A HISTORY OF WORCESTERSHIRE 



Evesham and near Cleeve Prior, as well as in outlying portions of the 

 county further east. 



The general sequence of the strata is as follows : — 



/■ Thin limestone and shale. 



I Black shales with pyrites and bands of white or brown micaceous 

 Rhstic ] sandstone, which locally become thicker at or near the base ; with 



Pullastra arenicoloy PccUn valoniensis, about 20 feet. 



I Grey or green marls, 20 to 35 feet. 

 Keuper. Red and variegated marl. 



The occurrence of the ' Bristol Bone Bed ' in the shaft previously 

 mentioned at DetFord was noticed by Strickland ^ ; and specimens indi- 

 cating its occurrence were found in a well-sinking at Hoblench. 



This Bone bed is well seen at Aust Cliff on the Severn shores in 

 Gloucestershire, where it yields bones of saurians and teeth of Gyrolepis^ 

 Acrodus^ Ceratodus, and other fishes. 



The best sections that have been observed in Worcestershire are 

 those at Bushley and the railway-cutting at Dunhampstead, described by 

 Strickland, while further interesting details of Dunhampstead have been 

 noted by Mr. W. J. Harrison.^ Sections of Rh^tic beds, near Church 

 Lench, Wood Norton, Cleeve Prior and South Littleton, have also been 

 observed by Mr. R. F. Tomes. 



The uppermost beds and their junction with the Lower Lias were 

 exhibited at Croome d'Abitot,^ and also at Churchill Wood, near 

 Spetchley, as noted by Mr. Harrison. The fossils which mostly occur 

 in the black shales, include the characteristic Avicula contorta, also Car- 

 dium rhceticum and Fecten valoniensis. 



In the upper beds Ostrea liassica, Modiola minima., Monotis decussata 

 and Estheria minuta var. brodieana have been met with. Locally in 

 eastern Worcestershire the highest bed is a more or less nodular lime- 

 stone containing the variety of Estheria minuta., and in the Estheria bed 

 at Garden Cliff, Westbury-on-Severn, the writer has noticed arborescent 

 markings akin to those of the Landscape or Cotham Marble. 



The upper layers of the Rhastic beds, and sometimes the lowest 

 beds of the Lias, have in places yielded remains of insects, and the term 

 ' Insect Limestones ' was applied to them by the Rev. P, B. Brodie.* 



In the outlying portion of Worcestershire which extends north- 

 wards from Shipston-on-Stour, beds of White Lias locally form the 

 upper part of the Rhstic formation. They occur at Armscot and New- 

 bold Fields near Alderminster, at Whitchurch and Lower Eatington, 

 where according to Mr. Tomes they have been quarried for building- 

 purposes, road-metal, and lime-burning. 



Whether the grey or green marls that lie on top of the red and 

 variegated Keuper Marls should be regarded as Keuper or Rhstic, is 



' Proc. Geo}. Soc, vol. iii. pp. 314, 586 ; Trans. Geo/. Sac, ser. 2, vol. vi. p. 551. 

 2 Pro:. Dudley Geol. Sec, vol. iii. p. 1 1 5. 



' H. B. Woodward, ' Lias of England and Wales,' Geol. Survey, p. 147. 

 * /f History of the Fossil Insects, pp. 56, etc., 1845. 

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