116 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE. 



Fossils. — 



' Orthis Lindstriimi Linnrs. very plentiful, Linnarssonia sp., cf. L. sagitlalis 

 Salter. Acrotrda, sp., Lingula or Lingulella, sp. indet. but almost 

 certainly not L. ferrvginea Salter.' 



East End of the Section. 



The reversal of the dip with complete conformity of the beds is 

 established, and the similarity of their lithological characters with those 

 of the beds of the upper section is so close that very little doubt remains 

 that the two exposures are on the same horizon. The fossil evidence is 

 substantially in agreement, but differs in the more plentiful remains of 

 Orthis Lindstromi which is only sparingly represented in the band b 4 

 o! the upper section 1 and the paucity of specimens of Acrotreta which 

 is so plentiful in the same band. 



Excavations Nos. 24 and 25. 



Roughly parallel with the Shoot Rough Road, and to the north of it, 

 there is a line of fence bounding a disused cart-track, which has in places 

 been worn down through the superficial covering to the shaley rock 

 below. Advantage was taken of this to open up the shale in two places. 

 The characters of the shales agree with those of the shales in the' road : 

 there are hard siliceous bands in them, half an inch or more in thickness, 

 and also rotten stone bands, usually rather thicker. The strike of the 

 beds is. nearly north by west and south by east, and the dip is fairly 

 constant at about 45° to the eastward. A rotten stone band at the spot 

 marked 25 yielded casts of ' a small Orthis of the 0. lenticularis Wahl 

 type. These are not so well preserved as those recorded from beds a 

 of the Shoot Rough Road, Lower Section, 2 but are distinctly larger, 

 and seem, so far as their characters are shown, to be closer to the type.' 

 At the southern end of this excavation some harder shale was encoun- 

 tered, characterised by rusty spots, more or less polygonal in shape, and 

 with a radiating crystalline structure extending out from them. At first 

 sight these spots suggested crinoid stems, but they are more probably 

 due to some mineral matter (? selenite). 



Excavation No. 26. 



Small trials were made at intervals on the surface of the field. to the 

 north of the old cart-track in a direct line to the north-east. With one 

 exception these failed to reach solid rock. At the spot marked 26, where 

 there is a slightly steeper rise in the surface, shale was found imme- 

 diately below the soil, and, on following it in either direction, a con- 

 tinuous section of about 50 feet in aggregate thickness was exposed. 

 The dip and strike remained constant throughout, and sensibly parallel 

 with that of the shales in excavations Nos. 24 and 25. The shale was 

 for the most part fairly hard, with clearly marked laminations, and at 

 either end graduated into softer shale which disappeared below the 

 superficial accumulations. In one part a few more or less polygonal 

 rusty spots similar to those of excavation No. 25 were observed, but, 

 with the exception of an indeterminable fragment of a trilobite and one 

 1 Brit. Assoc. Report, 1909 (Winairej), p. 184. 2 Ibid., p. 185. 



