192 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jan. 12,
it was constantly the case that the marl rested immediately on the
palaeozoic rocks without the intervention of the Bunter Sandstone.
He thought that there were good grounds for connecting the Rhaetic
beds with the New Red Marl below and the Lias above. The probability
was that the change in character was due to a gradual
influx of the sea into the inland lakes. He thought that the Thecodont
Saurians might also eventually be found even in beds of
Liassic age.
Prof. T. Rupert Jones remarked that Mr. Tawney and Dr. Duncan had already intimated the St.-Cassian aspect and character of the Sutton beds. The freshwater character of some of the Keuper beds was, he remarked, indicated by the presence of Estherioe ; and he alluded to the fact of the Bristol Palaeosaurians having been erroneously used as Permian characteristics in Russia and Carolina.
Mr. W. Boyd Dawkins had found at Cheddar that the Dolomitic Conglomerate formed two great tongues running up ravines in the older rock, which had probably been due to subaerial action.
Prof. Morris alluded to some sections which seemed to corroborate the views of Mr. Etheridge, and pointed out the relation of the Conglomerate beds to the overlying strata at those points. He also mentioned certain peculiarities in the structure of the conglomerate itself.
Mr. Etheridge stated in reply that the Marls in the Bristol area were the exception, the greater part of the New Red beds being sandstone.
2. On the Surface-deposits in the Neighbourhood of Rugby. By J. M. Wilson, Esq., M.A., F.G.S., Mathematical and Natural-Science Master in Rugby School, late Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge.
I believe no detailed information about the surface-deposits in the neighbourhood of Rugby has been communicated to this or to any Society; and I therefore offer the following observations, which fall under two heads : —
(1) The surface-deposits of the high levels.
(2) The deposits in the valleys.
In the present paper I confine myself strictly to facts for which I hold myself responsible as resting on my own observation, or on information obtained on the spot on which I can rely.
Physical Geography.
There is a plateau of irregular shape, of which the southern edge is well defined, on which the villages of Bourton, Thurlaston, Dunchurch, and Hillmorton are placed. From this line, which faces S.S.E., the eye ranges over the wide valley of Birdingbury, Granborough, and Willoughby. The height of the plateau above the level of the valley is about 120 feet. The plateau has a slight slope
