Yorkshire Naturalists* Club. 299 



have flowed continuously to the sea, through a deep gorge in the line 

 of the indicated channel, at a depth of more than 230 feet below the 

 present level of the sea. Mr. Geikie and Mr. Croll assert that there 

 are no barriers of trap or other rock across the Clyde, above or at 

 Bowling, which could shut in the waters of the Clyde and Kelvin so 

 as to prevent them from getting to the sea at the depth above- 

 mentioned. Mr. Young said that he had made some inquiries of 

 parties who know the ground intimately as to the nature of these 

 barriers, and they assert that the first or highest barrier of trap goes 

 right across the river at Elderslie. Mr. Young considered that 

 Messrs. Croll and Geikie had failed to point out, either on the north 

 or south side of the present channel, any deep rock-gorge sufficient 

 to drain the old lake basin extending up the Kelvin and Clyde. 

 Again, there is evidence for the borings put down below Paisley and 

 this portion of the Clyde, where there is a large tract of com- 

 paratively level land, that the old lake bottom shallows somewhat 

 rapidly in this direction. Indeed, he considered that if a buried 

 river channel ever had any existence, it could not have been over the 

 line of ground indicated by Mr. Croll. 



Mr. D. Bell then read a paper entitled "Aspects of Clydesdale 

 during the Glacial Period." 



Peoceedings of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Ci-ub, 1869. — In 

 presenting their report for the year 1869, the Committee of the 

 Yorkshire Naturalists' Club congratulate the members on the con- 

 tinued prosperity and increased activity of the club. The monthly 

 meetings have been regularly held and generally well attended. 

 Numerous specimens in various departments of natural history have 

 been exhibited, and much valuable information has thereby been 

 elicited, giving sufficient evidence of the zeal and assiduity displayed 

 by some of our Yorkshire naturalists in the cultivation of those 

 departments of science to which their attention is specially devoted. 

 Moreover several interesting papers on geological subjects have been 

 communicated, abstracts of which appear in the present Eeport. 



Mr. E. Allen, F.G.S., read a paper on the Speeton Clay, pointing 

 out its subdivisions, and exhibiting a series of fossils which he had 

 obtained from the cliff section. He made some remarks on the 

 coprolite and cement beds, below the Speeton Clay, both of which 

 have been worked for upwards of thirty years. The coprolites consist 

 of dark coloured, almost black stone, containing iron j^yrites ; samples 

 that are free from clay are said to yield from 57 to 61 per cent, of 

 phosphate of lime, which is used for agricultural purposes. 



Mr. J. F. Walker, F.G.S., recorded his discovery of Bhynchonella 

 spinosa in the Bradford clay, at Tetbury Eoad, near Cirencester. 

 He also exhibited some Rhynchonellce sent to him by the Eev. J. E. 

 Cross, M.A., which are supposed to be an extreme variety of B. 

 spinosa, from which they differ in their smaller size, in having fewer 

 plaits on the surface of the valves, and by the greater distance of the 

 plaits from each other, seldom having more than twelve plaits on 

 each valve. They also appear to differ from B. spinosa in having a 



