﻿lxxxiv 
  PROCEEDINGS 
  OF 
  THE 
  GEOLOGICAL 
  SOCIETY. 
  [May 
  1 
  897, 
  

  

  series. 
  It 
  seems 
  to 
  me 
  that 
  there 
  is 
  strong 
  evidence 
  to 
  show 
  that 
  

   the 
  Charnwood 
  Forest 
  rocks 
  are 
  of 
  pre-Cambrian 
  age, 
  and 
  this 
  

   is 
  the 
  view 
  generally 
  adopted 
  by 
  the 
  majority 
  of 
  those 
  who 
  have 
  

   been 
  working 
  among 
  the 
  older 
  rocks. 
  

  

  The 
  pre-Cambrian 
  rocks 
  in 
  various 
  areas 
  in 
  England 
  and 
  Wales 
  

   to 
  which 
  I 
  have 
  referred 
  have 
  been 
  defined 
  as 
  such 
  only 
  within 
  

   comparatively 
  recent 
  years, 
  the 
  first 
  announcements 
  having 
  been 
  

   made 
  in 
  1864, 
  when 
  Dr. 
  Holl 
  referred 
  to 
  the 
  crystalline 
  axis 
  of 
  the 
  

   Malvern 
  Hills 
  as 
  older 
  than 
  the 
  surrounding 
  rocks, 
  in 
  a 
  paper 
  read 
  

   before 
  the 
  Society 
  in 
  June 
  of 
  that 
  year 
  ' 
  On 
  the 
  Geological 
  Structure 
  

   of 
  the 
  Malvern 
  Hills 
  and 
  Adjacent 
  District;' 
  and 
  Mr. 
  Salter, 
  at 
  

   the 
  meeting 
  of 
  the 
  British 
  Association 
  of 
  the 
  same 
  year, 
  gave 
  an 
  

   account 
  of 
  our 
  discovery 
  of 
  a 
  ' 
  Pre-Cambrian 
  Island 
  at 
  St. 
  David's, 
  

   Pembrokeshire.' 
  

  

  Before 
  the 
  year 
  1862, 
  when 
  Mr. 
  Salter 
  discovered 
  Paradoxides 
  

   in 
  the 
  Lower 
  Lingula-Fl&gs 
  of 
  St. 
  David's, 
  the 
  only 
  fossils 
  that 
  

   had 
  been 
  obtained 
  from 
  the 
  Lower 
  or 
  Middle 
  Cambrian 
  rocks 
  in 
  

   England 
  or 
  Wales 
  were 
  the 
  fragment 
  of 
  trilobite 
  and 
  the 
  traces 
  of 
  

   annelids, 
  already 
  referred 
  to, 
  from 
  the 
  Longmynd 
  rocks 
  ; 
  and 
  it 
  is 
  

   since 
  then 
  that 
  all 
  the 
  other 
  fossils 
  which 
  are 
  now 
  known 
  to 
  mark 
  

   so 
  many 
  zones 
  in 
  the 
  Middle 
  and 
  Lower 
  Cambrian 
  of 
  Britain 
  have 
  

   been 
  discovered, 
  and 
  the 
  life-history 
  of 
  those 
  periods 
  made 
  out. 
  

  

  Scotland. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  year 
  1878 
  I 
  read 
  a 
  paper 
  before 
  the 
  Society 
  which 
  re- 
  

   opened 
  the 
  controversy 
  concerning 
  the 
  so-called 
  metamorphic 
  rocks 
  

   of 
  the 
  Highlands, 
  which 
  had 
  then 
  been 
  dormant 
  for 
  many 
  years. 
  

   In 
  that 
  paper 
  I 
  maintained 
  that 
  the 
  views 
  held 
  by 
  Prof. 
  Nicol 
  

   were 
  more 
  in 
  accordance 
  with 
  the 
  facts 
  which 
  I 
  had 
  obtained 
  than 
  

   were 
  those 
  of 
  Sir 
  R. 
  Murchison 
  and 
  the 
  members 
  of 
  the 
  Geological 
  

   Survey. 
  Since 
  that 
  date 
  numerous 
  papers 
  have 
  been 
  written 
  on 
  

   these 
  rocks, 
  especially 
  on 
  those 
  of 
  the 
  North-western 
  Highlands, 
  

   and 
  much 
  new 
  and 
  important 
  information 
  concerning 
  them 
  and 
  

   the 
  overlying 
  rocks 
  has 
  been 
  obtained. 
  The 
  gradual 
  and 
  important 
  

   additions 
  to 
  our 
  knowledge 
  which 
  have 
  been 
  made 
  will 
  be 
  under- 
  

   stood 
  by 
  reference 
  to 
  the 
  following 
  papers 
  : 
  — 
  Hicks, 
  Quart. 
  Journ. 
  

   Geol. 
  Soc. 
  vol. 
  xxxiv. 
  1878 
  ; 
  Hudleston, 
  Proc. 
  Geol. 
  Assoc. 
  1879, 
  

   vol. 
  vi. 
  ; 
  Bonney, 
  Q. 
  J. 
  G. 
  S. 
  vol. 
  xxxvi. 
  1880 
  ; 
  Hicks 
  & 
  Davies, 
  Geol. 
  

   Mag. 
  1880 
  ; 
  Hicks, 
  Proc. 
  Geol. 
  Assoc. 
  1880, 
  vol. 
  vi. 
  ; 
  Hicks 
  & 
  

   Bonney, 
  Q. 
  J. 
  G. 
  S. 
  vol. 
  xxxix. 
  1883 
  ; 
  Callaway, 
  Q. 
  J. 
  G. 
  S. 
  

   vol. 
  xxxvii. 
  1881, 
  and 
  vol. 
  xxxix. 
  1883 
  ; 
  Hudleston, 
  Geol. 
  Mag. 
  

   1882; 
  Lapworth, 
  Geol. 
  Mag. 
  1883, 
  and 
  Proc. 
  Geol. 
  Assoc. 
  1884, 
  

   vol. 
  viii. 
  ; 
  Blake, 
  ibid. 
  ; 
  Geikie, 
  Peach, 
  & 
  Home, 
  ' 
  Nature,' 
  1884 
  ; 
  

  

  