58 Rev. P. B. Brodie on the Geology of the 



lection of Inferior Oolite fossils, chiefly from Denton, among 

 wh ifh were several Clypei and other shells common to Crickley 

 and Leckhampton. 



There can be no doubt that the beds above the oolite marl 

 once existed in Lincolnshire, as the gravel near Grantham, to 

 which I shall presently allude, contains numerous fragments of 

 oolite, and I recognized in them certain shells which are cha- 

 racteristic of some of the strata which overlie the marl at Leck- 

 hampton. There may be some spots in that and the adjoining 

 counties where these higher bands exist still in situ, but from 

 the general appearance of the country I am led to infer that the 

 degradation to which, from various causes, they have been ex- 

 posed, has removed a considerable portion of the upper division 

 of the Inferior Oolite. While moreover the Great Oolite bears 

 a closer resemblance in some respects to the Yorkshire series, 

 the Inferior Oolite in the districts under review would seem to 

 be more nearly allied to the more enlarged and coseval system in 

 Gloucestershire. Still nothing decisive can be stated upon this 

 point at present, until the strata and their organic contents have 

 been more accurately investigated, and a careful comparison in- 

 stituted by competent persons between the Lower Oolites in the 

 northern, midland, and south-western portion of England *. 



Upper and Lower Lias. 



The Lias in its north-eastern course runs nearly parallel to 

 the lower division of the Oolites, from the Cornbrash to the In- 

 ferior Oolite inclusive; but while the latter diminish in breadth 

 towards the H umber, the former occupies a considerable area 

 from E. to W., though less expanded thereabouts than it is in 

 some of the midland counties, and in its course thence in a 

 south-westerly direction. Although, like other formations in 

 different and distant localities, this varies in extent and thickness, 

 it preserves, on the whole, a greater persistency and uniformity 

 of character throughout the whole world than any other deposit ; 

 so that groups of fossils and detailed sections, either from Ger- 

 many or Asia (the Himalayas for instance), are found to cor- 

 respond very closely with those in our own country. In a col- 

 lection of lias fossils from the Cape of Good Hope, exhibited at 

 the Geological Society in December last, I was struck with the 

 close resemblance which they bore to certain species with which 

 I was familiarly acquainted in this vale, although there were 

 some, as might be expected, which were new to me. 



* Perhaps there is no locality in England where the Inferior Oolite may 

 be so well studied in detail, or where it is so extensively developed, as in the 

 outer escarpments of the Cotswolds. 



