248 MIDLAND UNION OF NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES. Nov., 1891. 
which they stood across the chasm. He also called attention 
to the inclination of the limestone measures, and to the 
remnants of the pillar which lay in the great hollow beneath. 
THE DUDLEY CAVERNS. 
The steep descent to the caverns, whither the party were 
bound, has been made easy by the construction of a stair 
of many steps. At the bottom of this the way is still a very 
steep gradient, and far beneath, through the opening between 
the supporting pillars, glimpses are obtained of galleries 
beyond galleries. Lighted candles dotted the rude wall 
which fenced off the line of route from hollows where either 
lie “ confusedly hurled huge masses of rock,” or where, black 
as Acheron, stagnate the remnants of the old canal. Here 
and there, on some coign of vantage, candles, grouped on a 
St. Andrew’s cross, illuminated some special spot or feature ; 
but all through the vast vault the light was ample. The road 
winds considerably, and here and there, through an opening 
above, rays of sunlight were thrown athwart the path. The 
descent of another stair, and the ascent of a steep incline a 
little beyond, brought the party into the great chamber in 
which the Bishop of Oxford, in 1839, crowned Sir Roderick 
Murchison “ King of Siluria.” In an alcove of this chamber 
shone an illuminated device—the letters Y.R., with a star 
between. Here, in answer to a call, Mr. Claughton said that 
the caverns were artificial, and had been made in providing a 
flux for the blast furnaces of South Staffordshire, at a time 
when there were more of these about than there were now— 
192 against a remnant of 49 only. The canal passed along 
the lower part of the workings, and the miners, therefore, 
had only to drop the limestone they quarried into the boats, 
which were drawn out and passed into the Birmingham Canal. 
They would note the angle at which the strata lay, and that 
the pillars left to support the superincumbent mass were at 
right angles to it. Pillars sometimes gave way as they saw 
at the landslip; and these caverns had once extended far 
beyond the point at which the party now stood. Gradually 
the extent had been diminished by falls; but they did not 
intend to be beaten back from that point. The roof was 
carefully picked over; and it was their hope that the caverns 
would be kept practically intact for many years to come. 
The Rev. J. Hodgson, by request, said a few words upon the 
Silurian limestone, particularly noting the many and beauti¬ 
ful fossils it contained. It had been upheaved as they saw, 
and this upheaved the carboniferous strata above, as would 
be shown later on at the Claycroft open workings. He could 
not conclude without thanking, on behalf of those present, 
