274 Rev. P. B. Brodie on the Lias at Fretherne near Newnham, 



observed similar forms in the Lias near Down Hatherley, but 

 was ignorant of their true chai'acters, for which palaeontologists 

 are indebted to the investigations of the able Assistant Secretary 

 of the Geological Society, Mr. T. R. Jones, who has already 

 described new and interesting species of Foraminifera from 

 various deposits. My friend Mr. C. Moore of Ilminster, a zealous 

 and able collector and a good naturalist, informs me that although 

 he has detected fifty new species of Foraminifera in the upper 

 Lias and Marlstone of Somersetshire, he has never yet ob- 

 served a Nummulite. The section at Purton is very small, but 

 fossils are most abundant ; it appears to be a litile higher in the 

 series than Fretherne Cliff, and is composed of clay and shale, 

 in which are imbedded rounded blocks and nodules of blue 

 limestone. Gryphaa Macullochii is very abundant, with Pleuro- 

 tomaria Anglica, Ammonites Bucklandi (a fine specimen of which 

 was discovered by Lord Ducie), a few of the Nummulites above 

 referred to, and two other new and interesting species of Forami- 

 nifera. Some slabs of limestone are covered with many species of 

 minute Univalves. It is at this spot that the Lias is succeeded by 

 the Upper Ludlow rocks, which crop out on the banks of the 

 Severn a little further to the w^est. I confess I have a great affec- 

 tion for the muddy Lias, as I am indebted to it for a rich store of 

 insect remains. When I first came into this district, now twelve 

 years ago, I carefully examined some of the beds of the lower Lias, 

 belonging to the middle part of the formation in the neighbour- 

 hood of Gloucester, without success, and I was struck with the 

 paucity of organic remains (which certainly are not numerous), 

 although I have since then obtained a few rare and interesting 

 fossils in them, especially elytra of Coleoptera, about three species 

 of Corals, and Foraminifera having the appearance oi Nummulites. 

 After a time I visited Wainlodc Cliff, where the basement beds of 

 the liias are exposed in a fine section resting on the Red Marl. 

 There for the first time I discovered several wings and small 

 wing-covers of Beetles in fallen fragments of limestone, which 

 led me to search more closely, and the result has been a fine 

 collection of wings, elytra, and a few entire insects from this 

 division of the Lias, not only in Gloucestershire, but in Somer- 

 setshire, Worcestershire, and Warwickshire, where these insect 

 beds are more or less extensively developed, and present many 

 features of novelty and interest. 



I subjoin a Note with which Mr. R. Jones has lately favoured 

 me, since his renewed examination of these little fossils. 



My dear Sir, 

 The following are the characters of the minute bodies in the 

 Fretherne limestone, as far as I have been enabled to work 



