u 



cies of Modiola, probably M^ minimn.As exceedingly abundant. Re- 

 mains of Crustacea occur, one of which resembles the genus Eryon 

 from the Solenhofen slate. 



Near Gloucester the same strata occur at a much lower level. 

 At Westbury, eight miles below Gloucester, the following section is 

 presented : — 



1. Bottom bed with Ostrea, equivalent to that at Wainlode and 

 other places : 3 in. 



2. Insect limestone with numerous small shells (here character- 

 istic) : 4 in. 



3. Clay: 5 in. 



4. Green, yellow and gray sandy stone, in places becoming a 

 limestone, with the small Cyclas-YikQ bivalve, plants and Cypris, 

 identical with those at Wainlode, about 1 ft. 



5. Shale and clay : 10 ft. 



6. Hard grit, bone-bed ; 3 or 4 ft. 



A little further to the north the beds below this are more developed 

 and are seen resting upon the red marl. 



If the Cypris found in these beds be of freshwater origin, it forms 

 a new and highly interesting feature in the history of this deposit ; 

 at any rate the occurrence of the remains of such delicate creatures 

 as insects, many of which are well-preserved, and could not, there- 

 fore, have been long subject to the action of the Avaves, or have been 

 carried far out into the water, gives a greater probability to the sup- 

 position that this part of the lias may have been formed in an estuary 

 which received the streams of some neighbouring lands, perhaps nu- 

 merous scattered islands, and which brought down the remains of 

 insects, Cyjjris, and the plants above referred to. The shells usually 

 found in the insect limestone are Modiola and Ostrea, both of which 

 frequently inhabit estuaries, and are capable of living in brackish 

 water as well as in the open sea. The shells, however, so abundant 

 at Westbury in the same stratum are exclusively of marine origin ; 

 the wing of a dragon-fly from Warwickshire is a solitary instance of 

 its kind. Mr. Brodie observes, that such stray specimens had pro- 

 bably been carried out to sea, which might also have been the case 

 with a small wing he discovered in the upper lias at Dumbleton near 

 Tewkesbury ; which also proves the existence of insects during the 

 deposition of the upper portions of this formation. 



Thus it will be seen that the remains of insects are of very rare 

 occurrence in the upper beds, and in the higher portions of the 

 lower ones in the lias, while at the base near its junction with the 

 red marl they are abundantly distributed. The discovery of small 

 elytra of coleopterous insects and portions of the wings of Lihellula 

 in the lower division of the lias near Evesham, by Mr. H. E. Strick- 

 land, shows that these fossils are characteristic of the same beds in 

 distant parts of the system. 



" On certain impressions on the surface of the Lias bone-bed in 

 Gloucestershire." By H. E. Strickland, M.y\., F.G.S. 



The singular markings described, which the author in a former 



