234 Report Progress of the Boring [March, 



2nd. The " hard" fossil, with a silicious or calcareous impreg- 

 nation : the animal matter and earthy constituents entirely removed : 

 occurring in sandstone matrix. 



3rd. The " black" fossil, like the last, but impregnated with hy- 

 drate of iron : occurring in sandstone, or in a calcareo- argillace- 

 ous matrix. 



No shells have yet been brought in. 



VIII. — Report Progress of the Boring Experiment in Fort William. 

 By Major T. M. Taylor, 5th Cav. 



[Read at the Meeting Asiatic Society, 5th April.] 



The immediate superintendence of the boring experiment having, 

 in consequence of my removal from Fort William, passed into other 

 hands, I think it necessary to acquaint the Society with the progress 

 that has been made since I had the honor to submit to them a note on 

 the subject in June last. (See Proceedings As. Soc. vol. V. p. 374.) 



At that time a depth of 1 75 feet had been attained by the borer, 

 which then worked in a coarse sharp sand mixed with pieces of 

 quartz and felspar, and from the little progress made, it was supposed 

 a bed of gravel or shingle had been reached. This supposition, how- 

 ever, proved erroneous ; for after some delay the work advanced, 

 until, the borer having gained 178^ feet, and the tubes being forced 

 down to 1 80^ feet, they were observed soon after to have sunk by 

 their own weight, and thenceforward up to the present time they 

 have continued so to sink, maintaining a depth generally a few feet 

 in advance of the auger. 



It is remarkable that, although it was frequently tried, it was sel- 

 dom found practicable to force the tubes down more than an inch or 

 two at a time ; yet, shortly after the removal of the pressure, amount- 

 ing, possibly, to twenty tons, they would sometimes descend six inches 

 or even a foot by their own gravity. 



With a trifling variation in the color and fineness of the sand the 

 stratum remained the same, until clay was found at 198f feet, but 

 this stratum was not more than five feet in thickness ; five feet of 

 sand then occurred, and after it another layer of clay. At 212 feet 

 a bed of sand was entered, which has been penetrated to a depth of 

 131 feet, without reaching its termination. 



Lonsr ere this the work would have been carried to the utmost 

 depth for which tubing of the diameter in use has been provided, 

 had it not been for two accidents, each of which was of so serious a 



