23O PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



bable. On the whole, however, I am inclined to regard the Wenlocks 

 under Ware as part of the continuous and old denuded Upper Silurian 

 surface of those rocks now conspicuously exposed in Herefordshire, 

 Shropshire, and Worcestershire. In direct E. and W. line, and latitu- 

 dinally, the Wenlock rocks of Malvern, Woolhope, and May Hill may 

 (under the view of continuity) claim connexion ; but I regard the 

 Ware fossils as having more affinity with the Wenlock-Edge group, 

 or that series which underlies the western side of the great mass of 

 the Old lied Sandstone. 



The fossils also equally resemble those of the Wren's Nest at 

 Dudley, where the dull earthy limestones as well as the crys- 

 talline ones (as at Ware) occur. The 33 species of fossils noticed 

 in the cores at Ware are species for species identical with those of 

 the Wenlock Edge or the Wren's Nest (Dudley). Could we remove 

 the overlying Mesozoic series between Ware and Burford, and again 

 expose the Coal-measures known to occur there at the depth of 

 1180 feet, then should we better understand the thinning-out of 

 the Triassic and Jurassic series eastwards towards this Silurian 

 ridge or plateau. We can hardly now doubt the extension of 

 the Burford Coal-measures, in all probability terminating against 

 the Silurian or Devonian series in the ■ Ware region, at Turnford, 

 and near London. 



To what distance rocks of these or older date may occur north of 

 Ware further research alone can decide. We have, therefore, under 

 the so-called London basin an axis of Palaeozoic rocks, two divisions 

 of which are known, the Upper Silurian and Devonian. The Lud- 

 low rocks may be expected to occur under or a little south of 

 Hertford ; for, as we shall see, the Devonians set in between Ware 

 and Turnford, and probably occupy the entire area between that 

 place and London, where it is now well known they occur under 

 Tottenham Court Eoad. The boring at Ware was> carried down 

 797 feet and into the Wenlock beds to the distance of nearly 

 50 feet, or, to give particulars : — Gravel 14 feet, Chalk 416 feet, 

 Chalk-marl 128 feet, Upper Greensand 77 feet, Gault 160 feet, and 

 Lower Greensand (Carr stone) 1 foot ; the boring was continued 

 for 50 feet in the Wenlock Limestone, and without the intervention 

 or occurrence of the Devonian. We are thus justified in stating 

 that the old Palaeozoic land-surface composed of Devonian and 

 Silurian rocks occupies much of Middlesex and Hertfordshire at the 

 mean depth of 970 feet ; they probably extend westward to the 

 exposed Silurian, Devonian, and Carboniferous areas of Cornwall, 

 Devon, and Wales. Harwich, which lies 80 miles to the eastward 

 and 10 miles further north, and probably on the same strike, has 

 revealed Palaeozoic rocks at a depth of over 1000 feet ; but the age of 

 these Harwich dark clays or shales was never clearly made out. 

 This question of the depth and geographical extension of these oldest 

 rocks is seldom practically tested ; for no mineral wealth of sufficient 

 value occurs below the Coal-measures (Upper Palaeozoic) to induce 

 trial or experiment; and but for the purpose of obtaining water 

 pure and in quantity, it is questionable if this problem would have 



