186 Reports and Proceedings — 



2. "On the Basement-beds of the Inferior Oolite of Gloucester- 

 shire." By E. Witchell, Esq., P.G.S. 



The author observed that few papers have appeared lately on this 

 subject in the Quarterly Journal, and admitted that the work done 

 between 1847 and 1860 was of such excellent character that there 

 seemed to be but little left to do in the Cotteswolds. Still he con- 

 sidered, after twenty-five years of experience, that there is room for 

 another paper on the lower beds : — 



(1) Because the Pea Grit of Leckhampton is made to include 

 too much. 



(2) Because this use of the term has led to confusion. 



(3) Because the Pea Grit proper has a greater extension than has 

 hitherto been supposed. 



Thus has arisen the mistaken notion that the Oolitic limestone at 

 Frocester and Haresfield Hills is part of the freestone series above 

 the Pea Grit. The author proposed to call the beds underlying the 

 Pea Grit the " Lower Limestone," and gave sections at Crickley Hill 

 and Euscombe, near Stroud, in explanation of his views. 



Summarizing the results — (.1) The Pea Grit is well developed in the 

 Cheltenham area, thinning towards the south, is no more than from 

 three to five feet thick in the Stroud area, extending as far as Uley 

 Bury, where it occurs as a thin band, having lost its ferruginous 

 aspect. (2) Underlying this are several beds of white Oolitic Lime- 

 stone, having layers of freestone alternating with layers of shelly 

 detritus, and locally small quartz-pebbles, thickness from 20 to 30 

 feet. Attention was especially drawn to the contrast which these 

 beds present, both lithologically and palseontologically, to the Pea 

 Grit ; and to their poverty in entire organic remains, limited chiefly 

 to a few very small and peculiar Gasteropods. (3) Brown sandy 

 limestones, locally coarse ferruginous gritty beds from 5 to 9 feet, 

 fossiliferous in the lower portion. These are within the Opalinus- 

 zone, and repose directly on the Cepbalopod-beds. 



3. " On the Pliocene Beds of St. Erth." By Percy F. Kendall, 

 Esq., and Eobert G. Bell, Esq., F.G.S. 



This paper consisted of a description of the beds exposed at St. 

 Erth, a list of the Molluscan fossils identified, and some preliminary 

 considerations of the evidence afforded by the Mollusca, and may be 

 considered a continuation of that by the late Mr. S. V. Wood, read 

 to the Society in November, 1884. 



The beds consist of sand and clay dipping to about 5° to N.N.W. 

 The only important fossiliferous bed is a blue clay, and fossils have 

 only been obtained in one spot, though the beds have been traced 

 over an area of about 120 acres. The fossils are well preserved, and 

 with a few unimportant exceptions, are of invertebrate forms, chiefly 

 Mollusca, Polyzoa, Ostracoda, and Foraminifera ; remains of Crabs, 

 Cirripedes, Echinoderms, Annelida, Sponges, and even of Holothu- 

 rians and Tunicata (e.g. Leptoclinum tenne f) have been detected. 



The list of the Mollusca showed the range of each species in 

 Miocene and Pliocene beds and in the present seas. The authors 

 considered that the fossils aerree in age with the middle or lower 



