8 
Malvern. The early geological history of Great Britain was then sketched, 
showing how in very distant days it consisted of patches of the igneous 
rocks exposed to the wearing action of the "Western Sea, which gradually 
wore them down and deposited the detritus on the eastern side, forming 
continually newer and newer "beds of sand and clay, &c. The various and 
distinct populations of those ancient seas were described, and specimens 
shown, such as the Trilobites of Siluria and the armour-plated fish of the 
Old Eed Sandstone and Carboniferous series, with others more minute but not 
less interesting. The abundant but perhaps monotonous vegetation of 
the Coal Measures succeeded, indicating estuarine conditions" of growth and 
deposit. The thick deposit of New Eed Sandstone follows, nearly 
unfossiliferous in this locality, but showing a rich fauna in the Austrian 
Alps. Next is the Rhsetic series, with its rich fossil treasures, of which 
Aust Cliff and Westbury- on- Severn afford abundant supplies. The various 
beds of the Lias and Oolite were dwelt on, and more in detail, as the district 
in question is mainly composed of these. Particular attention was drawn 
to the constant occurrence of one particular fossil in many of these beds, 
not, of course, alone, but in company with others not peculiar to it. Thus, 
certain beds of the Trias are characterized by ammonites peculiar to them, 
and found neither in the beds above nor in those below. In the same 
way, some of the beds of the Oolite are distinguished by the presence in 
them of a shell called, from its shape, Terebratula fimbria, and so on. The 
advantage of this means of readily distinguishing strata was shown and 
the alternatives between which geologists have to choose were pointed out. 
They must admit either that these creatures were called into being, endured 
but a short time, and then became extinct, or that the beds in which their 
remains occur, though often only a few feet in thickness, required for their 
deposition a long series of ages. For many reasons which could not be 
set forth at length geologists had unanimously chosen the latter alterna- 
tive, and hence the great age they were compelled to assign to the crust of 
the earth and the animal and vegetable tribes upon it. The resemblance 
and difference between the Cotteswolds and Dundry hill were dwelt on, and 
the variation in thickness of the same bed in different localities explained. 
A sketch map was exhibited, Showing the contour of the country if sunk to 
a depth of 500 feet. The Ancient Straits of Malvern would be restored, 
and the counties of Gloucester, Worcester, Somerset, and Hereford 
reduced to an archipelago, consisting of the Cotteswolds and of Malvern, &c, 
separated by deep ocean crooks and channels. The speaker concluded by 
an allusion to the connection of agriculture with the geology of a district, 
