300 THE OXFORD OOLITE PERIOD. CHAP. 



sands. Shelly beds of similar character occur in some places in- 

 closed in these sands ; and thus the passage is easy from the oolite 

 to the sands. 



Fossils are numerous in this rock, both on the Heddington side 

 and the Cumnor side of Oxford ; and they have on the whole very 

 much of the same character from the vicinity of Calne and Steeple- 

 Aston, by Wotton-Basset, Highworth, and Faringdon, to Fifield, 

 Besselsleigh, Cumnor, Heddington, and Stanton St. John, where 

 the deposit seems to terminate. Some slight continuation (a bed 

 of oyster shells) has, however, been traced by Mr. Polwhele across 

 the space between Stanton St. John and Studley. 



FOSSILS OF THE OXFOED OOLITE SEEIES FEOM LOCALITIES 

 NEAE OXFOED. 



The Catalogue of the Museum of Practical Geology, 1865, a List drawn up by Mr. 

 Whiteaves for the Coralline oolite fossils, in 1861, and Dr. Wright's Mono- 

 graph of Echinodermata, have been consulted with advantage. The quarries 

 have been examined often enough to furnish a fair, though probably not full, 

 list. 



Abbreviations used : 0. C. for Oxford Clay ; C. G. for Calcareous Grit ; C. O. for 

 Coralline Oolite ; U. Upper part ; M. Middle part ; L. Lower part. 



PLANTS. Fragments of coniferous wood occur in all these strata. 



Carpolithus plenus. n. s. Phil. C. 0. Marcham. 



AMOEPHOZOA. A few specimens of spongiadae. C. O. Heddington, Bullingdon. 

 FORAMINIFERA frequent in the central parts of the oviform grains. 

 ACTINOZOA. 



Anabacia orbulites. Lam. O. C. St. Clement's. 

 Cladophyllia Conybeari. Edw. C. O. Cumnor. 

 Isastraea explanata. Goldf. C. 0. Cumnor, Heddington. 



Greenovii. Edw. C. 0. Bullingdon. 

 Montlivaltia dispar. Phil. C. 0. Heddington, Cumnor. 

 Ehabdophyllia Phillipsii. Edw. C. O. Cumnor. 

 Thamnastraea micrastron. Phil. C. O. Cumnor. 

 Thecosmilia annularis. Flem. C. O. Cumnor. 



These corals, for the most part unaccompanied by spongiadse, 

 are almost confined to the oolitic beds, in which they are so mixed 

 with shells and so disposed as to suggest the idea of limited shallow 

 banks on which sea life found a suitable place. Thus viewed, the 

 coralline oolite and calcareous grits must have been produced in 

 long fringes and detached banks during a pause of the watery action 

 which continued during all the age of the Oxonian clay, and again 



