The Glacio-Marine Drift of the Vale of Clwyd. 463 



April 7th. — Dr. Henry Hicks, F.R.S., President, in the Chair. 

 The following communications were read : — 



1. ' On the Morte Slates and Associated Beds in North Devon 

 and West Somerset. — Part II.' By Henry Hicks, M.D., F.R.S. 

 P.G.S. With Descriptions of the Fossils by the Bev. Gr. F. Whid- 

 borne, M.A., F.G.S. 



In the first part of this paper, read by the author before the 

 Society in February 1896, he described the Morte Slates as they 

 occur in North Devon, and the fossils found in them. In this, the 

 second part, he refers mainly to the rocks classified as Morte Slates 

 in West Somerset. He shows that the latter differ in some im- 

 portant characters from those in North Devon, and have an entirely 

 distinct fauna. The fossils obtained from North Devon show that 

 there the beds must in the main be classed with the Silurian rocks ; 

 but in West Somerset, so far as discoveries have yet been made, the 

 fossils indicate that they should be classed with Lower Devonian 

 rocks. The author's contention that the Morte Slates which extend 

 through the centre of North Devon and West Somerset from Morte 

 Point to the north of Wiveliscombe, a length of about 40 miles, are 

 the oldest rocks in the area and form an axis with newer rocks 

 lying to the north and to the south, is therefore fully proved by 

 stratigraphical and palseontological evidence. The fossils are care- 

 fully described by Mr. Whidborne, and he shows that there are 

 numerous forms in common between them and those considered to 

 be characteristic of the Lower Devonian rocks in the continent of 

 Europe and in America. 



2. 'The Glacio-Marine Drift of the Yale of Clwyd.' By T. 

 Mellard Beade, Esq., C.E., F.G.S. 



The local drift of the higher parts of the Yale of Clwyd is 

 replaced by marine drift towards the mouth ; and it is the object 

 of this paper to give the results of a detailed examination of these 

 marine drifts, rather than to explain the phenomena. The first 

 part of the paper gives the results of an examination of the bouldei- 

 clay from Craig, west of Llandulas, to the Yale of Clwyd, south-east 

 of Abergele. 



Mechanical analyses of the clays are given ; but the point 

 of greatest interest is the occurrence of abundance of forami= 

 nifera, especially in the plastic brown and red Boulder Clays, which 

 often contain intensely striated erratics. These foraminifera have 

 been examined by Mr. Joseph Wright. Most of them occur in the 

 boulder- clays of Crosby and Wirral ; but some of them are very 

 rare in British localities other than those now recorded, namely, 

 Bhabdogonium tricarinatum, Sjphecoidina bulloides, Pidlenia splice- 

 roides, and Pulvinulina Menardii. 



The glacial sands and gravels of the east side of the Yale of 

 Clwyd are also described, and especial attention is called to an 

 esker-like mound of sand (gravel), occurring south-east of Diserth 

 Castle, formed of bedded deposits, the bedding of which generally 

 follows the outer form of the ridge. The ridge has Boulder Clay 

 upon the flanks, and is described as rising through the Boulder Clav. 



