140 Rev. P. B. Brodie on the Lias 



in; thus, in Mr. Ellis's large pit on the other side of Barrow, 

 there is at least 30 feet of shale above the 'rummels? No. 3 in 

 section, and there are more courses of limestone, especially those 

 which appear to represent the Insect limestone. It is worthy 

 of note, that while the Rummels No. 3 is evidently the equivalent 

 of the Plagiostoma-bed in Gloucestershire and elsewhere, it is 

 succeeded at once by the beds of Lias, which in Gloucestershire, 

 Worcestershire, and in some portions of Warwickshire, occur 

 much lower in the series, the intervening strata being entirely 

 wanting in that part of Leicestershire. Most of the quarries 

 do not exceed 30 feet in depth, but some have been opened to a 

 depth of 42 feet, the lowest stratum being a bed of blue marly 

 clay. The limestones are used in Leicestershire for the same 

 economical purposes as the Warwickshire ' paving-stones/ and 

 are equally adapted for this object ; but they do not seem to be 

 employed for making hydraulic lime, as they are in the quarries 

 belonging to my friends Messrs. Greaves and Kershaw at Wilm- 

 cote, near Stratford-on-Avon. 



In places there are several small faults, and in one pit the 

 lower strata were thrown up so as to form a complete saddle, of 

 limited extent, at right angles to Mount Sorrel, not far off, 

 showing on a small scale what the effect of such a dislocation 

 would be on a large one. 



Except in No. 3 of section, shells are scarce ; below this, I 

 observed only a few Ammonites planorbis and Aptychus, and a 

 long shell (Meleagrina ?) common in the shale at Brockeridge 

 Common, near Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, and there asso- 

 ciated with numerous and beautiful specimens of the same Am- 

 monite. 



The fine Saurians and Fish for which this district has been 

 long famous occur more or less in all the shales and limestones, 

 though some courses are richer than others ; and for the last 

 two years very few have been met with. In Mr. Lee's extensive 

 collection, the genus Dapedium was by far the most abundant, 

 many of which were quite perfect ; and among several fine fish, 

 I noticed one nearly 2 feet in length, belonging to a different 

 genus, and in a remarkably fine state of preservation. 



The only Crustacean I observed was the Eryon Barroviensis 

 (M'Coy), which was small and ill-preserved, and by no means 

 equal to the large and perfect specimens met with occasionally 

 at Bidford in Warwickshire*. 



I did not detect any remains of plants. 



* This species is not uncommon in the Insect limestone at Strensham 

 in Worcestershire (where the finest Insects have been obtained, but the 

 pits are now, unfortunately, closed), and Forthampton, near Tewkesbury, 

 where they are generally well preserved, though invariably of small size. 



