attaching to this mountain (the name "Scyrrid" itself being a corruption of "sacred") has doubtless given rise to the legend that the chasm in the side was occasioned by an earthquake at the Crucifixion of our Saviour. The hill is a mere ridge, with landslips on its western side. It is marked on the Ordnance map as 1,601 feet above sea level.

On each side of the Rholben on which the path so pleasantly goes are the Derri Hill to the right and the Llanwenarth Hills to the left, separated by narrow dingles, but uniting higher up to form the cone of the mountain, Pen-yFal, or summit of the peak, or as it is termed in homely phrase the Sugar-Loaf. The dingle between the Derri and the Rholben was formerly the park belonging to the Priory, and to this day its boundaries are shown by a trench and bank fence running along part of both these hills and across the bottom of the Sugar-Loaf, some four or five miles in length. In modern times the vale is more useful still, for the Afon Cibi, and other springs rising there, with the surface waterfall, forms the river Kibby, which gives to the town of Abergavenny its excellent supply of water.

The carriages were now seen winding over the brow of the Derri, and yes! there are the scientific seniors climbing the very cone itself on their ponies, and seeming at the sky line to be on a perilous incline. They wind round the hill out of sight, to re-appear in some few minutes on the very summit itself, the envy of the long straggling party who still have the steep ascent before them.

The summit of the Sugar-Loaf is an undulating ridge some 240 paces long, and from 10 to 20 broad, with rocks projecting here and there. Its elevation is given on the Ordnance map as 1,954 feet above the sea level. It is not so high as its fellow, Pen-y-Gader-Fawr, which is 2,630 feet above the sea; but the view from it is infinitely more varied and more extensive. It commands land in the counties not only of Monmouth, Hereford, and Brecon, but also of Glamorgan, Radnor, Salop, Worcester, Gloucester, Somerset, and Wilts. At least it would command this extent of view in clear weather, but on the present occasion it was too hazy to see very far. The nearer views in some respects were improved, and it was pleasant to hear how delighted they were who had never experienced before the pleasure given by the grand panorama this mountain affords. The poet Bloomfield visited the Black Mountains in 1807, and, reaching the summit, exclaims

Good Heavens! must scenes like these expand

Scenes so magnificently grand—

And millions breathe and pass away

Unblessed throughout their little day
With one short glimpse?

The Woolhope Club and their friends for the most part had this bliss. The summit was crowded with visitors and three of the ponies. After a sufficient time had been left for rest and refreshment, and for the examination of the scenery a photograph was taken of the group by one of the members, as they clustered together to listen to the following address :

ON THE "OLD RED SANDSTONE," AS SEEN FROM THE SUGAR-LOAF MOUNTAIN, IN THE COUNTY OF MONMOUTH, ON THE 10TH JULY, 1885.

By G. H. PIPER, F.G.S.

I HAVE been asked by our President to address you on the features of the district; and, inasmuch as we are on the top of a mountain of Old Red Sandstone, and all that is near enough to us to be distinguishable is of the same geological structure, the natural consequence is that I must discourse upon that very ancient and highly interesting formation. It may be taken for granted that you all know that the Coal Measures are a sort of middle formation, lying beneath the New Red Sandstone and above the Old Red, and although these terms are too general for the purposes of science, they are still sufficiently distinctive, and have the advantage of being easily remembered. The Old Red Sandstone embraces the whole series of strata which lie between the Silurian system below the Old Red, and the Carboniferous system above it. The Old Red Sandstone, or Devonian, for the latter term is now generally employed as synonymous with the earlier and more descriptive one, is one of the most remarkable and clearly defined on the surface of the globe. Characterised on its lower margin by strata containing the remains of cephalaspidean fishes, which have been found in considerable numbers in the lowest beds of the Old Red at Ledbury, and in the passage beds there which form a line of separation between it and the underlying Silurian, and defined, on its upper margin, by the rarity of that vegetation which enters so profusely into the composition of the carboniferous rocks, there can, in general, be no difficulty in determining the limits of the Old Red formation. Hugh Miller asserted in his admirably written treatise on the Old Red Sandstone, that no trace of the curious ichthyolite, Cephalaspis is found among the fossils of the lower Old Red Sandstone. He says: "Neither in England nor in Scotland is it to be found in the Tilestone formation, or its equivalent. It is exclusively a medal of the Middle Empire." Subsequent researches have shown this statement to be incorrect. My collection of Cephalaspides was obtained almost entirely from the base of the Old Red, and amongst them I have bodies of the very rare Auchenaspis Egertonii-head plates of this curious little fish are seldom found, and I believe no body, or fragment of a body, is to be seen outside of my museum. The Old Red system is manifestly arenaceous, the great bulk of it is made up of sandstones and conglomerates with subordinate strata of shales and concretionary limestones. This statement is capable of immediate proof, for the fine dust upon which I now stand is part of the mountain disintegrated by the slow action of frosts, rains, and other atmospheric influences, and although the particles are so minute as to be severally almost imperceptible, yet you will find by the aid of a microscope that most of these insignificant atoms are blocks of pure quartz.

