26 



no great depth ; in proof whereof he adduced the facts — that the beds 

 contain for the most part species of a littoral character — that the pisoUtic 

 grains are frequently found to be coated by a minute Bryozoon, Berenicea 

 diluviana — and that the tests of the urchins, which are not unfrequent, are 

 usually found in good preservation, sometimes even with the spines 

 attached. 



Overlying the Pisolite is the Eoestone, which passes upwards into the 

 Freestone, of which indeed it forms the base. It is the opinion of 

 Dr. Weight that a great change took place in the conditions of the 

 sea-bottom after the deposition of the Pisolite ; the upper beds of the latter 

 being fall of life, whereas in the succeeding zone, the forms are few 

 in number and dwarfed in size, shewing that they had a struggle for 

 existence, and lived under difficulties. Another remarkable peculiarity 

 mentioned by the Doctor, in connexion with the Eoestone beds, is the 

 circumstance that they contain special forms, of which one-half or 

 two-thirds reappear in the Great Oolite. 



To the Freestones succeeds the Oolite Marl, a purely local deposit, 

 distinguished by Terebratula fimlria, of which this zone is the metropolis. 

 As far as hitherto ascertained, this Brachiopod is as local as the deposit 

 which it characterises; beiug restricted to England, beyond the limits 

 whereof it has not hitherto been detected. T. fimlria is not, however, 

 confined to the true Oolite Marl, so called, but passes upwards into 

 the overljing bastard freestones, in which, at Shnrdington HiU, it is 

 visible in great abundance. 



Passing westwards along the escarpment, the position of the great 

 Oyster-bed, containing Gryphcea sulhhata, was well seen, with the Upper 

 and Lower Trigonia Grits, between which the Gryphcea bed is interposed. 

 At this point the attention of the party was directed to a good example 

 of the accumulated detritus, by some called raised beaches, by others 

 attributed to glacial action. Dr. "Weight and Mr. Noewood were, 

 however, of opinion that these and similar accumulations, plentifully 

 scattered along the flanks and base of the Inferior Oolite, are in fact 

 the talus of the escarpment, and owe their origin to the waste of the cliffs 

 imder atmospheric influences. 



From the summit of the escarpment the party proceeded in the direction 

 of Shurdington HiU, for the examination of the great geological fault, 

 which, commencing near the village of that name, has been traced 

 in a direction east and west for a distance of ten mUes. A detailed 

 description of this fault may be expected from the pen of Mr. Noewood, 

 who has made a careful study of its peculiarities. The effects of it 

 are well seen at the head of the valley which separates the flank of 

 Leckhampton HiU from that of Shurdington opposite. Here, at a poiat 



