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this, they are cut through in many places, at right angles, by streams originating in 

 the moorlands beyond. This fact alone proves that the Middle Oolites once%x- 

 tended right up to the anticlinal running east and west from Burton Head to Robin 

 Hood's Bay. Their northern face is receding owing to sub-aerial denudation. 

 After the removal of the Middle Oolites, the rainfall attacked the then exposed 

 beds of the Lower Oolites, and carved out the comparatively broad dales of Kose- 

 dale, Bransdalc, etc., down to the Middle Lias ; Ixit the streams, once originated, 

 kept their old course throughout the process, for rivers are invariably older than 

 hills, and, as the land rose, simply but persistently cut deejier, and formed the 

 picturesque gorges which may be seen at Hclmsley, Kirkby Moorside, Sinnington, 

 Pickering, and Ayton. Of all these gorges, none are more beautiful than that of 

 Ncwtondale. In its lower portion it shares its charm with the alcove-named 

 ravines, but in its upper portion it is unique, for it has been excavated in bard beds, 

 of the Kelloways Sandrock, and, while contracted in width, presents perpendicular 

 clifls on either side, towering some 150 feet above the stream below. Anyone 

 chmbing out of the canon, for such it is on a small scale, will find himself on a 

 level platform of Kelloways Sandstone, on which is built up a second sloping cliff, 

 consisting of Oxford clay capped with calcareous grit. Near Saltersgate, this latter 

 elevation attains a height of 900 feet at Winny Neb, and from it a magnificent 

 piospect is revealed, from Pdamborough Head on the south-east to the Ilamblcton 

 Hills on the west. Close at hand, some two miles distant, is the conical hill called 

 Blakcy Topping ; this is an outlier of Middle OoUtes, left standing up some 200 ft. 

 above the general plain. As a contrast, close by, is the Hole oY Horcum, an in- 

 her— that is to say, its bottom is composed of Kelloways Sandstone, similar to the 

 northern platform, whilst its steep sides consist of Oxford clay and calcareous grit. 

 it opens out southwards, but its northern edge is only a few yards wide, so that in 

 process of time we may expect that this ridge will be cut through by the rainfall 

 and a continuous valley formed instead of the present Hole. 



BOTANY.— The Botanical Section will be oflicially represented hy its 

 Secretaries, Messrs. A. H. Pawson, and M. B. Slater, F.L.S., and the Mycological 

 "committee by its President, Rev. W. Ko^\ ler, i\LA. 



_ Mr. M. B. Slater writes that tlie route of the excursion is almost entirely 

 through a moorland tract. Vegetation is late this season, consequently very few 

 tlowermg plants will be seen in flower so early in such an exposed district. We 

 may name the following plants, all of which occur on the adjoining moors: T^ncd 

 teh-alux, E. dnerca, Calluna, Vaccinium myrtillus, V, vUis-idca, K o.xyc-oirm, 

 l^^updnun iiionan, TrUnialis, iVyrica, Digitalis, Pinguicnla, Drosera rotnndifolia^ 

 ^f'f^s/(7- anglica, Pnmns /adns, Pyrus aucuparia, and the rare Coruus siiecica. 

 -Ihis Jatter plant is found abundantly in some parts of the highlands of Scotland, 

 and m the northern parts of arctic Lurope; it has its southern limit in the British 

 islands upon this moorland ridge, and does not extend to the moorlands on the 

 ^vest side of the Vale of York, It does not flower until after mid lune, and is 

 generally seen in finest condition about the longest day, June 21st. 



Rev. W. C. Hey adds that TrolHus ^nd Polypodiiu/i dryopicris are the only 

 plants he has particularly noted in the area marked out. 



Mosses and Hepatics.— Mr. M. B. Slater writes that the district being 

 almost entirely uncultivated, is rich in cryptogamic vegetation. In more fertile 

 Jands these minute plants get exterminated by the cultivation of the cereals and 

 other farm produce. In the bngs on the moors SpJiag>iii!n moss abounds, and some 

 i^are species of Mosses belonging to the following genera are to be met with, while 

 •^ome of ihe spring fruiting kinds may be got in good condition. Gymnostomuju^ 

 ^■eifcob/yum, Scligeria, Bjacyodns, Ditrichuiii, Grimjiiia, Khacoinitrinm Ulota 

 Whotrichuni, Entosthodo}!, Bariramia, Philonotis, Webcra, Bryuiii, ' Ahiiuri 

 ytrodontiitm, AtricJunn, PoIyiricJium, PtcrygopJiyllum, T/inidiinu, Climadum 

 ^^oihecmm, Ca??ipfoi/uczu/ii, Bnu-hytheciiun, EurhyncJiiinn, Phynchosteoiujfi 

 "^inblyslegium, IJypmun, Hyoccmitnn, etc. In the damp h(jll(jws on the moors' 

 <n(| m sheltered places by stream-sides, many Hepaticffi grow abundantly, and 

 ome ol the rarer species m the following genera may be collected, many of them 

 ruumg at tins season : iMarchmHia, Preissia, Cojiocephalns, Eejemica, EniUa)na 

 '^^^i^i a,_ Lepuiozia, Ccphalozia, Lophocoka, Kantea, Scapania, Mylia, Tiin^ennania 

 ^^(irdia^ Anmra, JMetzgeria, etc. ^ ^j ^ r 



Of Lichens, Fungi, and Alg^ there appear to be no records. 



V^\c^^^7^^^^'^^ ZOOLOGY.-Mr. John Braim writes that the Peregrine 

 ^^'con and Raven have bred regularly in Newtondale since he can remember. The 



