402 A Bay with the Field-Clubs. 



brought the Caradoc strata into juxtaposition with the Cam- 

 brian : and thus, as the geologist is aware, a vast stratum called 

 the Llandeilo is unrepresented on that side of the Longmynd ; 

 it lies, in fact, deep down under Church Stretton. On the 

 other side of the Longmynd, however, it is found largely de- 

 veloped. 



In thus looking over the country around we could trace the 

 various layers which compose the Silurian rocks from their base 

 upwards, and the regularity of their succession; the distinct- 

 ness, indeed, with which it is marked in that neighbourhood is 

 most striking, and leads us to the conviction that, once on a 

 time, piled high above the ground on which we stood, this vast 

 mass of strata, measuring fourteen English miles and a-half 

 deep,stoodaccumulated; that gradually a great crack (the "fault" 

 before named) occurred ; and that in the upheaval the Longmyjid 

 side outstripped the other ; that over the surface of this area, 

 probably during the whole time it was being gradually raised 

 above the bed of the ocean, the waters rushing to and fro de- 

 nuded the higher parts of the dome ; and that we now trace 

 in the ridges contemplated from the top of Caer Caradoc the 

 materials of the shell which has thus been so curiously formed 

 and laid bare. Ancient Caradoc still bears on his shoulder a 

 sample of the material covering which once lay over him. A 

 very small party descended — and they were obliged to do it in a 

 most undignified position — the almost perpendicular slope of the 

 west side of the Caradoc, to where a huge mass of the Aymestrey 

 rock is found reclining at a very high angle j which, by its 

 great hardness, being detached, has remained there as a wit- 

 ness of the continuity of the stratum which once extended over 

 the whole area. The thrusting up of the Longmynd range has 

 given us the opportunity of examining the various layers, from 

 what is believed to be the first deposit on the earth's original 

 surface, for the lowest of these strata have been regarded by 

 geologists as the earliest deposited rocks, the most ancient part 

 of the outer crust of the earth. The shales of the Longmynd 

 contain the first traces of life, the Arexricolas, and display the 

 marks of the ripples of primeval tides, and even casts of rain- 

 drops, on the thin layers composing the strata. 



Before this descent, however, the formal meetings of the two 

 clubs, severally, had been held on the side of the hill-top which 

 looked over the valley eastward, and their routine business had 

 been proceeded with; after which, while the listeners reposed 

 themselves in groups on the sod around, a short lecture on the 

 ancient tumuli of the district was delivered, in fulfilment of a 

 promise, by the writer of the present paper. The small 

 party who had visited the mass of Aymestrey rock on the west- 

 ern llank of the mountain continued their laborious descent 



