ee tr see ee 
On the Inferior Oolite and Lias of Northamptonshire, &c. 133 
This ‘fish bed’ has been noticed by Mr. Morris in parts of 
Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire on the Great Northern Rail- 
way, and it is very probable that it will be detected in other 
places where the Upper Lias occurs in situ, since it is rarely 
wanting, in its course through Somersetshire and Gloucester- 
shire, at the lower part of this deposit. In fact, this ‘ fish and 
insect bed’ seems as persistent in the Upper Lias as the ‘ Insect 
limestone ’ is in the lower. 
The section at Bugbrook is as follows in descending order :— 
ft. in. 
1. Rubbiy white limestone in detached bits, in dark blue shale, with } rey 
numerous fragments of Ammonites ..............ee ee eee 
2. Thin-bedded limestone (‘ fish bed’); white externally, inside has 
a green tinge with white specks; it has a laminated fractines | 
and splits readily when weathered ; it does not occur in nodules, 
but in a regular thin band in the clay J 
3. Thin, coarse, dark-coloured slaty stone, very rough, covered 
with spines, teeth and plates of Echinoderms, resting on the 
marlstone. 
3 
CT 
The thickness of the Upper Lias visible at this spot did not 
exceed a few feet; it is succeeded by the Marlstone with the 
usual fossils. I could not determine the total thickness of the 
Upper Lias, as there was no section exposed, but there must be a 
considerable mass of clay between the Inferior Oolite and the 
small section at Bugbrook, though probably not half so thick as 
the Upper Lias in Gloucestershire, which, according to Mr. Hull 
of the Geological Survey, amounts at least to 200 feet in many 
parts of the Cotteswolds. 
These strata, as well as those of the Inferior Oolite, are per- 
fectly horizontal. When the Railway was in progress, the top 
beds of the Lower Lias just below the Marlstone were exposed 
at Kilsby, and were as usual very rich in fossils, similar for the 
most part to those found in the equivalent strata at Campden, 
and Hewlett’s Hill near Cheltenham. 
The summit of Edge Hill in Warwickshire is capped by the 
Marlstone, the Upper Lias having been denuded; but small 
boulders of the ‘ fish bed,’ containing scales of fish and ‘ Inoce- 
ramus dubius,” are of frequent occurrence in the vale below, 
showing that it formerly occupied its normal position above the 
Marlstone in that district. 
At Alderton, in Gloucestershire, the following strata were ex- 
posed below the ‘fish bed’ in April 1856, which seemed to be 
richer in fossils than usual, and therefore I have noted them 
here, which will enable the reader to compare them with those 
at Bugbrook above mentioned. 
Brown and dark shales with many Ammonites, Inoceramus 
M 2 
