referred. Nor could Murchison have stopped where he did, since within the last few months, the Hon. W. Drummond has been so fortunate as to find another specimen of a form closely allied to Pteraspis, viz., a Scaphaspis, in Stoke quarry nearly at the base of the Lower Ludlow. The following extract from Darwin's famous book, "The Origin of Species," in which he adduces a very striking instance to show how extremely "liable we are to error in supposing that whole groups of species have suddenly been produced," bears strongly on this point. "In a memoir on fossil sessile cirripedes, I have stated that, from the number of existing and Tertiary species; from the extraordinary number of individuals of many species all over the world, from the Arctic Regions to the Equator, inhabiting various zones of depth from the upper tidal limits to 50 fathoms; from the perfect manner in which specimens are preserved in the oldest Tertiary beds ; from the ease with which even a fragment of a valve can be recognised; from all these circumstances, I inferred that had sessile cirripedes existed during the Secondary period, they would certainly have been preserved and discovered; and as not one species had then been discovered in beds of this age, concluded that this great group had been suddenly developed at the commencement of the Tertiary series. This was a sore trouble to me, adding, as I thought, one more instance to the abrupt appearance of a great group of species. But my work had hardly been published when a skilful palæontologist, M. Bosquet, sent me a drawing of a perfect specimen, of an unmistakable sessile cirripede, which he had himself extracted from the chalk of Belgium. And, as if to make the case as striking as possible, this sessile cirripede was a Chthamalus, a very common, large, and ubiquitous genus, of which not one specimen has at yet been found even in any Tertiary stratum. Hence we now positively know that sessile cirripedes existed during the Secondary period; and these cirripedes might have been the progenitors of our many Tertiary and existing species." (Darwin).—Origin of Species, p. 304.

The carriages were then rejoined and the drive resumed to Onibury, a halt being made at Mocktree to inspect a striking exposure of the Aymestrey and Lower and Upper Ludlow Rocks; here the geologists were in their element, and the constant tap tap of the hammers gave evidence of their zeal. Some distance further the vehicles were again left and the party walked to the Forge Bridge, a beautiful spot, near which a section of the Ludlow Bone Bed was inspected. The drive was then continued to Onibury, and through Stokesay to Craven Arms, where dinner was provided at the hotel, and enjoyed with a zest such a field day gives. After dinner, the learned President of the Caradoc Field Club read the following paper :—

The term Passage or Transition Beds is applied to those strata which indicate, by the fossil remains entombed in them, a more rapid change than ordinary in the physical condition of the earth's surface at the time of their formation. It may easily be supposed that when vast tracts of lands were either being elevated above or sinking beneath the surface of the ocean, or large areas were being converted from salt to fresh water, the altered physical conditions must have produced a corresponding effect on the organic life of the period, and conversely where we find a striking change in the fauna of the various successive