Looking at the whole system, both in point of time and composition, we are positively reminded of marine conditions-of sea shores whose sands formed sandstones, and of beaches whose gravel was consolidated into conglomerates and pudding-stone-of receding tides that produced ripple-marks, and of showers that left their impressions on the half-dried silt of muddy estuaries. My collection has several slabs with ripple marks, and stones showing spots of rain which fell countless ages before even the Coal Measures were deposited. The reddish colour which pervades the whole strata shows that the waters of deposit must have been largely impregnated with iron, in all probability derived from the earlier granitic and metamorphic rocks, whose degradation supplied the sands and gravel of the system. If, on the other hand, we investigate the fossil remains, we are reminded of placid waters where zoophites and mollusca swarmed in profusion; of disturbances which entombed whole shoals of fishes in marine sediment; of marshes and river-banks which gave birth to a scanty growth of ferns, reeds, and rush-like vegetables; and of sedgy margins where, perhaps, a few lowly reptiles enjoyed the necessary conditions of amphibious existence.

The Old Red Sandstone imbeds obscure plant-remains, apparently of aquatic origin, and numerous fishes and crustacea, but no trace of coral, or unquestionably marine organism, has been detected, so that, as far as fossil evidence goes, the Old Red of Herefordshire and Scotland may be of fresh water origin, but the more general belief is that portions of it were deposited in Lagoons of great area. On the other hand, while plant-life is almost wanting in Devonian strata, they abound in corals, echinoderms, trilobites, and mollusca of undoubtedly marine habitatthus proving their deposition under oceanic conditions.

The Old Red Sandstone passes insensibly in places into the Silurian Rocks below. The passage beds called Downton Sandstones and Ledbury Shales have been assumed to belong as much to one system as to the other, but my experience of the latter formation enables me to say that it partakes much more of the Old Red than of the Silurian Rocks.

In order to gain some idea of the importance of this great geological system, it will be well to consider the large area which it occupies. It extends from the neighbourhood of Bridgnorth past Ludlow, Tenbury, Leominster, and Hereford, and practically embraces the whole of that county and very much of Monmouthshire. It nearly surrounds the coal fields of South Wales, and surrounds entirely those of the Forest of Dean, which is an outlier of the former, and extends away due west into Pembrokeshire and to Milford Haven, with a slight break only near to the latter place. In travelling to-day from Ledbury to this spot I have never been off the Old Red. The maximum thickness may be taken at 10,000 or 11,000 feet, but in many places it would not exceed half that estimate. Examples of the passage of the Old Red into the Silurian may be seen between the town of Ludlow and the Clee Hills, and thence all along the eastern edge of the Upper Silurian Rocks in Hereford, Radnor, and Brecon; in inany places round the outside of the valley of Woolhope, but nowhere better, or indeed as well as at Ledbury, where the whole of the Passage Beds are exposed on the surface. And perhaps there is no other spot in the whole world where the same advantages

occur; but those interested in the subject should make an early inspection, for the lines of demarcation are fast becoming obliterated. The grandest exhibitions of the Old Red Sandstone in England and Wales appear in the escarpments of the Black Mountain, near Hay, and in the Vans of Brecon and Carmarthen, the loftiest mountains of South Wales, the one 2,860 and the other 2,590 feet above the sea level.

