36 Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union : Annual Report, 1913. 
the characteristic Magnesian Limestone of the district, and 
enjoyed the privilege of gleaning coal fossils from the Malt by 
Main Colliery spoil heaps, despite the wet weather. 
During Whitsun Week-end an extensive tract of country 
near the head of Swaledale was explored, and on this occasion 
special attention was given to the brecciated conglomerate 
locally known as Brockram, a rock which occurs at the base of 
the Permians, and is well developed about Kirkby Stephen. 
The Burnsall meeting was mainly devoted to a study of the 
Tournaisian beds at Hetton and Winterburn, and the Visean 
beds at Rylstone and Cracoe Gill. Characteristic fossils were 
obtained at all these places, and at the latter was observed the 
reef knoll structure for which the limestones of the locality are 
famous. 
At Stamford Bridge glacial geology was the attraction. 
Interesting sections in gravel pits of the vale of York terminal 
moraine were examined, and travelled rocks from distant sources 
noted. 
The chief geological features of the August Bank Holiday 
gathering at Great Ayton were the Cleveland Whin Dyke, 
especially at points where its effects upon contiguous Lias strata 
are to be seen, and the Estuarine beds of the main escarpment 
of the Lower Oolites, together with those forming the outlier 
on the summit of Roseberry Topping. These latter included an 
interesting plant bed which it is now possible to explore owing 
to a remarkable landslide that has recently taken place. 
•Excellent accounts of the meetings have appeared in The 
Naturalist, and thanks are due to Dr. Wilmore, Mr. J. W. Stather, 
and Mr. J. J. Burton, who acted as leaders and contributed 
reports. 
Coast Erosion Committee. — Mr. J. W. Stather reports 
that Mr. Lionel Walmsley has an interesting paper in The 
Naturalist on the denudation of the cliffs immediately south of 
Bay Town, Robin Hood’s Bay. He says : — “ Assisted by the 
water from the fields above and from the springs, the cliff proper 
resembles a tremendous chute, delivering excellent agricultural 
land into the sea at the rate of many square yards per year.” 
Mr. J. T. Sewell, J.P., of Whitby, sends some interesting 
notes respecting the denudation of the cliffs and shore near 
Whitby. He states that an old painting of Whitby, dated 1775, 
shows an undercliff immediately west of the Coastguard Station, 
near the pier, and it was of sufficient area for fairs, etc., to be 
held upon it. This undercliff, however, had disappeared in 1840, 
for at that date the cliffs rose perpendicularly from the sands 
as at present. During the years i860 to 1868 the jet rock, 
which formed the surface of the foreshore opposite Sandsend, 
was artificially removed to the extent of ten to seventeen feet 
Naturalist, 
