out ; 

 on one of the nearest of which an ash-tree is growing. Here, also, 

 burrows are abundant. 



1 See a similar case described by Mr. Rofe, Geol. Mag., Vol. VII., p. 5. 



