326 Lees : Wetherhy Re-visited by Yorkshire Naturalists. 



and so lacks the provision of ' specimens ' which can be carried 

 home, arranged and named, there appeared to be much of the 

 minute and interesting - about the strata as seen in the slope of 

 the new railway cuttings which was not certainly known, if 

 unanswered questions of tyro-geologists* afford any criteria, 

 although those examining- the sections under the guidance of 

 Mr. Catley, the North Eastern Railway Co.'s Tadcaster District 

 Engineer, who was forethoughtfully sent to further investiga- 

 tion, had the advantage of the presence of the Rev. W. L. 

 Carter. To him, however, the district was quite new, so that 

 the writer and others had to be content with the information 

 given in the Circular, and the additional facts that the trenches 

 or joints (a foot or more in width) overlying the rifts and 

 internally-crystallised cracks in the yellowish, crumbly lime-rock 

 itself, were of post-geologic age ('artificial' — possibly due to the 

 Kelt or Gaul) and that the 'sandy material' with which these • 

 joints were filled, albeit seeming wholly siliceous, had been 

 'burnt for lime.' That no experts, specially trained observers, 

 were present, was therefore trebly a pity : the occasion and the 

 mixed character of the appearances in the cutting by the new 

 railway station ill-accounting for the neglect which remains its 

 portion. Old stone hand-mills (querns) have been unearthed, 

 too, in making the rail-branch curve, and the opportunity of 

 learning all that could be learnt should not have been lost. 



'To the majority of geologists the district does not offer many 

 attractive features. For some reason or other, probably the lack 

 of fossils being the chief, the Permian rocks of Yorkshire have 

 been severely neglected, though they present many interesting 

 problems for solution, especially that of their origin and mode 

 of formation.. These problems affect the chemist as well as the 

 geologist, and it is gratifying to know they are now receiving 

 the attention of a Committee of Research appointed by the 

 Leeds Geological Association. 



'The geological party was a very small one, and, unfor- 

 tunately, was without a leader, neither were any of the officers 

 of the Section present. The North Eastern Railway Co. have 

 been widening their line and making a new station at Wetherbv. 

 In the course of this work extensive rock sections have been 

 exposed, and the Company kindly gave permission for these to 

 be examined, at the same time instructing their local engineer- 

 ing inspector to act as guide. The sections show the Lower 

 Magnesian limestone well. This is a yellow limestone, very soft 

 and sandy in places, and not very thickly bedded. There are 



Naturalist, 



