The condition of low grounds south of the York glacier is another of the problems calling for solution. I do not think there can be much doubt but that a very large lake existed, the Lake Humber of Carvill Lewis, in much of the region between York and the Trent valley, running up into the tributary valleys on the one side and penned by the ice on the other, but what its limits were, and to what height it rose, I do not think we are at present in a position to say. Much of the "warp" of the lower part of the Vale of York is, I think, clearly the deposit of such a lake, and in a cutting near Selby I saw, some few months ago, several large blocks of Jurassic sandstone which had been dug out of it, and which I should explain by the drifting of small icebergs from the York glacier. I would point out that this deposit is just such an one as might be expected to be laid down in water receiving the grindings of glaciers, and is very like the Clyde Clays, but wholly different from Boulder Clay. The anomalous occurrence of boulders of Shap granite and of drift deposits at Royston, near Barnsley, may perhaps be similarly explained.

The valleys of the Pennine Chain, from Swaledale southward to Airedale, appear to have been occupied by glaciers, some of which were confluent with that of the Vale of York, but towards the southern end of the Chain they finished as simple valley-glaciers, and lobes of the great extra-morainic lake may have ascended a short distance but all details are yet wanting, and I merely mention these points in order that they may not be lost sight of in any attempts to solve the problems which I have put before the Society.

MAP. The geological information is transferred from the Drift edition of the official maps, and I have added merely the 100, 200, and 300 feet contours.

Obituary.

JAMES WILLIAM DAVIS, F.G.S., F.L.S., F.S.A.

It is now more than a year since the Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society lost, by the rude hand of death, its talented and highly esteemed Honorary Secretary, James William Davis, F.G. S., F.L.S., F.S.A. No member of this Society ever left so enduring an impress on its character and development, and indeed time only deepens our sense of obligation and irreparable loss.

Several excellent memoirs have already appeared of our friend, notably those published in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, No. 198, May 1st, 1894; the Geological Magazine, September. 1893; and the Yorkshire "Naturalist." Whilst these have given admirable sketches of the character and general work of Mr. Davis, there still remains to be recorded the story of his special relations to our own Society, of which he was so distinguished an ornament.

The subject of our memoir was born near Leeds, on 15th April, 1846, and from his earliest years his abounding energy, his thirst for knowledge, his taste for Natural History pursuits, his keen love of nature, from both aesthetic and scientific stand points, were strongly marked. When a mere boy he regularly kept a diary, in which he entered notes on various subjects of interest, and laid down for himself an extended course of study, embracing Science, English Literature and Languages; and, ever an indefatigable worker he contrived, whilst neglecting no business duty, to use wisely every available spare hour for the cultivation of both body and mind. He had a rare gift of attracting the friendship and goodwill of any intellectual mind he came in contact with, and the force of his personal character usually placed him in the front rank as a leader in any scheme with which he became connected.

About 1864 he removed from Leeds to Halifax, and entered himself a student at the Haley Hill College (founded by the late Colonel Akroyd, who was an earnest educationalist, at a time when

it was not so popular a rôle as it is to-day), he competed successfully in the Society of Arts Examination for the Chemistry prize, and carried off the silver medal for his year. In connection with the college a small band of students met together to read and discuss papers on various scientific subjects, and it was here that the present writer had the good fortune to make Mr. Davis' acquaintance, and to commence a lifelong friendship which deepened in mutual respect as years passed on, and with never a shadow of coolness or misunderstanding to mar it. Very shortly afterwards we were joined by Mr. Percy Sladen, F.L.S., and removing the scene of our studies to the Halifax Museum we entered upon a course of practical comparative anatomy, in which we were ably assisted by the resident Curator, Mr. Alexander Campbell, who in his youth had been associated with Professor Jamieson, of Edinburgh, and who possessed a sound knowledge of Osteology in all its branches. Here were dissected with youthful enthusiasm types representative of the chief classes of the animal kingdom. Parrots, crocodiles, serpents, apes, and last, but not least, a chimpanze were procured from a Liverpool dealer in foreign animals. At this time Mr. Davis excelled in the preparation of the skeletons of fishes, and no doubt acquired much skill and knowledge, which afterwards proved invaluable to him when he took up as a speciality the study of the Carboniferous fish remains. This Society became ultimately merged into a select company, meeting at the residences of its members in later years, and was joined by C. P. Hobkirk, F.L.S., J. Stubbins, F.R.M.S., and the late George Brook, Jun., F.L.S. Month by month the friends met in delightful intercourse to discuss new points of scientific interest as they arose from time to time, and to spend together in invigorating converse and genial fun cheerful hours, which doubtless are treasured up as precious memories by the survivors.

