PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 17 i 



tlie southern extremity of the jMalvem range. These investigati(jns lead me to 

 infer that many crystalHne masses, formerly believed to be of plutonic origin, must 

 now be considered as altered sedimentary deposits, and that much of what local 

 geologists are in the habit of classing under the convenient head of " ]\Idlvern 

 syenite" is an ancient secUmentary rock, much displaced and altered, but which 

 may turn out, on further investigation, to be the equivalent of the old Scotch 

 gneiss. I hope to be able to say more on this subject at our next meeting. 



Respecting the Lingula-flags of jMalvern (black shales) Su- Pvoderick j\lurchison 

 adheres to his former correlation of these rocks, and places the Lingida-flagstone 

 of Wales, the Stiper-stones, the " Holly-bush sandstone " of Malvem,^ and the 

 Tremadoc and Arenig slates, as the base of his Lower Silurian rocks, which con- 

 formably overhe the Cambrian deposits just alluded to. Sir Roderick has given 

 an excellent section (" Siluria," p. 105) of the strata which intervene between the 

 south end of the Malvems and Ledbuiy, and which I recommend you to consult, 

 while, at the same time, I still hold to the opinion that our " Holy-Bush sand- 

 stone " should be correlated as a Cambrian deposit of the same age as the Long- 

 mynds. 



You are aware that great int>erest attaches to our Malvem black schists, tlirougb 

 the discovery, by Professor John Phillips, of Oxford, of sundry little crustaceanSy 

 belonging to the family of Trilobites, of the genus Olenus ; as, also, tkrough IVIr, 

 Hugh Strickland's discovery, on the occasion of one of our general meetings, of 

 the Agnostus pisiformis, another crustacean found in the same low horizon of hfe 

 in Bohemia, Scandinavia, and Korth Wales. You wOl, therefore, be interested 

 in my discovery during last autumn, wlien accompanied by my friend, Mr. Pitson. 

 of another organic link in the evidence which connects our ^lalvem black schists 

 with the " primordial zone " of distant lands This fossd is termed " Lictyonema 

 socLcde," and is a Bryozoon, " which," says Sir R. Murchison, " is exceedingly inte- 

 resting, as showing a probaljle connexion l'>etweeii the Fenestelhdai and the 

 ■ Graptolites ;" it also furnishes an " additional reason for regarding the ' Olenus- 

 shales' of Malvem as belonging to the primordial zone " ( " Siluria," p. 47, and p. 562), 

 This fossil, like the little trilobitea alwve mentioned, is by no means altundanty 

 and requires careful searchiug for. I have, however, conducted several geologists to 

 the locality, and we have generally succeeded in carrying olf a prize. Specimens 

 have been sent to the Malvern, Worcester, and Jermyn Street Museums. 



From the Lingiila beds to the Upper Llandovery rocks there is, at iMalvem, a 

 great hiatus, the Llandeilo, Caradoc, and Lower Llandovery rocks being absent ; 

 and the place of those deposits is occupied by an outburst of igneous rock, known 

 as the " trap-bosses " of Prof Phillips. I must refer you to " Siluria " for Sir 

 Roderick's explanation of the identification of the rocks and fossils of the " Bala- 

 limestone " with those of Caer-Caradoc ; suffice it again to repeat that the term 

 " Caradoc " nmst be blotted out from the list of our Malvem rock':; and fossils, for 

 the "Bala-beds" are certainly wanting, as I, years ago, maintained. The deter- 

 mination of a transitional or passage-zone of rocks near Llandovery is an impor- 

 tant point, proving that there is no breach between the Lower and Upper Silurian 

 strata. There is no doubt that our so-called Caradoc-beds of ^lalvern are no more 

 than Upper Llandoveiy or May Hill deposits. Pix)f. Sedgwick first detected the 

 mistake in the May Hill district. My brother naturalists vrill be interested to 

 learn that a beautiful fucoid Avas found m a fragment of the Llandovery sandstone 

 by our friend Mr. Edwin Lees, and that this specimen is figm-ed in Sir Roderick's 

 new edition of " Siluria " (p. 106). 



I have several times visited the tunnel near Ledbury ; and, a few days ago,, 

 . accompanied by ^Ir. Francis Brooks, I carefully examinecl the strata from the 

 entrance to the farthest extremity at which the workmen have arrived. In most 

 respects the section is similar to that of the railway-cutting north of Ludlow ; 

 but the strata are more inclined. The " fossil-band " of grey micaceous sand- 

 stone, with fragments of plants and Crustacea, and associated with red marls, is 

 exposed as at Ludlow. The rock now worked is the Downton sandstone. 



The discovery of the Lower Old P^ed fish-remains last season, at Cradley, near 

 Malvern, was then alluded to, and also the important detection, by Sir Roderick 

 Murchison, c.f the reptilian character- of the StagonoUpis: Rolert^mii, from the 



