454 T. 0. CantriU — Spirorhis- Limestones. 



About 30 yards above this hedge, however, numerous small pieces 

 of limestone suddenly appear in the stream. The rock is dark grej-, 

 bituminous, and fine-grained, and yielded a few Ostracods, but no 

 Spircn-lis. At 40 yards above the hedge (and about 260 yards from 

 the road) the limestone appears in place, embedded in red marls of 

 the usual bright -red 'Permian' tints. On the north side of the 

 channel it projects at intervals for a distance of 3 or 4 yards ; on the 

 south also it can be detected ; it is about 6 inches thick, and weathers 

 into detached blocks not more than a foot across. The bed appears to 

 be horizontal, and crops out in the banks of the channel at a height of 

 about a foot above the water. The outcrop probably forms a small 

 inlier immediately east of the fault, which presumably separates these 

 'Permian' beds from the Keuper Sandstones exposed down-stream 

 and in the road-cutting. The actual fault-line is not visible, but 

 I should draw it at the first fence, where the sandy soil on the west 

 gives place to marly soil on the east. The supposed Keuper is to be 

 distinguished from the ' Permian ' only by the absence of bright-red 

 and other marls ; the sandstones themselves seem much alike. 

 (Incidentally, the Survey map shows the fault some 300 yards too far 

 to the east.) Still farther up-stream the exposures are chiefly of 

 bright-red marls with subordinate sandstones, till the escarpment of 

 Quarry Wood is reached and introduces a more sandy group of beds 

 which have been quarried there and in a quarry (later used as rifle- 

 butts) west of Parsonage Farm. 



Here, then, we have a limestone which, though it did not yield 

 Spirorlis, contains Entomostraca, and will probably be found to contain 

 the characteristic Annelid also. It is lithologically similar to the 

 limestones found in the so-called ' Permian ' rocks of Wyre Forest and 

 in the Keele Beds of North Staffordshire. Its position in the local 

 ' Permian' sequence can at present only be guessed at. The Warwick- 

 shire 'Permian', as described in the Survey memoir and maps, seems 

 capable of the following rough grouping : — p^gj. 



3. Red marls with sandstones 700 



2. Calcareous sandstones, with the Corley conglomerate near the base . . 300 

 1. Red and brown sandstones and marls, with some calcareous conglomerates 1000 



A study of the Survey maps leads me to believe that the Hermitage 

 Brook limestone must be placed near the top of No. 1, and that it is 

 certainly as much as 600 feet above the base of the local 'Permian'. 

 It follows, therefore, that this subdivision (No. 1) at least can be 

 correlated with the Keele Beds of the North Staffordshire Coal- 

 measures, and I am now still more disposed than I was in 1895 

 to refer the whole of the Warwickshire 'Permian' to the Coal- 

 measures, and to regard them as the equivalents of Dr. Gibson's Keele 

 Beds, till such time as any part of the series can be shown to be true 

 Permian or Trias. 



In conclusion, it is to be hoped that during any sinkings through 

 these Keele Beds now proceeding or in contemplation, a sharp look- 

 out will be kept for Spirorhis and Entomostracan limestones, as well as 

 for thin coals and plant-remains, as they will undoubtedly form a most 

 useful guide in estimating depths to the productive measures below. 



