GEOLOGY 



(O/enus) scarabceoides and Agnostus pisiformis. In the higher (grey) shales, 

 on the borders of Chase End Hill, the Rev. W. S. Symonds first found 

 the characteristic ' hydroid zoophyte ' Dictyonema. 



Prof. Lapworth in referring to the numerous intercalated igneous 

 rocks which occur both in the Hollybush Sandstone and Malvern Shales 

 remarks that the majority are certainly intrusive.^ Prof Groom remarks 

 that they include basalts and ophitic diabases, and were probably in- 

 truded in Ordovician times. 



Much of the ground occupied by these Cambrian rocks is pasture 

 land. 



The famous quartzite of the Lower Lickey, described in 1821 by 

 Buckland, is well seen at Bilberry Hill, and further north at Rubery, 

 where it is flanked by May Hill Sandstone. It has been compared with 

 the quartzite of Hartshill, near Nuneaton, and like that rock it is 

 extensively used for road-metal. According to Prof Lapworth, how- 

 ever, the Lickey quartzite represents only the lower and middle portions 

 of the Hartshill rock, the upper portion not being recognized at Lickey, 

 although represented at Malvern by the Hollybush Sandstone. The 

 only traces of fossils found in the Lickey rock are worm-burrows. The 

 sequence of events at Lickey, according to the observations of Mr. W. 

 Gibson, indicates that after the volcanic era of the Barnt Green rocks, 

 a long period may have intervened before the laying down of the 

 quartzite, 



SILURIAN 



Among the fossiliferous strata of Worcestershire none have proved 

 more attractive than the Silurian, whether at Malvern or Dudley. The 

 collections formed by the late Dr. R. B. Grindrod (of Townshend 

 House, Malvern), and by the late John Gray (of Hagley), were remark- 

 ably rich, and many other important sets of fossils have been gathered 

 together. 



The rocks appear in broken anticlinal ridges at the Lickey Hills 

 and Dudley, and again along the Malvern and Abberley ranges, but 

 they do not occupy a large superficial area in the county. A great 

 break separates them from the Cambrian, for we have no representatives 

 in place of any of the Ordovician (or Lower Silurian) strata. 



The oldest subdivision known as the May Hill (or Upper Llan- 

 dovery) Sandstone consists at Malvern of purple and grey grits and 

 brown sandstones, some of them calcareous, some pebbly. Evidently 

 a shore deposit, the May Hill Sandstone appears to rest indifferently 

 on the older rocks whether Archaean or Cambrian, but we have to be 

 cautious as Prof Groom remarks in distinguishing between the normal 

 overspread of the newer formation, and the displacements due to sub- 

 sequent earth-movements. 



Among the fossils of the May Hill Sandstone are Pentamerus 



* Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol. xv. p. 338 ; Groom, Rep. Brit. Assoc, 1 900. 

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