76 REPORT—1850. 
throughout the whole, but no one stratum contains them in greater abundance 
than the oolite marl, the upper division of which has at one spot in particular been 
correctly denominated ‘the coral bed,’ and evidently formed an extensive coral reef 
beneath the ocean; but with the exception of the Pisolite, we have no other evidence 
of such reefs in any of the other subdivisions. Hence the abundance of corals in 
the oolite marl near Grantham, coupled with other facts, such as the frequency of 
Nerinee, which are usually found associated with corals, and are believed to have 
inhabited shallow seas, tends to support the probability that the marl in Lincolnshire 
was deposited under similar conditions to the marl in Gloucestershire. 
One of the numerous trial borings for the railway now in progress on Harroby Hill, 
near Grantham, gives the following section :— 
ft. in. 
Soil...... oivekcecrantcts ay ΟΠ see aaa Bobottnipeoce ne 0 6 
Rubble.............6 Oh eetie Batbcksastioncig coceet ecco ner 6 0 
Inferior oolite...... πο νος πο ποτ οτος ......0. 40 6 
Lias (blue bind) (continued downwards) ......... ww. 10 0 
The junction of the inferior oolite and upper shale may be observed near Stam- 
ford, where many of the characteristic fossils have been noticed. The upper lias also 
crops out at the base of some of the numerous valleys which traverse the oolitic 
district round Grantham. A few miles on the north-west a low and extensive flat is 
occupied almost exclusively by the middle beds of the lower lias, so largely developed 
in the Vale of Gloucester, and in no respect differing from them. In that neighbour- 
hood the marlstone abounding in fossils forms a range of low hills, and is exposed 
again in the descent from Denton Hill into the valley in which Grantham stands. 
It there occupies the same relative position, and presents the same geographical 
features as it does in Gloucestershire, Warwickshire and Somersetshire. A railway 
cutting through Gonnerby Hill, close to Grantham, has laid open the top beds of 
the lower lias undistinguishable, either lithologically or zoologically, from their equi- 
valents at Hewletts and Robinswood Hills, near Cheltenham and Gloucester, and at 
Chipping Campden in the north-eastern extremity of Gloucestershire *. 
The lower lias generally may be best studied N.W. and W. of Grantham; the 
oolitic Wolds in their range N.E. and S.W., rarely display the upper lias at their 
base. West of the town towards Nottingham the junction of the red marl and lias is 
probably visible, though the author did not see it ; at all events, the insect limestone 
occurs at Granby, between Denton and Nottingham; for in the Grantham Museum 
there is a beautifully preserved fish, apparently a Dapedium, from this stratum; the 
structure of this limestone being so peculiar, that in the absence of insect remains, 
Mr. Brodie had no difficulty in recognizing it. In this case, this is the farthest point 
northwards in which it has been hitherto detected. 
On Striated and Polished Rocks and “Roches Moutonnées” in the Lake 
District of Westmoreland. By James Bryce, jun., M.A., F.G.S. 
The discovery of these rocks is due to the active zeal of Edward Wakefield, Esq. 
of Birklands, near Kendal. Knowing that the surface of the rocks had been laid 
bare in many places along the line of the Kendal and Windermere railway, he insti- 
tuted a careful search in May last, and was so fortunate as to discover two extremely 
well-marked cases. These he showed to the author in July; other examples were 
afterwards observed by them jointly. The author has visited almost all the loca- 
lities in Scotland in which scratched rocks have been found, and he has perused 
the accounts of others; he considers that those now to be described are by far the 
most perfect specimens yet discovered in these islands. The best marked case occurs 
about one mile south of the Staveley station, fifty yards from the railway on the N.E. 
side, and on the northern edge of a wood called Jacob Wood. Here a surface 53 ft. 
* My friend Mr. G. E. Garey, the intelligent engineer on the Oxford and Worcester Rail- 
way now in progress at this place, has discovered many rare and interesting fossils in this 
division of the lower lias, especially some new species of Asterias (Zropidaster, Forbes), 
Pentacrinites, and Crustacea. 
