Dr. E. A. Newell Arher — S. Staff ordslcire Coal Plants. 215 



It will thus be seen that the different beds examined in detail 

 are far from being so uniform as is generally assumed. The total 

 thickness has also been under-estimated. 



Reference has been made to the Crown Hill boring, where 16 ft. 9 in. 

 Rhsetic beds, including Teu-green Marl, are said to have been met 

 with. The base is given as at 205 ft. 10 in., and the top at 189 ft. 1 in. 

 But cores at 163 feet are apparently in Rhaetics, and the junction 

 with Lower Rhsetic occurs probably at 176 ft. lOin., and at 182 ft. 1 in. 

 the beds are black and contain Avicida eontorta and Pecten valoniensis 

 between this and 187 ft. 3 in. A core marked 174 ft. OJin. contains 

 the latter also. The Tea-green Marl, in fact, commences at 

 189 ft. 10 in. and continues to 202 ft. 9 in. There are thus 39 ft. 9 in. 

 of Rhaetic and Tea-green Marl, and 26 feet of Rhsetic. Gyrolepis 

 scales occur at 192 feet in Tea-green Marl. Pholidophorus Mgginsi 

 was obtained in the Black Shales. 



In a boring at Billesdon near the brook below Frisby, beds between 

 648 and 716 feet are probably in Rheetics, Avicula eontorta occurring 

 in the last 5 feet, above 15 feet of Tea-green Marl and 238 feet of 

 marly sandstone with thin gypsum beds. If these thicknesses are 

 correct the beds are thicker between Melton and Leicester, and as 

 well developed as at Newark. 



{To he continued later on.) 



V. — On the Discovert of Fossil Plants in the Old Hill Maels 



OF THE South Staffordshire Coal-fikld. 



By E. A. Newell Aebee, M.A., Sc.D., F.G.S. 



IT is unfortunately true that our present knowledge of the fossil 

 flora of the South Staffordshire Coal-field is lamentable, 

 considering its size and importance and the abundance of fossils 

 which it is known to contain. All that has been recorded from this 

 coal-field is contained in a single paper by Dr. Kidston,^ published 

 twenty-five years ago, on the fossil plants of the Hamstead boring, 

 with the addition more recently of a scanty list of fossils from the 

 Langley Green boring,^ and some other special studies on certain 

 particular fossils, such as Crossotheca and the fructification of 

 Neuropteris. Prior to these records Hooker alone appears to have 

 described plants from this coal-field. 



I have been hoping for some years past to do something to remedy 

 this sad state of affairs, and a beginning has been made. I am now 

 able to announce that my friend Mr. Henry Kay, F.Gr.S., of 

 Birmingham, has quite recently discovered a large number of well- 

 preserved plant remains in the Old Hill Marls, or rather in beds of 

 grey clay or clunch interbedded with the red marls. This important 

 discovery, which is due to Mr. Kay's skilful and patient collecting, 

 helps to fill a gap in our knowledge of the plant succession in 

 this coal-field. The beds in question occupy a perfectly definite 

 position in the Coal-measure sequence. These " Red Coal-measure 

 Clays " of Jukes lie intermediate between the Productive Grey 



' Kidston, Trans. Koy. See. Edinb., vol. xxxv, pt. vi, p. 317, 

 ^ Kidston, Summ. Prog. Geol. Surv. for 1905, p. 174, 1906. 



