xi. INFERIOR OOLITE. 141 



out ; and till it is done, the further extension of the classification 

 into Yorkshire must be in some degree doubtful. 



We may now take up the several strata in succession. 



INFERIOR OOLITE GROUP. 



The most complete sections of the Inferior oolite which are easily 

 accessible from Oxford are in the noble hills above Cheltenham. 

 In 1834, Sir H. I. Murchison produced an Outline of the Geology 

 of Cheltenham, in which the section is given in considerable detail, 

 the Inferior oolite being considered in three divisions, thus placed : 



Gryphite grit, coarse and very fossiliferous. 

 Oolite freestone, much quarried, with fewer fossils. 

 Pea-grit, with distinct concretionary masses of small size. 



Of these the middle division is much the thickest, and contains 

 several distinguishable layers, as 



d. Cream-coloured marlstone. 



c. Upper ragstone. 



b. Freestone. 



a. Lower ragstone. 



A considerable list of the fossils is given in this short but useful 

 memoir. 



In 1 843, Mr. Buckman published a geological chart of the oolitic 

 strata of the Cotteswold Hills and the lias of the Vale of Gloucester, 

 in which the sections of these strata and their embedded fossils 

 are more fully detailed. The same author contributed with Mr. 

 Strickland to augment the second edition of Murchison's Outline 

 with many important additions. Mr. Brodie has laboured success- 

 fully in this field. Finally, Dr. Wright, after re-examining the 

 elevated escarpments of Leckhampton and Cleeve-Cloud, has arrived 

 at an almost complete view of the subdivisions of this fine oolitic 

 series d ; and Mr. Hull's memoir on the same district, to accompany 

 the maps of the Geological Survey, completes this valuable series 

 of works. 



Mr. Hull's general section, founded on actual measures, assigns 

 no less than 264 feet 6 to the Inferior oolite near Cheltenham. 

 The whole series in the hill is thus expressed : 



d Palseontographical Society, vol. for 1861, issued 1863. 



e This is the sum of the thicknesses as given in the section ; in the text the state- 

 ment is 236 feet. 