The whole of this mountain,
Every valley and hill and

Now of the particular spot whereon we stand. from its base to its summit, is of Old Red Sandstone. mountain within sight is of the same formation, and their beautifully-rounded contours tell in the plainest language that their present forms have been assumed under the mighty influences of ice and water. This mountain is a fine example of denudation. The mill-stone grit, mountain limestone, and mountain limestone shales, have all been washed away, but they may be seen on the outlier of Pencerrig Calch, to the westward, and on the Blorenge over the Usk. The upper cornstone group rises into the hills named the Derri and Rholben, below us, and again in the wooded escarpments that lie below the Blorenge. The Brownstones occur above the upper cornstones and sandstones of the Derri and the Rholben, and these constitute the higher strata of the Sugar Loaf and the Scyrrid Fawr. The accomplished and eminent geologist, Mr. Symonds, in his Records of the Rocks, tells us that the Brownstones of the Blorenge are overlaid by the uppermost rocks of the Old Red, namely, the Old Red Conglomerates, and the yellow and grey sandstones, these again being capped by the Carboniferous limestone and Millstone grit. The Sugar Loaf mountain has no fossils, but head-plates and fish-spines may be found in the Lower Flag-stones, near the town of Abergavenny.

On the Scyrrid Fawr is a down-throw from the Sugar Loaf series, and the escarpment of Brownstones laid open by the great slips deserve minute inspection. The height of the Sugar Loaf has been ascertained to be 1,868 feet above the sea, and Mr. Lloyd has been good enough this morning to ascertain, by stepping, that the length of the mountain top is about 240 yards, and the width varies from halfa-dozen yards to perhaps 20 yards in the widest part.

Reclining on the tufts of whortleberries and heather, which grow on the very ridge of the mountain, the party listened to this lecture with much pleasure. The enjoyment was heightened by the admirable forethought of the President. His hospitality was not to be checked by the steep ascent of the Sugar Loaf. He had caused to be conveyed there a good supply of ice, of soda water, and of sparkling Moselle, and whilst the address was going on "a cup" was made, so deliciously refreshing as to give general satisfaction. Was ever a Moselle cup so good

before?

The vistors remained some hour and a half at the top, and afterwards, by a leisurely descent, were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery around them, ever the same, yet ever varied by the changes of light and shade. A curious scene was witnessed by some of the party, in a hayfield at the foot of the Rholben. The wind had been gentle throughout the day-unusually gentle on the summit of the

mountain-and yet all at once a whirlwind gathered together a quantity of hay from the field, raised it in a column, and tossed it up into the air hundreds of feet, to be distributed in all directions.

The Priory Church was visited a little before four o'clock, when the visitors were kindly met by the Rev. Prebendary Capel, the vicar, and Mr. Reece, the curate. The Rev. F. T. Havergal read a very interesting account of each one of the monumental effigies in succession, extracted from Mr. Octavius Morgan's work, with comments of his own, and the Vicar then very kindly gave an account of the restoration of the Church, carried out by Mr. Nicholson, of Hereford, with a gentle hint in conclusion that some £8,000 was still required to complete the work.

The visitors next went to the Castle Grounds, where the considerable ruins that still remain have been well cared for, and the grounds well laid out for public enjoyment. The place is surrounded with interest, but if information about the Castle ruins is required, it must be brought there by the visitors. To those who have superintended the grounds, may it be suggested that a short history be printed in 8vo. (not 12mo., or small quarto, which are lost of necessity) and be sold for a few pence. If this were done, and the names of the several parts of the ruins printed up over the doors, as is done at Ludlow Castle and other places, it would greatly increase the interest of visitors, and they could be able to carry off much information as well as pleasant recollections of these beautiful pleasure grounds.

The visitors were well catered for by Mr. Jones, and after a tea dinner they adjourned to a shady court adjoining, to listen to an excellent paper on "Herefordshire Orchidaceous Plants," by the President, and another on "Herefordshire Doves." The way was now taken to rejoin the train at the Brecon-road Station for the return home, and thus ended a very pleasant day. A few words must be added to express the regret of the Committee that Dr. Steele, who was to have given the address from the Sugar Loaf on "The Remarkable Features of the District," should have been prevented from doing so. With some members present, also, a shade of gloom pervaded the day, from time to time, by the frequent remembrances called forth of two gentlemen who were formerly such energetic members of the Club, the late Dr. McCullough and Mr. Elmes Y. Steele. The feeling, however, was purely personal, for at Abergavenny they live in their good deeds. Much of the spirited progress of the place has been due to the ability and energy of the late Mr. Elmes Y. Steele; and the size and renown of the great Lunatic Asylum bears testimony to its successful superintendence and management by Dr. McCullough. Their kind and genial presence was missed, as was the cordial welcome they would have given to the Club to-day; but it was very pleasant to hear them spoken of by influential residents in terms of loving appreciation and regret.

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