TRANSACTIONS OP THE SECTIONS. ^l 



The lower of these overlying beds, which, according to sections exhibited, occurs both 

 at Kington and Ludlow, was recently inspected by Sir Roderick, accompanied by 

 Professor Ramsay, Mr. Aveline, and Mr. Salter. It is a greyish or yellowish flag-like 

 sandstone, the lowest course of which, at Kington, contains many spines of Onchus, 

 with Lingula cornea. This thin layer, and another softer one, full of remains of 

 Pterygotus, and with two species of Pteraspis, are there surmounted by bluish-grey 

 building-stone, with Pterygotus, Lingula cornea, &c. These beds are covered by 

 others, less massive, which contain fragments of plants and large Pterygoti, and gra- 

 duate upwards insensibly into more micaceous sandstones, often splitting into tiles. 

 The Lingula cornea and Trochus helicites, together with species of Alodiolopsis, and 

 hitherto the small Beyrichia Klodeni, all considered characteristic of the uppermost 

 Ludlow rock, prevail throughout these strata, with occasional carbonaceous matter 

 and traces of land vegetation ; clearly indicating a graduation towards the younger 

 formation of Old Red Sandstone. The last-mentioned fish-bed is probably of similar 

 age to the stratum which Sir R. \. Murchison described as occupying the summit of the 

 Silurian system in Clun Forest and other places. A stratum of this age has recently 

 been laid open by the cutting of the railroad north-east of the town of Ludlow, and 

 exhibits a grey rock beneath passing up into an overlying micaceous reddish sand- 

 stone and red marl : large fragments oi Pterygotus are here associated with remains 

 of fishes and the Lingula cornea. 



The succession is more clearly traceable on the i"ight bank of the Teme, opposite 

 Ludlow and below Ludford, where the Ludlow rocks with the old bone-bed are over- 

 laid by micaceous brownish-red sandstones and red marls, with true cornstones, ex- 

 posed in the bed of the river, which are again followed by other marls and sandstones, 

 surmounted by a band of coarse, greenish-grey micaceous sandstone, containing re- 

 mains both of fishes and of Pterygotus. The fish remains consist of distinct jaws and 

 teeth and fin defences of OwcAms, the heads of a Cephalaspis, together with Xhe Lingula 

 cornea. 



The genus Pterygotus having now been found throughout the Upper Silurian rocks, 

 can no longer be considered characteristic of the transition beds' between the Silurian 

 and Devonian ; and as the genera Cephalaspis and Pteraspis are now known to extend 

 their downward range to the very verge of the true upper Ludlow strata, our views 

 concerning the zoological characters, which separate the two formations, may be 

 settled accordingly. As regards the frontier of the Silurian rocks in England, the 

 phaenomena present no ambiguity ; for all the strata, from the lowest bone-bed of the 

 true Ludlow rock, which contains so many species of shells of Silurian age, to the 

 uppermost of the above-mentioned fish-beds with the Lingula cornea, do not exceed 

 40 or 50 feet in thickness, — the upper part of the series with the Cephalaspis and 

 Pteraspis, constituting a true mineral and zoological passage into the Old Red Sand- 

 stone. In conclusion, the author observed, that if applied either to the top of the Upper 

 Ludlow Rock or to the base of the Old Red Sandstone exclusively, the word "tilestones" 

 might mislead ; but if generally to the beds of transition between the two deposits, 

 it is still a convenient term. 



Description of an ancient Miner's Axe recently discovered in the Forest of Dean. 

 In a letter to Richard Beamish, F.R.S. By Robkbt Mushet. 



The accompanying relic was found as follows. Some miners were engaged at an 

 iron-mine, near Lambsquay, in turning over some of the refuse iron-ore, which had 

 been put aside centuries ago as not rich enough in iron to be suited for the Bloomary 

 ' Forges then in use. At a depth of upwards of sixteen feet, and under a very old and 

 decayed lime tree, which had grown over the spot, the axe was discovered amongst 

 the refuse iron-ore. The handle was broken to pieces and lost, before the axe itself 

 was noticed, a circumstance much to be regretted. The spot where the axe was dis- 

 covered, was free from moisture, except that incidental to rainy weather, and there- 

 fore the axe itself must have been wet and dry just as the weather varied. On trying 

 the point of the axe with a file, it proved to be iron, and not steel, so that its date 

 must have been earlier than that of the use of steel for mining purposes. 



The iron-ore surrounding the axe, was a mixture of hydrated peroxide of iron and 

 carbonate of lime, mixed with common loam, and the axe itself is covered with Qpn- 



