The Rev. P. B. Brodie, M.A., RG.S. 483 



and he published sections of the basement-beds of that formation, 

 and of the underlying strata (now grouped as Eha^tic), which he 

 had studied at Wainlode and Westbury-on-Severn. He also in the 

 same year (1842) drew attention to the occurrence of fossil plants 

 in the so-called "Plastic Clay" of the cliffs at Bournemouth — 

 a locality since famed for the many plant-remains obtained and 

 described by Mr. Starkie Gardner. 



In 1844 Mr. Brodie was associated with Professor Buckman in 

 a paper on the Stonesfield Slate of the Cotteswold Hills, and, in 

 addition to many stratigraphical details, the authors recorded from 

 the deposit various Insects, Plant-remains, and other fossils. The 

 researches thus carried on by Mr. Brodie opened up quite a new 

 line of study — that of Fossil Insects. In 1845, assisted by 

 Professor J. 0. Westwood, he embodied his results in a work en- 

 titled " A History of the Fossil Insects in the Secondary Rocks of 

 England." This included a particular account of the strata in which 

 the remains were found ; and the work was appropriately dedicated 

 to his old Master, Sedgwick. The volume was the first ever 

 published on the special subject, of Fossil Insects. Later on, 

 Mr. Brodie communicated to the Geological Society of London 

 important papers on the Inferior Oolite of Cheltenham, and on 

 the Purbeck Beds of Swindon. 



Although not one of the original members of the Cotteswold 

 Natui'alists' Field Club, which was founded in 1846, Mr. Brodie 

 soon joined its ranks. In 1850 he read before the Club a sketch 

 of the Geology of Grantham, and in 1853 he communicated remarks 

 on the Lias of Fretherne and Purton, and on certain Pleistocene 

 Deposits in the Vale of Gloucester. It had been his intention " to 

 have investigated the Pleistocene formation genei'ally in Gloucester- 

 shire," but the duties of his calling led him away this same year 

 (1853) to the Vicarage of Eowington, in WarAvickshire. It was 

 with great regret (as he tells us) that he left so picturesque and 

 instructive a region as that which was embraced by the proceedings 

 of the Cotteswold Club, and his sorrow was increased by the loss of 

 their pleasant meetings, and the parting with many friends, whose 

 companionship had added a charm and a zest to his studies. (Proc. 

 Cotteswold Club, vol. i, p. 246.) 



Eowington village, which now became the scene of Mr. Brodie's 

 labours, is situated on the Keuper marls and sandstones, which are 

 covered here and there by various Drift deposits. Fossils were no 

 longer to be so readily obtained. Nevertheless, the Lower Lias was 

 within reach at Wilmcote, some six or seven miles to the south, and 

 an outlier of the same formation occurs near Knowle, about six miles 

 to the north of Eowington. Mr. Brodie continued to devote his 

 attention very much to the same lines of research, extending them 

 at times to the Upper Silurian and passage-beds of Herefordshire, 

 and recording the occurrence therein of SJurypterus and Fterygotus, 

 as well as land-plants. He still contributed an occasional paper to the 

 Cotteswold Club, on the Inferior Oolite and Lias of Northampton- 

 shire, and on the Lias of Barrow in Leicestershire. 



