260 Beport of Meetings for lii9l. By Dr J. Hardy. 



it, Mr J. D. Little, the tenant, having anticipated us, accom- 

 panied by earlier arrivals, met us at a gate of the field contain- 

 ing this section of the Karnes, which it was intended to visit for 

 the day. The President, who had reached the place by another 

 route, joined the company, after examining some green gravel 

 mounds, and what he surmised were remnants of an old village, 

 lying above Charlton Hall. Mr Little then took the leadership 

 of the numerous assemblage. 



The winding ridges or Karnes^ with their accompanying conical 

 mounds and deep depressions at North Charlton, hiive long 

 attracted the attention of Geologists, and been the subject of 

 several theories. The most reasonable conclusion, and the 

 latest, is that they are of Glacial origin. Examined minutely, 

 the ridges consist of a hardened red clay containing more or 

 less rounded boulders, mixed with unaltered slabs of limestone 

 torn from their native beds not far distant, pieces of red sand- 

 stones, fine or coarse grey grits, jaspery veinstones, and small 

 fragments of Cheviot porphyries ; — in all these respects corres- 

 ponding witli the constituents of the Boulder Clay that covers 

 the quarries on the adjacent moors. The protuberant ridges 

 appear to be mostly of unassorted Boulder Clay still in mass. 

 Where they have been re-assorted by the Glacial streams and 

 torrents, the pre-glacial soil is intermingled with the sands and 

 gravels of ancient lakes and river beds. Most of the present 

 surface, which is very uneven, has been cultivated in the twisted 

 ridges of a bygone stage of agriculture, and there are a few 

 traces of the balk system. The stones, gathered from between 

 the indurated ridges, have to get rid of them, been accumulated 

 on the projecting portions, and constitute true "balks." The 

 parallel serrated ridges are the most salient features ; but lower 

 down the grassy area, there are rolling mounds and deep 

 intervening vales, transverse to the N.W. and S.E. series of 

 hardened crests. These depressions are rich deep land, perhaps 

 once temporary lake bottoms, while the scarped sides are barren ; 

 and there was one large detached gravel-heap or drumlin. It 

 was remarked that the ridges thin out at both ends, but are 

 most drawn out eastwards. The projecting portions of the 

 crests facing the west, have protected and preserved the soil 

 behind them. 



The manner in which the depressions accompanying Kames 



