L. BicJiardson — Rhcetic Rocks of Wariiickshire. 27 



Estheria-'Bedi is present ; has been proved in a sinking through the floor 

 of a quarry at Wilmcote, near Stratford- on -Avon ; and nodule-shaped 

 masses of the usual type, rich in ppeciroens of Estherice, have been 

 obtained from Erown's "Wood, near "Wootton Wavs'en. 



Langpokt Beds. — It is extremely interesting to find the "White 

 Lias proper present in Warwickshire, for after leaving the southern 

 portion of Gloucestershiic it is not seen again in its typical form until 

 the neighbourhood of Wimpstone Field, near Stratford-on-Avon, is 

 reached. Thence, right through to Rugby, it is well and persistently 

 developed (maximum about 10 feet), of very much the same appearance 

 as the Somerset "White Lias, contains specimens of Bimyodon intus- 

 striatus (Emmr.) abnndantly in places, and not infrequently corals. 

 Certain of its beds are well-bored by annelids, and at Church Lawford 

 portions are pebbly ; while in the same neighbourhood it has a ferru- 

 ginous deposit on top, with which are associated ample indications of 

 erosion by water : in other words, there is abundant evidence for 

 a non-sequence between the White Lias and the superincumbent 

 Lower-Lias deposits. 



The Wliite Lias is absent from the neighbourhood of Binton, 

 Grafton, Wilmcote, and Bickmarsh, being "represented", according 

 to Mr. H. B. Woodward, "by the Guinea-Bed." > 



jS^o sections in which the Guinea-Bed is seen in sitic are now 

 available ; but from a study of the recorded observations of previous 

 workers I am certainly inclined to regard it as the bottom-layer, in 

 the district mentioned, of the Lower Lias. 



Lower Lias. — Above the Guinea-Bed come the numerous beds of 

 limestone and clay from which abundant specimens of Ostrea liassica, 

 insects, fish, and Crustacean remains have been recorded, and which 

 are known as the ' Pirestones ' or ' Ostrea-'QediB ' "^ and the ' Insect ' or 

 'Saurian Beds '.^ Ammonites planorhis and A. johnstoni appear to 

 range throughout. This is puzzling; but apparently, whilst the beds 

 that are richest in insect and Crustacean remains in Somerset come 

 heloiv the limestones that contain Ostrea liassica in greatest abundance, 

 in Warwickshire thej' come alove and are of planorhis date. 



The interesting point in connexion with the deposits in the 

 neighbourhood of the junction of the Ehsetic and Lias beds in 

 Warwickshire is that while the Pirestones or Ostrea-'Bed.s, Saurian 

 or Insect Beds are present in the district in which the Guinea-Beds 

 occur (and from which the White Lias is absent), they are absent 



1 The Geology of England and Wales, 1887, p. 247. 



^ Brodie states (Trans. Woolhope Nat. F.C., vol. for 1866, p. 212) that it is 

 worthy of note that in one of the more westerly sections at Wilmcote ' ' all the 

 insect beds thin out and scarcely amount to three layers, the top band being- 

 irregular and shattered; a thick mass of shale succeeds, undivided, as elsewhere, 

 by limestones, and below are three beds of limestone, viz., the firestone, with 

 Ostrea liassica, but of a very different character ". From Brodie's record of the 

 Wilmcote section {loc. cit. supra, pp. 210-11) it is clear that the limestones in 

 which he found insect-remains most abundantly came above the deposits in which 

 saurian-remains are commonest, and are clearly oi planorhis date. 



^ Brodie complains that his name of "Insect Beds " was ignored by Wright, 

 who applied the term " Saurian Beds " to them (Trans. Woolhope Nat. F.C., 

 vol. for 1866 (1867), p. 210). 



