vc. xvn. (X) INFERIOR OOLITE-SOUTH COTTESWOLDS 65 



rises • the outcrops of the Fullers' Earth and Great OoUte 

 recede and as aLult. the superficial extent of the Infenor 



^°'tH"n-ca/ Retrospect.^-W^en correlations of the 

 Soutlcotteswold Infer.or-Oolite rocks have been attempte^^^ 

 and this remark particularly apphes to the Top-Beds they 

 have been none too successful ; but this is not altogether to be 

 wondered at. for the stratigraphy is by no -ans easy to m^^^^^^ 

 out-the rocks at the southern end approximating to those 01 

 Zl Bath-Doulting district, and those at the northern end 

 to those in the Mid Cotteswolds, while in the mtervenmg area 

 the transition between the two takes place. , ,^ e ^u 



Te first definite reference to the f°^-^°\'^'^^^^ 

 Cotteswolds is contained in Conybeare and Phillips Outline 

 of the Geology of England and Wales" (1822) but they 

 do nothfng more than simply describe the trend of the hil s be 

 teen Stroud and Bath, and remark that they " appea to be 

 generally capped by the Great Oolite, and to exhibit the strata 

 r are no J describing [that is, the Inferior Oolite] m their 



escarDment." iloc. cit., p. 251). , ,, /^ 4. 



Ttween 1822 and 1850 there appeared Murchisons; Out- 

 line of the Geology of Cheltenham " (1834) ; h's Silurian 

 Sy tern' 1839) ; and a second edition of the former work 

 "'augmented 'aid revised by H. E. Strickland and James 

 Buckman" (1844, Cheltenham; 1845, London). All these 

 w:>rte contaL remarks on the Inferior Oolite, but are con- 

 fined to the Cheltenham district. 



Their influence on South-Cotteswold geology, however, is 

 clearly indicated in the Rev. P. B. Brodie's paper of 1850. 

 " On Certain Beds in the Inferior Oolite, near Cheltenham, m 

 which reference is made to Selsley Hill. It shows that con- 

 siderable subdivision of the Inferior Oolite had been accom- 

 plished Brodie was unable to decide if what are now called 

 the 5cissiim-Beds. Lower Limestone and Pea-Grit were repre- 

 sented at Selsley; but observed the OoUte Marl, somewhat 

 reduced in bulk " and full of Nerincea and other shells, overlaid 

 by "flaggy bastard freestone "-the Upper Freestone of 

 present nomenclature. Between the Upper Freestone and 



X The section on Plate XXI. should be studied before reading the Historical Retrospect. 

 2 Quart. Joum. Geol. Soc, vol. vi. (1850), pp. 2l')--H9- 



