438 BeporU and Proceedings. 



as in Snowdonia, sliowered its ashes into the surrounding sea. In the 

 Malvern country the site of the Llandeilo and Caradoc formations is 

 occupied by trap, no Caradoc proper being found in this country. 

 At this time was formed the columnar basalts near Eastnor, the result 

 of a lava outpouring into a shallow sea. After this the base of the 

 Upper Silurians, viz., the coarse and fine conglomerates of May-hill, 

 which must then have been a sinking area, were formed from the dis- 

 integration of the rocks of the more ancient periods, and washings of 

 a shallow sea. 



Having thus brought the thoughts of the members to the strata 

 on which they were standing, Mr. Symonds described the various 

 changes, through earthquake and other volcanic agencies, in the 

 height of the land which had taken place after the Permian period, 

 and said that he had no doubt, were a tunnel cut through the hill, 

 they would find the same nucleus of Gneissic beds beneath their 

 feet as composed the Malvern range. The summit of May-hill was 

 composed of the usual conglomerate which, so far as his experience 

 extended, always composed the base of the Upper and the Lower 

 Llandovery ; at May-hill it was the base of the Upper Llandovery 

 beds that they were standing on. Some idea of the elevation of the 

 May-hill sandstone might be formed from the fact that all the rocks 

 •of the Upper Silurians of Ledbury, the Old Eed Sandstone of 

 Herefordshire, and probably the Carboniferous rocks of Dean Forest 

 once overlay the beds beneath their feet. Crossing to the west 

 side of the hill whence the Forest of Dean coal field could be seen, 

 Mr. Symonds stated that the great dislocation which had caused the 

 elevation of the strata on the west, and the downthrow on the east, 

 had taken place during the Permian period, and in conclusion he 

 drew attention to the vast amount of denudation which must have 

 taken place, as most probably the Carboniferous limestone had for- 

 merly extended from the South Wales coal basin to the Clee hills in 

 Shropshire. He also mentioned the detection, a few weeks ago, of 

 the Haffield or (Permian) breccias, on the eastern flanks of May -hill, 

 by himself and Mr. W. E. Price, of Tibberton Court, and that Mr. 

 Price had since then found a fossil in one of the pebbles embedded 

 in the breccia, which he hoped might give them some clue as 

 to the age of the deposits from which the pebbles in the breccia 

 were derived. An inspection of the quarries on the top of the hill 

 was now made, and a most satisfactory confirmation of the theory 

 that May-hill is composed of Llandovery rocks took place, some of 

 the members being fortunate enough to discover in the coarse con- 

 glomerates which crop out on the top of the hill, several fossils, 

 which Mr. Symonds at once identified as characteristic of the Llan- 

 dovery formation, .^.e, Pentamerus lavis or oblongus, OrtJiis cal- 

 ligramma, Tentaculites, etc. 



EiCHMOND Naturalists' Field-club.' — An excursion was made 

 by this excellent Club to Flamborough Head on the 21st of June, 

 1870, under the direction of Edward Wood, Esq., F.G.S., the 

 esteemed President and founder of this Society. 



1 From the Richmond and Eipon Chronicle, June 25th, 1870. 



