20 
Lias affords of terrestrial life, the Insecta are of consider- 
able importance and interest. Although with the associated 
plants, they are only subordinate to the marine fauna in 
number and variety of species, they are the only evidence 
we have at present of the denizens of the land, and are of 
great value to the Palcentologist. Their remains are 
confined to the limestones and notably to the lowest, 
where they are most abundant. These Insect beds are 
succeeded by certain hard, fine grained limestones which 
from their ordinary white colour have been termed ‘ white 
Lias,’ and they occupy a considerable area east, south, 
and south-east, of Warwick, being occasionally quarried 
at Whitnash, Harbury, Stockton, Itchington, Newbold 
near Rugby, Loxley, and other places. Their true position 
is undoubtedly below the Insect limestones, though these 
latter seem to be wanting at Harbury, Newbold and other 
places above mentioned. Some geologists consider them 
to belong to the ‘ Rhetic series,’ others to be passage beds 
between the Lias and the latter, while others still class 
them with the Lias. As they contain some fossils which 
are purely Liassic, and others which are entirely Rhetic, 
it seems most probable that they are intermediate between 
the two, and should future investigations lead to the 
preponderance of Liassic forms over Rhetic, they would 
have to be definitly classed with the former, or with the 
latter if the reverse. They are often close-grained and 
hard limestones, and make a useful building material and 
a good lime. Their colour is mostly white, with a yellow 
tinge, and occasionally pink and grey. They contain near 
Rugby a great abundance of iron, and present a singularly 
eroded and uneven surface. I am unable to state the 
exact thickness of the white Lias, but it is not very great. 
It is a purely local deposit confined for the most part to 
this county and Somersetshire. As yet, no Saurians or 
