143 
The term marl is commonly used for Till, or Boulder Clay, 
over the greater part of Lancashire. The only places where 
fossil shells have been found between Liverpool and Tod- 
morden, so far as at present known, are in the Till south of 
St. Helens, and in the same deposit at Astley Hall, where 
Turritella communis and Nassa reticulata , and some 
fragments of shells have been met with. For specimens 
from the latter place we are indebted to Mr. H. M. Ormerod. 
Having thus tracked the drift from the banks of the 
Mersey to Manchester from West to East, we will follow 
the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in a northerly direc- 
tion through Newton, Middleton, and Blue Pits to Todmor- 
den, or at least to the Rochdale Brick and Tile Works, near 
the Summit Lock on the canal ; for at this point, about 650 
feet above the level of the sea, the last traces of the drift 
were visible, so far as we could see. 
Leaving the Victoria Station, the line crosses the valley 
gravel of the Irk, and runs over Till all the way to Miles 
Platting, where at an elevation of 183 feet the following 
beds occurred : — 
ft. in. 
Till 45 0 
Sand and Gravel 10 6 
55 6 
After going on the level for a short distance, the cuttings 
through the Till in Newton and Moston are reached. In 
the 2nd paper read before the society, the section in the 
Moston coal pit close to the line at page 103 is given, 
which shows drift beds to the thickness of 184 feet. In a 
cutting near the colliery a little sand is seen on a level with 
the rails, and with this exception the Till may be said to 
continue all the way from Miles Platting to the Slacks 
Vitriol Works, a little to the north of which the section 
given at page 184 in the paper before alluded to is 
met with. After the embankments near the Middleton 
