TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS, 61 
On three Sections of the Oolitic Formations on the Great Western Railway, at 
the West End of Sapperton Tunnel. By Captain Issetson, F.G.S. 
The author presented a short communication to accompany three detailed sections, 
surveyed by the author for the Geological Survey of Great Britain, for the purpose of 
showing the continuation of strata described by Mr. Lonsdale, and in the ‘ Geology 
of Cheltenham,’ by Sir R. I. Murchison, by Mr. Buckman and Mr. Strickland. 
The section at the mouth of the tunnel shows the great oolite, fuller’s earth, and 
the upper rag of the inferior oolite, which contain three remarkable strata; viz. a zone 
two feet thick, consisting of a'mass of Trigonia costata, and another species of Tri- 
gonia angulata, &c.; the second, composed of Gryphea cymbium, &c.; and the third 
an immense quantity of Terebratula, particularly T. fimbria. The beds were noticed 
by Mr. Lonsdale as being found at Witcombe Hill near Bath, and by Mr. Buckman 
as occurring in the Lineover section. The only lithological difference between the 
Sapperton sections and the Lineover section is, that the thin bed of fossiliferous 
clay at Lineover is at Sapperton a very hard grit, crystalline, and a mass of com- 
minuted fossils. The second section contains the upper rag of the inferior oolite, 
with the three zones above-mentioned; and the third the upper and lower rags of 
the inferior oolite, separated by a mass of soft freestone split obliquely, very cry- 
stalline, and full of comminuted fossils. 
On the Age of the Silurian Limestone of Hay Head, near Barr Beacon, in 
Staffordshire. By James Buckman, F.G.S. 
The limestone rocks and shale of Hay Head, celebrated as the original locality 
from whence was obtained the Barr Trilobite (Bumastus barriensis), were referred 
by Sir R. I. Murchison to the Wenlock series of the upper Silurian system. This 
opinion having been doubted by Burmeister, who places the Barr Trilobite in the 
lower Silurian division, Mr. Buckman commenced an examination of all the fossils 
associated with that species at Hay Head. Of the fifty-six species there obtained, 
fty-three belong exclusively to the upper Silurian beds, and have also been found in 
the Wenlock series of Dudley ; whilst only one, and that a doubtful species, can be 
referred to a lower bed. The author hence concludes that Sir R. I. Murchison’s 
sections and notes upon this locality are correct ; though he considers it probable 
that a seam of the coal measures occupies a small tract in the valley between Hay 
Head and the town of Walsall. ge 
Notice of the Discovery of a new Species of Hypanthocrinite in the Upper 
Silurian Strata. By James Buckman, F.G.S. 
The genus Hypanthocrinites of Phillips, of which a single species was known to 
Sir R. 1. Murchison, and is figured in the ‘ Silurian System’ under the name of Hy- 
panthocrinites decorus, pl. 17, f. 3, is in itself so remarkable, and presents such pecu- 
liarities of structure, that any addition to the list of species cannot be considered 
otherwise than interesting to the fossil zoologist. Through the kindness of Augus- 
tus Lewis, Esq. of Wolverhampton, to whom the discovery is due, Mr. Buckman 
is permitted to lay a beautiful and unique specimen of a new species before the 
Geological Section of the Association. 
From the specimen itself, and from an enlarged drawing which he has made of 
it, as well as of the previously known species, there is no difficulty in making out 
the following distinctive characters: Hypanthocrinites granulatus, Lewis’s MSS. 
Head large, obtusely conical, apex surmounted by a small proboscis. Inter-digital 
ribs square on their outer margins, which are dotted by minute granulations ; these 
are terminated by smooth plates, concave on their outer surfaces. Fingers like those 
of the H. decorus, but larger. Body and columns absent. 
This species therefore differs from the H. decorus in being of a much larger size, 
with a more obtuse apex; in its small proboscis, which is only about one-fourth 
the size of that of the smaller species ; in its ribs being flat externally instead of 
convex ; and in these again being granulated, whilst in the A. decorus they are smooth: 
the ribs in the last-mentioned species are surmounted by large ¢ubercular plates, 
whilst these are narrow and concave in the new specimen. 
