450 MR. E. HULL ON THE DRIFT-DEPOSITS 



" On the Geology of the Country around Bolton-le-Moors " 

 I accepted without hesitation that classification. 



It was my intention^ with the assent of the Local Di- 

 rector of the Survey, Professor Ramsay, to ascertain 

 whether these several subdivisions of the Drift and more 

 recent gravels could be followed out over a large tract of 

 country, or were only true as regards the district embraced 

 by Mr. Binney^s paper; and I may state at the outset, 

 that the regularity with which the various members of this 

 formation have been found to spread over a tract which 

 may be defined as the rain-basin of the Mersey has far 

 exceeded my expectations, and that the classification of 

 these members points to three difi'erent epochs of forma- 

 tion. 



The district over which I have surveyed, and mapped 

 each of the three members of the Drift here j-ef erred to, ex- 

 tends from Bolton-le-Moors on the north, to Oldham on 

 the east, and Alderley on the south. My colleague, Mr. 

 Green, has continued and verified these divisions still fur- 

 ther south, as far at least as Congleton. Thus it may be 

 said that they have been proved to maintain their regularity 

 and order over an area of 600 square miles. 



The result of our investigations has obliged us in some 

 measure to modify the arrangement proposed by Mr. Binney. 

 I had not long commenced to trace the upper and lower 

 boundaries of the " Forest Sand ^' (No. 2), before I dis- 

 covered that it was overlain by a second formation of Till, 

 or Boulder-clay, quite as important, both in thickness and 

 extent, as that which lies below it (No. 3 above). Now, 

 over the greatest part of the hills of sand to the north of 

 Manchester, this Upper Boulder-clay has been denuded 

 away ; but it sets in further to the north-east, in the direc- 

 tion of Oldham, and to the north-west, in the direction of 

 Bolton. Mr, Binney, although he has not included it in 

 his tabular view of the Drift-deposits, was, I believe, aware 



