GEOLOGY OF THE VALE OF EVESHAM. 3 



it takes its name, are more or less numerous and regular in different 

 specimens. On Bredon Hill, portions of this stone sometimes 

 occur of a brick-red colour, owing probably to the presence of an 

 oxyde of iron. 



On Bredon Hill the Inferior Oolite appears at some period 

 to have been much disturbed j in the various quarries its strata 

 are seen greatly shattered, and dipping in all directions, often with 

 a high angle of inclination. These dislocations are doubtless of 

 great antiquity, as the present outline of the surface does not seena 

 to be affected by them. The general dip of the Oolite of Bredon 

 Hill is to the S., and hence it descends with a gradual inclination 

 much lower down on that side than on the N., where it terminates 

 suddenly in a bold escarpment. 



Iij many parts of England this formation contains an abundance 

 of fossils, but they seem to be comparatively rare in those portions 

 of it which abut on the Vale of Evesham. There has, however, 

 been no scarcity of animal life in the period of its deposit, for a 

 great part of the Oolite is composed of fragments of shells and 

 corals, but it is rare to find these remains in a sufficiently perfect 

 state to fit them for cabinet specimens. The most numerous shells 

 are those of the genus Terebratula. 



These researches, which have been chiefly confined to Bredon 

 Hill, have as yet produced only the following fossils : Ammonita I 

 species 5 Terebratula 5 j Trigonia 1 ; Pecten 2 ; Cidaris 1 j Pen- 

 tacrinus 1 3 Terebellaria 1 j Flustra 1 j Sarcinula 1. Nine genera, 

 14 species. 



The next succeeding formation is the Upper Lias Shale. The 

 traces of this formation in our district are so imperfect that in many 

 places its existence is rather to be inferred from analogy than 

 proved from ocular evidence. Nevertheless, as there are some 

 places where it certainly exists, it would be improper to omit this 

 stratum in our list, especially as in the North of England it 

 assumes a very important character, both in a geological and com- 

 mercial point of view. In this and the adjoining counties, the 

 stratum is vastly reduced in thickness, and there are no induce- 

 ments for the speculator to penetrate its interior, and hence 

 illustrative sections of it are rarely to be met with. Mr. Lonsdale 

 states that he has met with it in many parts of Gloucestershire, and 

 on his authority I have coloured it in the Society's Map, along the 

 side of Broadway and Ilmingdon Hills, where it may be looked for 

 at about three quarters of the way up. It occupies a similar 

 situation in Bredon Hill, and may be traced round the N. side from 

 the height above Aston-under-Hill to Wooller's Hill, its situation 

 being commonly marked by a grassy slope, below the steep brow 

 caused by the Inferior Oolite, and above the line of the Marlestone 

 quarries. Numerous springs are thrown out along the line of its 

 course, as is always the case where clay interstratifies with more 

 porous strata. 



This formation being in this district much concealed by grass 

 and vegetable soil, but few fossils have as yet been found in it, but 



