196 



Many bones of Pterodactyles, teeth of Megalosaurus, and the 

 palates of fishes are found in the slates at Eyeford. The fine 

 state of preservation in which these fragile fossils he, affords 

 sufELcient proof of the tranquil conditions that prevailed in the 

 estuary where they were entombed. The Stonesfield slate is 

 well exposed at Througham, two miles north of Bisley. 



Great Oolite. — Many fine sections of this formation are seen 

 in the county of Gloucester, as in the open cutting at Sapperton 

 Tunnel, and Tetbury Road, Great Western Railway, Sherborne 

 Park, Windrush Quarries, &c. The large quarries on Minchin- 

 hampton Common, that have been worked from ancient times, 

 fally expose several of the strata of this formation; the lowest 

 bed of the Great Quarry immediately overlies the Fullers Earth, 

 and the vertical wall of rock, about 36 feet in height, admits 

 of the following sub-divisions according to my friend. Dr. 

 Ltcett.* 



A. — Plankiag consisting of several beds of a coarse shelly Limestone, 

 the oolitic grains being sparsely distributed therein. Some of 

 the beds separate into thin horizontal divisions or planks. 

 Purpuroidea, Fteroperna, Macrodon, and other large shells are 

 found here. 



B. — Soft, pale, thin-bedded, rubbly Oolite, with occasional sandy 

 partings, containing few shells and crystallized carbonate of 

 lime, and therefore readily disintegrating on exposure to frost. 



C. — Soft, yellowish, shelly Oolite, the testacea being arranged in 

 layers which assume every kind of inclination within a 

 short distance, and having numerous perforations bored by 

 Lithodomi. 



D.— Weatherstone in two or three beds, a brownish oolitic Limestone 

 full of shells, crystalline carbonate of lime, and shelly debris, 

 with oyster shells at the base. 



E. — Basement bed consisting of a coarse, grey, or brown, and 

 blue hard argillaceous Limestone, full of small oysters, Ostrea 



acuminata. 



Upwards of 300 species of Mollusca have been collected from 

 the Oolite in this locality, the greater number of these are found 

 both in the lower and upper beds, and others abound at 



* The Cotteswold HiUs Hand-book, p. 93. 



