476 Prof. Sedgwick on the May Hill Sandstone, 



probably filled with Wenlock shale, and near the latter place 

 some large protruding bosses of igneous rock have elevated a 

 fine mass of limestone, which dips in a north-westerly direction 

 towards the valley. On the opposite side of the valley, and about 

 two miles from Presteign, rises another and a similar mass of 

 limestone, dipping also towards the valley, in a south-easterly 

 direction and at a great angle. From beneath this second mass 

 of limestone rise some thin beds of arenaceous and calcareous 

 shale, succeeded by beds of yellowish sandstone of considerable 

 thickness, which are thrown into a saddle, and form a pictu- 

 resque ridge. Near the summit of the ridge the sandstone be- 

 comes more coarse, and passes into a conglomerate very like that 

 near the top of the well-known beds of May Hill. As we de- 

 scend from the ridge towards Presteign the dip becomes reversed, 

 and we again meet with the limestone, which (though broken 

 and interrupted) seems to have wrapped round the protruding 

 ridge, so as to dip, wherever it appears, from the sandstone. 



If the shale of the valley be Wenlock shale, the limestone must 

 be in the place of the limestone of Woolhope ; and its fossils are 

 unquestionably those of the Wenlock group. This conclusion 

 seems now to be admitted, though at one time controverted. 

 But what is the sandstone forming the ridge under the lime- 

 stone ? The beds under the limestone, to a considerable depth, 

 contain many fossils ; while the lower and coarser beds which 

 break out near the summit of the ridge appear (like those near 

 the top of May Hill) to be almost without traces of organic life. 

 We collected during an evening walk the following species, which 

 have been carefully determined by Professor M^Coy. 



Sandstone Beds. 

 P^/raia (unnamed species, same Strophomena simulans (very 

 as at May Hill). abundant). 



suhduplicata. Pentamerus oblongus. 



uniserialis. lens. 



Hemithyris hemisphcerica (abun- Orthis elegantula, 

 dant). Spirifei'a a'ispa. 



diodonta. Modiolopsis ? 



didyma (as at Aymestry). Loxonema elegans ? 



Murchisonia ? 



Old Radnor and Presteign Limestone, 

 Stenopora fibrosa (in very great Spirigerina reticularis. 



abundance). Hemithyris hidentata. 



Favosites alveolaris, Orthis testudinaria. 



So far as the above two lists extend, there is in them no spe- 

 cies not well known either at May Hill, or the corresponding 

 beds at Malvern, or in the undoubted Wenlock and Ludlow 



