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THE MIDDLE LIAS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 
I might mention here a curious incident. For the 
previous month we had been travelling northwards at about 
the same rate that the spring advanced ; for instance, on 
May 3rd, in Washington, we saw the lilac and chestnut trees 
in bud, just ready to burst out; and in every town we visited 
we found them in just a similar state, even to Montreal on 
June 3rd, but during the week of our stay here, summer 
broke upon us in all its glory and beauty, so we were at once 
plunged from early spring right into the heat of midsummer; 
and from this point during the whole of June, as we pursued 
our course southward through the valley of the Adirondack, 
crossing Lake George and along the valley of the Hudson 
River to New York, we were delighted in the extreme with the 
abundance, the luxuriance, and the freshness of Flora’s gems. 
During the earlier part of our tour there were but few 
flowers in blossom, but by the time we reached Niagara Falls 
the spring had advanced considerably, so that I was able to 
obtain from there many very beautiful flowers, mostly new to 
me. I worked carefully up the Canadian shore of the Falls 
for some miles, and also the charming groups of the Cedar 
and Clarke Hill Islands as far as the Burning Spring. 
Another charming spot was the St. Helen’s Island, in the St. 
Lawrence River, and Mount Royal at Montreal; and a third 
delightful and successful locality was the Lake George 
district, near the Adirondack Mountains, including the Au 
Sable Chasm, a perfect paradise to the botanist, and indeed 
to anyone else with a love of Nature. 
(To be continued.) 
THE MIDDLE LIAS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. 
BY BEEBY THOMPSON, F.G.S., F.C.S. 
PART I. 
(Continued from page 255.) 
Some Sections Illustrating the Development of the 
“ Spinatus” Zone and Transition Bed. 
Sections in the “ Spinatus ” Zone are much more numerous 
than in the Margaritatus , but they seldom show anything 
below the rock-bed. This is chiefly due to the fact that the 
rock-bed is the only portion of the Upper Middle Lias that 
is now used in the district. It may be well, perhaps, to state 
here that by some geologists the rock-bed is regarded as 
itself constituting the “Spinatus” Zone. 
On looking at a geological map of Northamptonshire it 
will be noticed that the Middle Lias outcrop takes a direction 
