166 MR. W. H. HUDLESTON OJST A SECTIOIf THEOTI&H 



COITCLTJDING EeMAEKS. 



Having completed the description of the section through Walton 

 Common, it only remains to say a few words relative to the neigh- 

 bourhood. As regards the composition of the Plateau-gravel 

 generally throughout the' district, it would seem to conform in the 

 main to the description already quoted from Prof. E-upert Jones's 

 notice. The coarse brown quartzose sands are sometimes aggluti- 

 nated and earthy, and bespeak an origin very different from that of the 

 " soft sand " of the Bagshots of this neighbourhood, although much 

 of this fine-grained material may also be noted. What few green 

 grains there are, present a different appearance from those in the 

 underlying Eagshots ; cherts, derived mainly from the Lower Green- 

 sand, are fairly numerous ; but Sarsen stones are decidedly rare, only 

 three or four having come under my notice during the excavations ; 

 one of these might have been about 2 ft. 6 in. in length. No 

 quartzites of any size have been noticed, and there is likewise a 

 complete absence of the hard materials of the Northern Drift; 

 everything bespeaks a local and southern origin, as all previous 

 observers have already intimated. I must admit that the numerous 

 brown flints are very apt to be regarded as possibly cherts ; some 

 are exhibited, they have in many cases lost all the usual character- 

 istics of ordinary chalk flint, and some specimens are so polished 

 externally as to resemble little Sarsen stones. There is one with a 

 specimen of Micraster, which proves the true nature of this brown 

 flint. They must have undergone some peculiar action. Indurated 

 sandstones from the Lower Greensand are more abundant than 

 actual chert; but there is a piece of P/ioZa^-bored wood, .now in the 

 condition of chert, and some other curious forms. 



Whilst on the subject of the contents of the gravel, I would 

 direct attention to a hollow ferruginous box, as a sample of several 

 similar ones, which occur as pseudo-pebbles at the base of the gravel 

 in some ^Dlaces, and especially near the west end of the section. 

 These boxes lie at the junction of the Bagshots with the gravel, and 

 appear to represent clay-galls, torn from the loams of No. 3 (which 

 occur in force further down the line), around which a deposit of 

 brown oxide of iron has formed. The reticulations in one of the 

 specimens exhibited represent, it is believed, casts of shrinkage- 

 cracks. Sandy loams of various colours are found inside. 



TJie Top Sand. — It would scarcely be right not to append a brief 

 description of this all-pervading deposit, which plays such an impor- 

 tant part in the economy of the Walton-Oatlands plateau. Suppo- 

 sing any one, desirous of ascertaining the nature of the soil in Oat- 

 lands Park, consulted a map of the solid geology, he would of course 

 discover that it was situated on the Lower Bagshots. If the 

 inquirer further wished to ascertain the nature of the surface- 

 deposits, he would find them described as " Hill-gravel of doubtful 

 age." But this Hill- or Plateau-gravel only exercises a secondary 

 influence on the soil of Oatlands Park, since every plant desirous of 

 reaching it must needs travel through a yard of most unfruitful 



