210 A. R. Hortvood — Upper Trias of Leicestershire. 



Rain pittings were abundant. In the unweathered state the bone- 

 bed is hard, but the contents brittle. Harrison obtained from here 

 large vertebrge of Ichthyonminis, rib bones belonging to Plesiosauriis 

 (one 18 inches), and Labyrinthodont bones, worn and rolled bones, 

 coprolites containing small quartz jjcbbles and bits of Dane Hill 

 Sandstone. Pebbles are mainly quartzose or of slate, and rounded ; 

 some 3-4 inches, of local origin. Isodonta occurs loose in the bone-bed. 

 The Pullastra Sandstone is reddish, and h-\ inch thick. 



The first British exainple of Opliioleph damesiiwas found here, but 

 others have recently been found elsewhere. It is probably dimorphic, 

 with a large and small form. Recently fine large types have been found 

 at Glen Parva, as well as the smaller type. Both were regarded by 

 Wright as belonging to this species. Kaolinite, bitumen, selenite, 

 and mica are common in the dark shales with sandy partings. In 

 the nodular limestone the Estheria occurred with Avicula on the 

 outside. Harrison says a second bed occurs 2 feet above the last, 

 and light-coloured clay and sand above, as seen in the section 

 described by Bates & Hodges. He mentions the occurrence of 

 Ilhsetics in an exposure on the Great Northern Railway near Crown 

 Hill, where beds of limestone (' Pirestones ' and ' guineas ' of Warwick- 

 shire), and a thick bed, probably true "White Lias, are said to have been 

 met with. He also states that on the Leicester and Wigston line 

 a section showed the Rhaetics had been eroded. 



Mr. Browne, in his detailed History of the Geology of the Borough 

 of Leicester, gives a most valuable series of sections in the Spinney 

 Hill district, where Rhsetic beds were formerly met with. It is 

 unnecessary to discuss these further here, especially as the whole 

 district is now entirely built over. 



Messrs. Bates & Hodges gave an account of a section from 

 Diseworth Street to St. Peter's Road in which Lower Lias and 

 Upper Rhtetics were exposed, showing 11 ft. 1 in. of the latter with 

 Isodonta ewaldi. Other sections in the district show that the Rhaetics 

 of the Spinney Hills were thinner than at "Wigston. There is here 

 no trace of White Lias, and in all essential cliaracters the Leicester 

 exposures closely resemble the beds at Glen Parva, Avhere again 

 Upper Rha^tic is followed by Lower Lias without any intervening 

 White Lias. 



From the Spinney Hills the Rhsetic beds are continuous across 

 "Victoria Park to Clarendon Park and thence to Knighton village, 

 where the Upper and Lower Rhsetics have been exposed in shallow 

 sections near the churcli and in the lane. The black shales also 

 are seen in the valley at the surface, and form a fairly wide outcrop 

 above Tea-green Marls. Southward recent sewer excavations between 

 here and Little Wigston have exposed the lowest beds of the Lower 

 Lias and Rhcetic Shales. They have also been found to underlie 

 Liassic beds at Gold Hill Farm, whence the outcrop is obscured by 

 Drift, so that in the Midland Railway cutting they are not exposed 

 at the bridge. From this point, close to the Wigston and Aylestone 

 Road, it turns due west, till just east of Aylestone Grange, where, 

 still obscured by Drift, it strikes due south to the Glen Parva 

 Barracks, where it again turns to the east and is exposed at the 



