98 PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB 1905 
At Eldersfield, then, in times past, was a complete 
ellipsoidal dome: but the sandstone has been so denuded 
as to leave a central boss, with the encircling outcrop 
of the main sandstone-mass at distances varying from under 
a quarter to over three-quarters of a mile away. As 
section 2 shows, there is a syncline to the west; the 
sandstone is seen dipping west in the Burghill Quarry, 
but at Dobshill Farm (where it is finely exposed in a 
road-cutting) east. The depression of the sandstone, 
however, is not very great, as that rock comes to the 
surface at Cromer Farm, a little to the north: indeed, the 
distribution of the bed between Dobshill on the west, 
Burghill on the east, and Cromer Farm on the north, is in 
the form of a semt-ellipsoidal basin. Proceeding eastwards 
from Eldersfield, a synclinal district is at once entered, 
and the area of maximum depression is a little to the east 
of a point half-way between the respective outcrops, and 
near Berth Hill. Concerning this conspicuous eminence, 
the writer recently found an interesting statement in the 
minute-book of the Club. It was as follows :—“ Berth 
Hill, near Eldersfield, is an example of an outlier where 
the Lower Lias is gone, but only just gone, and some black 
Rheetic shales are left there just in sufficient quantity to 
nourish certain wild-flowers, such as Chlora perfoliata, 
Tris fetidissima, and the Bee Orchis, which love the Lias 
clays, but do not grow well or flourish luxuriantly on the 
Keuper Marls below.” Several small excavations made on 
this hill failed to reveal any black shales, but there was 
abundant evidence of a greenish marl. There is no reason, 
however, to doubt in the least the accuracy of the Rev. W. S. 
Symonds’ discovery, as of course it is just what would be 
expected, for the hill is situated on the same synclinal axis 
as Berrow Hill, which is capped with higher beds than 
the Rhetic—the Os¢vea-beds of the Lower Lias. In a 
field on the south side of the road between Hillfield 
