} 
concealed coalfield in Oxfordshire 183 
Borderland, the comparison is closer. The southern field of the 
Wyre Forest-Coalbrookdale area* consists entirely of red-grey 
Transition Coal Measures, resting, not it is true on Silurians, but 
on Old Red Sandstone. Still further South, and due West of 
the Burford-Batsford line, we have the little known and almost 
entirely concealed field of Newent}, near Gloucester, where exactly 
the same phenomena are observed. 
With the fields lying to the Southwest of Batsford, there is 
no comparison. No red-grey beds occur in the Forest of Dean, 
where the whole of the measures belong to the Upper Coal 
Measures}. In the Somerset field, with its Bristol outlier, Tran- 
sition Coal Measures occur, but the lithological facies of the rocks 
is entirely different. The only red beds known to me here are 
the red shales, between the Radstock and Farrington Series, of 
130—250 ft. in thickness. The horizon of these beds is Upper 
Coal Measures. 
Thus the closest comparison with the Oxfordshire field appears 
to me to be with the Wyre Forest and with Newent, both as 
regards horizon and in respect to the lithology, and, so far as our 
present knowledge extends, it looks as if this concealed area would 
eventually prove to be of the same type. It is much to be hoped 
that further explorations will be made in this field. At present it 
must be confessed that the economic prospects of the area do not 
appear to be very promising. It cannot however be claimed that 
these two borings have done more than to prove the existence of 
the field, the real resources of which remain quite unknown. It 
must be further borne in mind that the red-grey Transitions of 
the two neighbouring fields above mentioned are both productive, 
at least along their Western margins. The Wyre Forest field is 
still being actively worked. The Newent area has been worked 
at various periods, though the extent and resources of this almost 
entirely hidden field have never been ascertained. These facts 
are at least in favour of a more thorough exploration of the Oxford- 
shire field. 
* Arber, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., Ser. B, Vol. 204, p. 363, 1914. 
+ Arber, Geol. Mag., Dec. v. Vol. vit. p. 241, 1910. 
~ Arber, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., Ser. B, Vol. 202, p. 233, 1912. 