The visit of Professor Sollas, F.R.S., to Halifax, to lecture on Geology in connection with the University Extension Scheme, led to an intimate friendship which tended to strengthen Mr. Davis' growing partiality for Geological and Paleontological studies, as was evidenced by his forming the Halifax Geological Field Club, a Society which has flourished for more than twenty years, and still

does excellent local work under the title of the Halifax Scientific Society. This, however, was not sufficient for the energetic personality of our friend, who began to add to the verification of the facts contained in Geological Text Books and Manuals, the practical study in the field of the phenomena presented by the cliffs, hills, mountains, and dales of his own county. For several years scarcely a week passed without journeys to one part or another of the county, observing. taking notes, making diagrams and sketches, and the whole culminated in the publication of his Geology and Botany of West Yorkshire, the Botanical portion of the work being written by Dr. F. Arnold Lees.

When the British Association held its annual meeting at Bradford, Mr. Davis became a member, and came into contact with the late Professor Philips, Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, and other distinguished scientists, who fanned the flame of his increasing ardour for scientific work. From this time forward he attended most meetings of the Association, where he gathered around him a genial and friendly company of those like-minded with himself; he contributed papers almost yearly, and became an active member of Section C. The following year at the Belfast meeting he made the acquaintance of the late Lord Enniskillen and the late Sir Philip Egerton, who were attracted by his enthusiasm for their own special branch of palæontology, and who showed their friendly regard by laying open their rich cabinets for his study and heartily encouraging him in his work, and thus helped to confirm him in those Ichthyological researches which became his special department of scientific investigation.

What he managed to accomplish in this kind of work, notwithstanding scant leisure and amid a crowd of business, social, educational, and municipal engagements, is permanently recorded in his numerous contributions to the British Association Reports; the Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society; the Journal of the Geological Society of London; and particularly in the monographs published by the Royal Society of Dublin, viz., 'On the Fossil Fishes of the Mountain Limestone of Great Britain' (1883); On the Fossil Fishes of the Chalk of Mount Lebanon and Syria" (1887); and "On the Fossil Fishes of the Tertiary and

Cretaceo-Tertiary Formations of New Zealand" (1883). Even the dark days which slowly heralded the end of his labours were largely devoted to his beloved studies, and to the commencement of what promised to become the most brilliant of all his publications, a Monograph of "The Carboniferous Fishes," doubtless a vast undertaking, but we venture to think one which his enthusiasm, his energy, and large experience would have successfully grappled with had he been spared a few years longer. For it must be remembered that his own collections of the necessary material were very extensive, and that his knowledge of the specimens contained in the public and private collections of our own country was supplemented by a wide knowledge of the types to be found in almost every European Museum, and in many foreign private cabinets.

The objects for Mr. Davis' geological study were many of them collected by himself personally, in the field, for he was no mere closet and library geologist, but delighted to ramble, hammer in hand, wherever sections of the strata could be found, either in cliff, mine, quarry, railway cutting, hill or mountain side; and this brought him into contact with the shrewd and intelligent working men of his own county, and especially with the miners of the West Riding. He was always popular with the miners, who delighted to help him in his work, and to whom his genial, frank, manly nature strongly appealed, and to-day the mention of his name will evoke a spark of pleasurable recollection in the eyes of many a humble friend of his among the toilers in mine and quarry.

Our late Secretary was emphatically a Yorkshire geologist, of which profession two permanent records exist; first, his "West Yorkshire;" and second, his numerous annual contributions to our own Journal. Only those who were intimate with Mr. Davis have the faintest conception of the time, careful thought, and personal expenditure which he devoted to the interests of the Yorkshire Geological and Polytechnic Society. He was Secretary, Editor, Contributor, Whip, in short the very soul of it. Untiringly, continuously, he wrote papers, stimulated the younger members, persuaded whomsoever he came across who showed the least interest in geology to join the Society, corresponded freely with the honorary and permanent