362 Rev. P. B. Brodie on the Geology of the 



tham, where it is harder, whiter, and extensively used for roads, 

 and contains many small shells and corals. The soft, white and 

 yellow oolite (no. 3, p. 260) aiFords many small shells, and forms a 

 tolerable building- stone; but as it is never quarried deep, I could 

 not ascertain its thickness, nor the nature of the lower strata ; 

 but there must be a considerable mass of oolite probably inter- 

 vening between it and the subjacent lias. One of the numerous 

 trial-borings on Harrowby Hill near Grantham gives the following 

 section : — 



ft. in. 



Soil 6 



Rubble 6 



Inferior oolite , 40 6 



Lias (blue bind) continued downwards . . 10 



by which it appears that thereabouts the total thickness of the 

 Inferior Oolite does not exceed 41 feet. As a portion of no. 3 

 is a friable freestone, it may be considered as the representative 

 of the shelly freestone underlying the ' oolite marl ' at Leck- 

 hampton. Nearer Grantham also there is a fragmentary, shelly 

 oolite on the side of Ponton Hill, which is possibly a continua- 

 tion of the same bed ; but a more accurate investigation is re- 

 quired before this can be positively determined. There are so 

 few natural or artificial sections in the country that it is ex- 

 tremely difficult to obtain correct information ; and although two 

 lines of railway are now being constructed, the engineers em- 

 ployed know nothing of geology, and are therefore incapable of 

 rendering any assistance. 



In the Institution at Grantham there is a very tolerable col- 

 lection of Inferior Oolite fossils, chiefly from Denton, among 

 which were several Clypei and other shells common to Crickley 

 and Leckhampton. 



There can be no doubt that the beds above the oolite marl 

 once existed in Lincolnshire, as the gravel near Grantham, to 

 which I shall presently allude, contains numerous fragments of 

 oolite, and I recognized in them certain shells which are cha- 

 racteristic of some of the strata which overlie the marl at Leck- 

 hampton. There may be some spots in that and the adjoining 

 counties where these higher bands exist still in situ, but from 

 the general appearance of the country I am led to infer that the 

 degradation to which, from various causes, they have been ex- 

 posed, has removed a considerable portion of the upper division 

 of the Inferior Oolite. While moreover the Great Oolite bears 

 a closer resemblance in some respects to the Yorkshire series, 

 the Inferior Oolite in the districts under review would seem to 

 be more nearly allied to the more enlarged and coseval system in 

 Gloucestershire. Still nothing decisive can be stated upon this 

 point at present, until the strata and their organic contents have 



