Dec., 1891. midland union of natural history societies. 269 
MIDLAND UNION OF NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES. 
DUDLEY MEETING. 
ADDRESS BY PROFESSOR LAPWORTH, F.R.S. 
[Our readers must bear in mind that this is only a bare resume 
of Dr. Lapworth’s observations.] 
THE GEOLOGY OF THE DUDLEY DISTRICT. 
Professor Lapwortb, who was received with cheers, said 
he had been invited to address the Midland Union of 
Natural History Societies upon the geology of the Dudley 
district, with especial reference to the Dudley Caverns, 
which were to be visited the next day. He gathered 
from this that it was his duty to do his best to give 
such a brief outline as should make the structure and 
the fossils of the district clear to those present who came 
there from a distance—to describe to them the geology 
of the Dudley district in so far as it was related to the 
Midlands in general. During the last century Dudley had 
been fertile in geologists of eminence. Professor Beete 
Jukes lived and worked in the neighbourhood of Dudley, and 
his work on the geology of the South Staffordshire coalfield 
was one of the great classics of British science. All Midland 
men remembered Mr. Henry Johnson, a man eminent both 
as a geologist and as a mining engineer, and whose son 
he (Dr. Lapwortli) was proud to number among his friends. 
Then there was Mr. Madeley, who had done so much good 
work among the Dudley fossils ; and Mr. E. B. Marten, whose 
models of the district were perfect marvels of art and 
accuracy, while there were many others whose names it was 
impossible to mention. One thing was clear, namely, that 
the men of Dudley stood second to none in their knowledge 
of the local geology, and in the keenness and assiduity with 
which they had worked at the subject. Dudley might be said 
to be the very centre of Midland geology, the axis, in fact, 
round which the whole of that geology centred. If they 
were to climb to the top of the old keep of the Castle they 
would have before them a complete epitome of that geology. 
Underneath the ruins rose that old mysterious Silurian 
formation filled with its exquisite fossils. Surrounding the 
little disc of Silurian was the broad circle of the Black 
Country. Beyond that ring, which was from three to 
six miles in breadth, there was another concentric ring 
composed of Red Rocks, rising up in such heights as 
Clent and Barr Beacon, whilst beyond, looking in the direc¬ 
tion of Oxford, they saw remnants of another and larger ring, 
