pkesident's address. 87 



Bay of Biscay, and in -whicli, by the invitation of the French 

 Government, he had had the honour of taking part. 



The train which left ChoUerford at 8-35 p.m. brought back a 

 cheerful party well pleased with their day's trip. 



The Sixth and last Field Meeting of the year was held at 

 Marsden Rocks on Friday, October 1st. Although the party 

 who attended this meeting was small the interest of Marsden 

 Eocks had not ceased, and we can never gaze at that great sec- 

 tion of contorted, twisted, and dislocated strata, without fresh 

 feelings of wonder at the mighty power which must have been 

 brought to bear in effecting these great changes in the beds after 

 their deposition. There were, however, novelties in store for 

 the members. On our way a visit was paid to the Coal Mine 

 which is being sunk near Whitburn, and we were witnesses of 

 the most novel form of pit sinking, in which the labour of men 

 gives place almost entirely to the operation of machinery, and the 

 shaft is excavated by the working under vertical pressure of an 

 iron beam, armed with a row of wedge-shaped teeth, and made to 

 revolve by means of horizontal levers moved by three or four men. 



At "Whitburn Lizard Mr. Howse called our attention to the 

 spot on the eastern escarpment of the Hills, where an old Sea- 

 Cave had recently been discovered, and which was found to con- 

 tain very interesting remains of mammals, birds, and man, which 

 he has recently described in our Transactions. "We also examined 

 the raised sea-beach, recently laid bare by the workings of the 

 quarry, and the sections of clay with chalk-flints and rounded 

 pebbles of quartz, which is known as the ''Scandinavian Drift." 



I may observe that we found on this occasion, what had not 

 previously been noticed on this spot, that the surface of the rock 

 underlying the drift was most markedly and unmistakably scored 

 by glacial scratches. 



An Evening Meeting in connection with the Natural History 

 Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 

 was held on Thursday, May 12th, 1881, when the following 

 Papers were read : — 



