214 
REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 
Sept., 1891. 
proximity of a land surface, where forests of vegetation flourished 
which were the percursors of those which later in time spread over a 
wider area and furnished the material for our present stores of coal. 
The rocky gorge of The Winniats (Wind-gates) was also traversed, and 
subsequently the Peak cavern was visited, and its recesses explored. 
Unlike most limestone caverns, this one is almost destitute of calcareous 
incrustations, and presents instead many beautiful examples of 
natural arching and groining. In times of heavy rain the water from the 
high land above finds its way by devious underground channels to the 
Peak cavern, and so swells the volume of the little stream as almost to 
fill the passages. The absence of stalactites is probably in a great 
measure due to this, for as soon as they begin to form on the roof the 
flood waters would come down and sweep them away. A totally 
different route was taken for the return journey to Bakewe.il, affording 
fine views of Hathersage and the Derwent Valley, high up on the east 
side of which was seen the escarpment of the Millstone Grit, with its 
characteristic perpendicular cliffs at the top, followed by a long slope, 
consisting of the underlying Yoredale Shales. Thursday was devoted 
to Dovedale, which was reached after a long drive over the central high 
land of the district. En route a halt was made to allow of a visit to 
the “ Druidical Circle ” of Arbor Low. This ancient monument 
consists of a circle of about thirty prostrate stones surrounded by a 
ditch and mound, with a small subsidiary enclosure adjoining on one 
side. At first sight the earthwork suggests fortification, but the two 
wide entrances to the north and south and the position of the ditch 
inside the mound seem rather to imply that it was only formed to 
mark the precincts, with possibly the subsidiary use of affording a 
vantage ground for the populace when any ceremonies were being 
enacted. Dovedale was reached about two o’clock, and the whole 
party enjoyed a two hours’ ramble among the rocks and woods. The 
plants collected from this valley were of unusual interest. The 
geologists also had good reason to be satisfied with the day’s work, for 
among other specimens was one of the genus Phillipsia; not that this 
is by any means a rare form to meet with in the limestone, but that it 
is one of the last relics of the large family of trilobites so plentiful in 
the older rocks of Shropshire, which form of life was destined to 
disappear altogether from the earth with the close of the Carboniferous 
period. On Friday morning those members of the party who could 
wait till the evening train enjoyed a visit to Haddon and Chatswortli, 
which are too well known to need even a cursory description. 
SEVERN VALLEY FIELD CLUB. — LILLESH ALL 
MEETING.—The last meeting of the season took place on July 24th. 
Members arrived at Donnington at 10-45, and proceeded to Lilleshall. 
On arriving at the village the party examined the green sandstones, 
which recent researches have shown to be of Lower Cambrian age. 
They then studied the remarkable series of volcanic lavas and ashes 
constituting the mass of the hill. These rocks, formerly supposed to 
be the Silurian strata altered by an intrusion of “ basalt,” form part 
of the great Uriconian (from the Wrekin) system, recently admitted 
by Sir Archibald Geikie to be the type of the oldest volcanic formation 
in Britain, being of pre-Cambrian age. The party then wended their 
way to the summit of the hill, and near the famous Lilleshall monu¬ 
ment an address on the geology of the district was given by Dr. 
Callaway, who said : On the map of the Geological Survey, this ridge 
