48 report — 18G5. 



language used in former years, I ventured to term the " Straits of Malvern," and 

 ascend from the valley of the Severn, occupied by New Red Sandstone and Lias, we 

 have the Cotteswold Club, the labours of which have already thrown much light 

 on the composition and fossil contents of the Oolitic formations. And lastly, to 

 make out three-fourths of a scientific-field circle around Birmingham, there are at 

 Warwick a Museum and a Field Club vigorously led by the Rev. P. B. Brodie. 

 Now most of these institutions have local museums, some of them of value ; and 

 that of Dudley in particular rivals the collections of this opident town. 



With such means and appliances, then, as surround Birmingham, to say nothing 

 of the great support we shall have from abroad and from numerous parts of our 

 islands, I have no doubt that the proceedings of the Geological Section of this 

 meeting will equal those of any former gathering. Above all, as geologists, we 

 are inspirited and honoured by the prominence which has been given to our science 

 in the fact, that as the last meeting was presided over by Sir Charles Lyell, so we 

 are now assembled under another of our eminent leaders, Professor Phillips, whose 

 untiring labours, blended as they have always been with the heartiest goodwill 

 and the kindest manners, have, from its origin to the present day, been the main- 

 stay of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. 



The Economic Value of the various Measures of Coal and Ironstone in the South 

 Staffordshire Coal Field. By S. Bailey. 



On the Fossiliferous Beds of the New Red Sandstone ( Upper and Lower Keuper) 

 in Warm i<Jcshire. By the Rev. P. B. Brodie, M.A., F.G.S. 

 The prevailing fossils in these two divisions of the Trias were described, especially 

 the remains of cestraciont fishes, more perfect than usual in the Upper Keuper ; a 

 species of Pal&oniscus (P. superstes), the last of its race, and a new mailed fish un- 

 described, closely resembling some from the Old Red Sandstone ; with plants pro- 

 fusely distributed in certain places, indicating a somewhat varied flora, and espe- 

 cially well-defined footsteps of Rhynchosaurus (noticed here for the first time 

 in the Upper Keuper) and Labyrintbodon, chiefly confined in Warwickshire to the 

 higher division. The Lower Keuper is remarkable for its more or less perfect re- 

 mains of Labyrinthodonts, of which a fine collection, the best in England, is con- 

 tained in the Warwick Museum. Hence it was shown that predaceous fishes and 

 Salamander-like reptiles were comparatively abundant during this period ; and if 

 this formation was as largely quarried as many others, a more extensive fauna and 

 flora would probably be detected. A greater extension * of the Keuper was pointed 

 out in a portion of the area occupied by it, while it reached its minimum thickness 

 in Warwickshire, as shown by Mr. Hull. The best sections of the Upper Keuper 

 were described in detail, and the denudations which the district under review had 

 undergone were accurately determined. 



On a Section of Lower Lias at Harhury, near Leamington. 

 By the Rev. P. B. Brodie, M.A., F.G.S. 

 In the first paper the author described in detail the section of the ' Lima beds ' 

 exposed on the line of the Great Western Railway, which contain the usual fossils, 

 and, as far as coidd be measured, reach a thickness of 40 feet, to which, if the low- 

 est shales could be added, a greater thickness would be attained. Below the Lima 

 beds the White Lias appears cropping out on the west, where in some places 

 in the neighbourhood it is largely quarried, passing downwards into the Rhaetic 

 series, which is partially indicated by the occurrence of a sandy stone with Estheria 

 miiiuta, the whole overlying the red marl. The Lima beds here agree pretty well 

 with the same zone in Gloucestershire, Dorsetshire, and Somersetshire, though this 

 section cannot be so clearly correlated with the still liner one seen in the railway- 

 cutting at Sal tford, near Bath. It is to be noted that at Harhury the 'Insect or 

 Saurian beds,' intermediate between the Lima beds and the White Lias, are so 

 much reduced in bulk that they are most feebly represented. 



* This has been omitted in the last Survey Map of the district. 



