Vol. 56.] STRTJCTURE OF THE MALVERN AND ABBERLEY HILLS. 143 



a definite relation to such a plane confirms this hypothesis. If 

 the fault is not a plane-fault its dip may be greater. South of 

 Walm's Well this thrust-plane appears to have been affected by 

 other faults. It should be observed that Holl also considered the 

 western boundary of the Archaean mass of the Herefordshire 

 Beacon as a fault, marking the upheaval of the rocks of the Beacon. 1 

 A very remarkable feature in connexion with the Hereford- 

 shire Beacon is the occurrence of fossiliferous debris of May Hill 

 Sandstone at a number of places high up the hill. The spots where 

 such sandstones have been found are indicated by crosses ( x ) on 

 the accompanying map (PI. VIII). This circumstance was noted 

 by Phillips, 2 who says ' a singular occurrence of loose, fossiliferous 

 Caradoc sandstones, high up the Beacon Hill, was met with/ 

 This is all the more remarkable because of the inversion of the 

 Silurian strata, and the presumed concealment of the May Hill 

 Bels beneath the Archaean rocks of the hill. There are no elevated 

 patches of May Hill Sandstone in the neighbourhood from which 

 these fragments could have been derived. The latter are found 

 in the highest trench of the Camp, around the actual summit of 

 the hill, at a height of about 1100 feet, a height attained by no 

 May Hill Sandstone-mass in the Malvern or Abberley districts. 



It is difficult to explain these facts without the assumption that 

 the May Hill rocks occur in place at various parts of the hill. 

 I have searched carefully, but have found no trace of this sandstone 

 in situ except at one spot, on the road from Wind's Point to the 

 new reservoir. Its occurrence here was noted by Symonds, 3 who 

 says : — ' From the pass of the Wind's Point another fossiliferous 

 mass of these [May Hill] strata was removed by Mr. Johnson, from 

 the roadside opposite the little inn.' 4 Obscure traces only of this 

 patch are left, and its relation to the Archaean is difficult to make 

 out, but the present appearances suggest the existence of a lenti- 

 cular slip of May Hill Sandstone in the Archaean Series. 



Such patches on the Herefordshire Beacon may have originally 

 been quite disconnected, or may have formed part of a general 

 covering. Such a general covering again may have been due to 

 original deposition of the May Hill Beds upon the Archaean, or to 

 subsequent movements. Against the hypothesis of direct deposi- 

 tion are the facts mentioned in my previous communication, 5 

 namely, that in the Southern Malverns the May Hill Beds rest 

 directly, and apparently without marked discordance of dip, upon the 

 Tremadoc Slates, exhibiting no indications of an overlap towards 

 the Malvern axis. There is every reason to believe, indeed, that the 

 Cambrian Series passed right over the Southern Malverns, for these 

 beds are found in the great axial infold of Baggedstone and Mid- 



1 Quart. Joum. Geol. Soc. vol. xxi (1865) p. 96. 



2 Mem. Geol. Surv. vol. ii (1848) pt. i, p. 6^ 



3 ' Old Stones ' 2nd el (1884) p. 47. 



4 Now known as the Camp Hotel. 



5 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. lv (1899) pp. 166 et seqq. 



