308 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



with some fossil shells, by Mr. Bramall. That gentleman had forwarded 

 him a section of the beds sunk through and the fossils found in them, just 

 the kind of information which it is desirable for gentlemen to transmit to 

 the Society. It is only by such information that we can hope to obtain a 

 thorough knowledge of the drift deposits of Lancashire. He trusted that 

 many other members would forward similar sections. The pit is near the 

 Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, and the following beds were met with 

 in sinking the shaft there : — 



vds. ft. in. 



Soil *0 1 6 



Marl 11 1 6 



Loam 5 0 0 



Wet Gravelly Clay .... 5 1 6 



Quicksand 7 0 0 



Gravelly Marl 1 0 0 



30 1 6 



At a depth of 25 yards from the surface, in the wet gravelly clay and the 

 sand, the Turritella terebra, Fusus Bamfius, Nassa reticulata, Cardium 

 eclule, Tellina solidula, T. tenuis, and fragments of other shells were found. 

 He did not know the level of the place above the sea, but he should not 

 estimate it much above 200 feet ; and he had great pleasure in exhibiting 

 to the meeting the beautiful and perfect shells which Mr. Bramall had 

 been so kind as to send him. 



2. Mr. Binney presented two maps of the parish of Manchester, co- 

 loured geologically by himself, — one showing the drift deposits, and the 

 other the older stratified rocks found lying under such beds. They were 

 made, in 1861, to illustrate a paper read by him before the Geological Sec- 

 tion of the British Association. These maps he considered more as out- 

 line than complete maps, but they would be useful to show what was 

 known of the district prior to the visit of the Geological Survey. All the 

 particulars, both as to the drift and the older rocks, had been previously 

 communicated to the Society many years ago, except in some few instances, 

 where fresh borings and excavations had since been made. 



In his paper entitled " Notes on the Lancashire and Cheshire Drift," 

 read before the Society on the 23rd day of December, 1842, an abstract 

 of which was printed in the Annual Beport of the Society for 1843, he 

 gave a classification of the beds into three divisions of lower sand and 

 gravel, till or boulder clay, and upper gravels and sands, with occasional 

 beds of till or boulder in them. Besides these three deposits, he described 

 a fourth, in the gravels and sands found in the beds of the valleys and 

 low lands adjoining rivers and brook courses, and evidently derived from 

 the first-named deposits, such valley sands and gravels being formed 

 during the erosion of the valleys through the three more ancient beds. 



With respect to the older rocks, he said that when he came into the 

 district some twenty- five years ago, the local geologists always considered 

 the four-feet coal of Bedford, Worsley, Bury Lane, and Pendleton, to be 

 the same as the Bradford four-feet. 



In the sinking of Messrs. Knowles's shaft at Agecroft, the following 

 section, kindly communicated by Mr. James Knowles, was met with : — 



vds. ft. in. 



Soil, Sand, Clay, and Soft Metal 15 2 0 



Rock 11 2 0 



White Earth ] 2 0 



Coal 1 0 1 