strata, older types being rapidly replaced by new, it is reasonable to conclude that the change is chiefly due to those secular upheavals or depressions of the earth's surface, of which we have numerous examples in various parts of the world in the present day. The existence, then, of these Passage Beds between strata like those of the Silurian system which tell us of geologic epochs of long continuance, during which but little change took place in the prevalent fauna, and others in which much higher types occur, is a fact of much interest in helping us to ascertain to some extent the configuration of the land in those distant times, and in throwing light on the succession of life on the globe. The Passage Beds which we have here especially under consideration are those which occur at the summit of the Silurian series and below the base of the Old Red, and we have every reason to suppose that they represent an epoch when great areas of what had previously been salt water were becoming vast land-locked lagoons, or freshwater lakes. A similar phenomenon must have occurred in the Trias period, when the salt beds of Cheshire were formed in the depressions filled with inland salt lakes resembling the Caspian Sea. It is true that the barrier no longer remains which would have been required to cut off these inland lakes from the ocean. It has been swept away in the course of time by denudation. But the gradual change both in the lithological character of the earlier rocks and in their fossil contents are almost as convincing proofs of its having once existed as if we could now behold it. Every one who has hammered at the Silurian rocks must be struck by the gradual change from the mud-stone nature of the Wenlock beneath to the more shaly condition of the Lower Ludlow above, and so on to the distinctly sandy character of the Upper Ludlow. As for the strata of limestone, the Aymestrey and Wenlock, that occur in these rocks, I have long maintained that they are due to segregation and not to any distinct alteration in sedimentary deposit. Now what does this gradual change from a more argillaceous to a more arenaceous rock denote, but that a slow upheaval of the earth's crust was going on during all that long time, and that it culminated in the separation of the area covered by the Old Red Sandstone from the rest of the land? A change which we may realise to our minds if we suppose the bed of the Atlantic, over which there is being constantly deposited successive layers of impalpable ooze, which in time would harden into shale-suppose, I say, the whole of this up-raised, we should then have above the shales a series of coarser deposits washed down from the contiguous land, the material for future sandstones, and, perhaps, ultimately pebbly beaches, the material for future conglomerates. In order to keep clearly before our minds the succession of beds which this day's excursion brings under our notice, I may here briefly enumerate their sequence. At the very summit of the Upper Ludlow rock we find what is called the Bone Bed- —a very singular deposit chiefly composed of the remains of fish defences, accompanied by Beyrichia, a minute bivalve crustacean, and fragments of Pteraspis and Lingula. Professor Lapworth has explained the conditions under which this remarkable deposit was formed by supposing that it took place in still water, into which for long ages no sediment was carried, and that it is composed of the remains of the innumerable generations of fishes that from time to time inhabited its tranquil depths. It is in this district, at

least, succeeded by another thin layer in which the prevalent fossil is Platyschisma Helicites, a gasteropod shell, and Lamellibranchs. Then succeeds a stratum called the Downton Sandstone, which in several places reaches a thickness of 50 or 60 feet, and this is followed by the Passage Beds proper, which pass conformably into the Old Red Sandstone above them. Thus from the Bone Bed to the Old Red, the intervening strata may be considered as transitional. The district throughout which these beds have been detected is very extensive. We had an opportunity recently of examining a magnificent exposure of them at the mouth of the Ledbury Tunnel, though no trace of the Bone Bed has, as far as I am aware, been detected in that locality. The thickness of the Passage Beds there, according to Mr. Piper's careful measurements, is very great. It would seem that towards the west the beds diminish in thickness, though their relative position in the series remains the same. Measurements made at the lane from Onibury leading to Norton are as follows:-Commencing at the top, and in succession, we have grey shale, 14ft.; red shale, 7 inches; grey, 3ft.; red, 2ft.; grey rubbly shale, 28ft. with Eurypterus, Beyrichia, Lingula cornea; hard sandstone, 1ft.; thin layers of red and grey, 5ft.; red, 5ft.; yellow shale (possibly summit of the Downton Sandstone), 15ft. Unfortunately the whole section, which a few years ago was very well marked and instructive, has been much obscured by overgrowth and the crumbling of the rock, due to exposure. Travelling still further west we find the same beds, recently discovered by Mr. Garnett-Botfield, at the Reilth, near Bishop's Castle, but of still reduced dimensions. Here the enormous quantities of the gasteropod Platyschisma with which they are accompanied is truly remarkable. Far apart from here, at the eastern limit of the county near Bridgnorth some years ago Mr. Randall was so fortunate as to discover a fine exposure of the very same series in Darley Dingle and Linley Brook, a full description of which is given Vol. xix., part 3, Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. Here too the beds, though small in dimensions, are perfectly distinct and present the same succession both of lithological character and of organic life as elsewhere. Lastly, the fossils which distinguish this series tell us clearly enough of a mighty change in the physical condition of their environment. The discovery of Pteraspis in the Lower Ludlow, to which I have already referred, shows that during the Silurian epoch fishes had already made their appearance. The occurrence of specimens is, indeed, extremely rare; though this fact, as Darwin and Lyell have long since shown, is no proof that in certain favourable localities the family may not have been abundant during the epoch. The probability is that the earlier rocks are deep sea deposits, whereas the Pteraspis and such creatures frequented shallower waters, and it would be a very exceptional circumstance for an individual to find himself drifted out so far from his usual habitat. Professor Prestwich observes that these early fishes, of which the chief characteristic is the stout shield or carapace with which the head is covered, while the rest of the body is without any protection, probably, like a fish that now frequents the Delta of the Nile, lived with the hinder parts buried in the mud and sand while the strong armour that shielded their heads gave them the power of watching for and seizing their prey in safety. In the Downton Sandstone moreover are found in abundance the first

