134 Geological Society : — 



March 9.— W. H. Hudleston, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., 



President, in the Chair. 

 The following communications were read : — 



1. " The New Railway from Grays Thurrock to Eomford : 

 Sections between Upminster and Romford." By T. V. Holmes, 

 Esq., F.G.S. 



In the Hornchurch cutting of the new railway, Boulder Clay, 

 of which about 15 feet is seen, rests upon the London Clay near 

 the 100-feet contour- line, and is overlain by 10 to 12 feet of sand 

 and gravel. The author gives reasons for inferring that this sand 

 and gravel belongs to the oldest terrace of the Thames Yalley gravel 

 occurring in this district, and states that it demonstrates the truth 

 of Mr. Whitaker's conclusion that the Thames Yalley deposits are 

 (locally) post-Glacial, or newer than the local Boulder Clay. 



2. " The Drift Beds of the North Wales and Mid-Wales Coast." 

 By T. Mellard Reade, Esq., C.E., F.G.S. 



This paper is a continuation of papers by the author on the Drift 

 Beds of the N.W. of England and North Wales. The author first 

 treats of the Moel Tryfaen and other Caernarvonshire drifts ; he de- 

 scribes the drifts of the coast and coastal plain, connecting his observa- 

 tions with those of the Moel Tryfaen drifts. An important feature of 

 the investigation is the numerous mechanical analyses of the various 

 clays, sands, and gravels. In all the samples but one, a large pro- 

 portion of extremely rounded and polished quartz-grains have been 

 found, which the author maintains to be true erratics, and a certain 

 sign of marine action. He shows that the Moel Tryfaen marine 

 sands are in part overlain by typical till, composed almost wholly of 

 local rocks with a small percentage of clay, whereas the sands and 

 gravels are full of erratics including rocks from Scotland and the 

 Lake District, numerous flints, Carboniferous Limestone, and cry- 

 stalline schists. Throughout the drifts of the coastal plain he has 

 found a greater or less proportion of granite erratics, as well as, in 

 many cases, minute rolled shell-fragments. He maintains that these 

 drifts are the result of two opposing forces, one radiating from 

 Snowdonia, and the other acting from the sea to the southwards, 

 and their characteristics change as the one or the other force pre- 

 ponderated. 



The other divisions of the paper are taken up with a description 

 of the Merionethshire drift and that of Mid- Wales, numerous sections 

 being given. Attention is called to a remarkable glaciation of the 

 rocks at Barmouth. 



In a concluding part, giving inferences and suggestions, the 

 author discusses the land-ice and submergence hypotheses, and 

 concludes that his observations distinctly strengthen the grounds 

 for believing in a submergence of the land to an extent of not less 

 than 1400 feet. 



An Appendix contains details of nineteen mechanical analyses of 

 tills, sands, and gravels, and a bibliography of papers, observations, 

 and theories of the high-level drifts of Moel Tryfaen. 



