173 



llhyn. spinosa is plentiful, and in the crevices of the rock an occa- 

 sional example may be observed with the spines attached, though 

 not easy of extraction. To these " Trigonia and Spinosa grits " 

 succeed about 22 or 24 feet of impure bastard freestones, very much 

 fractured and disjointed, and more or Icssrubbly and disintegrated 

 in their upper portions these beds are comparatively devoid of 

 fossils, a small form of Terebratula perovalis appearing the most 

 frequent 



The following list of fossils from the " basement-bed " will servo 

 in some degree as a guide to the character of the deposit : 



Lima proboscidea. Ostrea. 



Trigonia costata. Turbo capitaneus. 



Trigonia, 2 species. Natica. 



Pecten. Bhyn. spinosa. 



Gryphsea Buckmanni. obsoleta. 



Gresslya adducta. inconstans. 



Pholodomya, 2 species. Terebratula perovalis. 



Trichites, abundant. Serpulao, abundant. 



Nautili and Ammonites portions, but not common. 

 For this list, which does not pretend to give more than a mere 

 outline of the contents of the beds in question, I am mainly indebted 

 to Mr. Moore ; but doubtless a careful examination would yield a 

 far larger series to any geologist who could spare time for their 

 investigation. 



Besides the sections just described in detail at Charlcombe and 

 Lympley Stoke, I examined detached portions of the lower beds of 

 the Inferior Oolite at several points around Bath, and at the village 

 of Turley, about seven miles from thence, just above the quarries at 

 Meadgate, and found the "Trigonia and spinosa grits" forming the 

 basement-bed, and resting immediately on the " Sands." 



The question that naturally presents itself to the mind of a 

 Cotteswold Geologist, upon a review of the foregoing considerations, 

 is, what is the position occupied by these Bath Oolites, relatively 

 to the great development of the same beds in the neighbourhood of 

 Cheltenham and Gloucester? Our able colleague, Mr. Lycett, in 

 his clear and intelligent work on the Cotteswold Hills, divides the 

 Inferior Oolites in that district into three stages, distinguished by 

 their characteristic Brachiopods ; the lowest of which is designated 

 as the Cynocephala Stage ; the middle as the Fimbria Stage ; and the 

 highest as the Spinosa Stage. Hence, we should conclude, if this 

 arrangement be generally applicable, that in the neighbourhood of 

 Bath the two lower stages of the Cotteswold Oolites have thinned 

 out, leaving a special development of the Spinosa Stage, as the 

 representative of the entire group, and this may possibly prove to be 

 the case ; but, in order satisfactorily to ascertain this point, it will be 

 necessary to trace out the beds of the Inferior Oolite, from their area 

 of greatest development in the neighbourhood of Cheltenham, Stroud, 

 and Gloucester, to the position of diminished importance which they 

 occupy in the neighbourhood of Bath. 



VOL. II. H 