indications of vegetation; many slabs are covered with Carbonaceous fragments among which we must specially notice the minute organism Pachytheca, which has of late attracted much notice, and justly, since it is a striking instance of a fragile organism such as an alga lasting from Palæozoic down to present time with but little apparent change. These facts--the mud-loving Cephalaspis and Pteraspis, the Phyllopods, of which the existing species belong to fresh or brackish-water types, the occurrence of vegetable remains, the Bone Bed with its vast accumulation of fish defences, pointing to a calm, undisturbed lake or estuary, in which the bodies of its inhabitants quietly sank to the bottom as they died-all indicate the approach of a period when dry land rose from the surface of the Paleozoic sea, and which before long was to make its existence known to after times by the plant remains, Equisetaceæ, Lycopodiaceæ, &c., that are found in the Old Red Sandstone, and the vast coal deposits and the insects of the Carboniferous era.

In an amusing speech Mr. Piper expressed the pleasure the Woolhope Club had derived from meeting their Caradoc friends, and the party then separated, returning from Craven Arms station at 6.35 and 6.45 p.m. respectively. Although the morning looked very threatening the day turned out beautifully fine, the clear atmosphere showing the fine distant landscape through which the visitors journeyed. The whole of the arrangements for the party, which were very satisfactory, were made by the Rev. T. Auden, of Shrewsbury, and Mr. H. C. Moore, of Hereford.

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Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club.

JUNE 24TH, 1890.

THE members of our Club are indebted to the Rev. Joseph Barker, Vicar of Eardisland, not only for the excellent programme drawn out for their Field Meeting on Tuesday, June 24th, but also for the continuity of interest maintained throughout the day by the successive series of papers read by him upon local subjects. The party, having trained to Leominster, took seats in the breaks there ready for them, and having driven through the town, dismounted at a place distant about one mile, where the old road, leading to Cursneh Camp, by Waltons, branches off to the right from the Kingsland road: from various positions on the ascent of the hill the places of local interest in the neighbourhood and their historical associations were pointed out, as condensed in the following paper by Mr. M. J. Ellwood:

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"Leaving Leominster by New Street, anciently known as Caerneveh Street, we pass on the right the old fortified mound Conigar, Conygar, or Kunnygar. The origin of the name, like the origin of so many names in these border counties, where British, Anglo-Saxon and Roman are so intermixed, is not altogether clear. Some authorities give it as Kenelm's-gaer, or Kenelm's fort, taking its name from one of the Saxon kings who ruled over Mercia. John Hackluyt, of Eaton, A.D. 1592, leaves on record that a brass plate affixed to the wall of the south side of the Priory Church had an inscription in Saxon characters-'My forefathers did build upon this my town Christ loved me and was my righteous defence always. I have loved Christ, and for His love my lands I forsook (gave), but my Kingsland and also my Kenelmworth I do not forgive. I am Christ's Kenelme, and Kenelmbald is my kinsman at Clinton.' The name may be a corruption of Coning-gaer, the king's fort; or after all simply Conygar, 'rabbit warren,' of which I am told there are several in other counties. They are supposed to occupy sites of Roman places. In the Conigar meadows may be traced part of the fortified entrenchment and fosse originally surrounding the town. Caerneveh Street led to the Silurian Camp of Cursneh, or Caerne Hill, at the foot of which lies the Waltons, traditionally a Roman settlement of some importance. The name Caer-ne-veh probably signifies a fortress, the prefix Caer or Car signifying a fortified place. It is interesting to note that so many of the more ancient military works bear the prefix Car or Caer. These old fortresses were a series of natural or artificial mounds with embankments and deep fosses. There are few traces of trenches or earthworks on the hill, and although reputed to have been occupied by the Romans, neither measurements nor configuration favour the tradition. It is said that a body of the Yorkists from Leominster encamped on the hill, and that just opposite, at Eyton, they were defeated by the