34 ANNUAL ADDRESS, MDCCCLXXIII. 



which abound in the limestone of North Staffordshire. 

 As a further stimulus, I may mention that I know of no 

 department of Staffordshire fossils which would so well 

 repay the collector as that of the corals. But little has 

 been done to collect and classify then, and what we 

 don't know of them would fill a large book. 



The conchiferous shells of the province lamellibranchiata 

 have as yet met with but little attention. They abound 

 in our limestone district, and will amply repay any student 

 who takes up this branch as a speciality. The same may 

 also be said of the gasteropoda, polyzoa, and actinozoa. 

 The brachiopodous shells have been well worked and 

 arranged : the species amount to about 120. 



Round the base of the Caldon Low mass of limestone, 

 and resting against its sides, is a very curious deposit of 

 arenaceous marl or clayey sand. It is well worth visiting. 

 It is in some parts largely mixed with decomposed sili- 

 ceous pebbles. Except in colour it resembles the Bunter 

 sands and pebble beds. It is mainly beautifully white, 

 with streaks of yellowish aluminous clay, but here and 

 there it is red. It is said to make fire-bricks quite 

 equal to Stourbridge clay, and it has lately begun to be 

 excavated for that purpose. It appears to me to be of 

 Triassic age, and seems to have been acted upon by its 

 proximity to the limestone. There are other deposits of 

 it in this limestone district. 



The Permian system, which succeeded the carboniferous, 

 is that in which was formed magnesian limestone or dolo- 

 mite. This singular product is largely developed in the 

 North of England, especially in Durham and Yorkshire. 

 York Minster and the Houses of Parliament are built of 



