154 Geological Society :— 
there isno material change, he thought it desirable to place on record 
some facts ascertained with precision, which may help to fix our 
ideas of the affinity of certain calcareous beds in the Yorkshire series 
with some of the well-known members of the Oolite in the south of 
England; and at the same time give a basis for inquiry as to the 
geographical range of the ironstone, coal, and limestone of the di- 
strict, and, by consequence, the physical conditions of the sea or estu- 
ary in which, or on the shores of which, the mingled deposits of the 
north-eastern part of Yorkshire were deposited. 
For this purpose he presented, in the first place, the details of two 
great general sections, one on the actual sea-coast, the other on the 
old glacial sea-coast of the Hambleton Hills. 
By comparing these sections, and adding to them other lesser sec- 
tions, he showed the existence of five special plant-producing bands 
of sandstones and shales (occasionally yielding coal in three zones), 
four calcareous bands, and several layers of ironstone, in the lower 
oolitic series; and described in a general sense their geographical 
distribution, and the relation of certain lines of equal deposition 
(“isocthonal lines,” as he terms them) to the general strikes and 
dips of the district. 
In passing from the sea-coast, near Scarborough, westward toward 
Thirsk, the uppermost of the four calcareous bands of the coast is 
obliterated ; the others undergo great modifications to the northward 
and westward. The eS estes shales, and coal, with ironstone, 
diminish in thickness from the northern parts of the coast, where 
they amount to 700 feet; so that on proceeding southward a great 
part of this whole thickness is lost before reaching the Derwent. 
‘The inferior oolite is richly ferruginous north of a line passing from 
Thirsk to Robin Hood’s Bay, having its maximum value in Rose- 
dale; the ironstone-bands at the base of the upper lias are very pro- 
ductive in the same district, and acquire their maximum of value in 
the district farthest to the north-west, namely about Eston Nab, 
Lofthouse, and Skinner’s-grave. 
The discussion of the geographical range of organic remains and 
physical conditions of the sea-bed was glanced at; but the details 
were reserved for a further communication, 
2. ‘On the Oolite Rocks of Gloucestershire and North Wilts.” 
By Prof. Buckman, F.G.S. 
The object of this communication was to point out the general 
characteristics of the different members of the Oolitic group of rocks 
as they occur in the Cotteswold Hills and in the extension of the 
higher beds of the series into North Wilts. In illustration of this 
subject the author supplied two carefully prepared sections, the result 
of surveys made by the professors and students of the Royal Agri- 
cultural College of Cirencester. One of the sections extends from 
the Vale of Gloucester through the bold Cotteswold scarp at Birdlip 
to the Chalk-hills in Wiltshire ; the other from Cirencester, through 
the Vale of Moreton, to Shipston on Stour; each following one of 
the great Roman roads, 
After noticing the labours of previous workers in the Oolites of this 
district, especially those of Mr. W. Smith, Mr. Lonsdale, Sir R. Murchi- 
