and around the Warwickshire Coal-field. 541 



appeared in the publications of the Geological Society is a paper on 

 the occurrence of manganese near Hartshill. 1 The ore is desci'ibed 

 as occurring in detached pieces weighing from one to sixty pounds 

 each, and distributed through a red clay, which chiefly forms the 

 soil of the neighbourhood. 



In 1822 the rocks in which the ore occurred were referred to as 

 Coal-shale and Millstone Grit by Conybeare and Phillips. 2 In 1829 

 the Eev. James Yates 3 pointed out the resemblance of the Hartshill 

 quartzite to that of Bromsgrove Lickey, and gave a most accurate 

 account of the overlying shales and the intrusive character of the 

 volcanic rocks, concluding that the quartzite and shales must be 

 considered of Silurian age. In 1855 the Geological Survey Map 

 (63 S.W.) was published, and was followed in 1859 by the Memoir on 

 the Geology of the Warwickshire Coal-field, Sir R. Murchison being 

 Director- General. In these publications the quartzite was referred 

 to the Millstone Grit, and the overlying shales to a lower or unpro- 

 ductive subdivision of the Coal-measures. The reasons for which 

 this classification was adopted are given on p. 8 of the Memoir. The 

 quartzite " has an average dip to the south-west at an angle of from 

 30° to 40°, passing under the ordinary Coal-measures which lie con- 

 formably upon it. No fossils have ever been found in it, and from 

 the strong resemblance it bears to the quartz-rock of Bromsgrove 

 Lickey, it was formerly classed as part of the Silurian series ; but 

 from the fact of the complete conformity of the Coal-measures upon 

 it, and the occasional streaks of Coal-measure-looking shale with 

 which it is banded, the evidence is more in favour of its belonging 

 to the Carboniferous formation." This conclusion was not arrived 

 at without anxious deliberation. The late Prof. Jukes and Mr. 

 Howell were in favour of retaining the beds in the Silurian series, 

 while Sir A. Bamsay (at that time Local Director), in consideration 

 of the perfect conformity between the quartzite and overlying shales, 

 and of the apparent conformity between the shales and the productive 

 Coal-measures, was of opinion that they must be included in the 

 Carboniferous series. The views of Prof. Jukes are given in the 

 Memoir on the South Staffordshire Coal-field (Memoirs of the Geolo- 

 gical Survey), 2nd edition, 1859, p. 134. After speaking of the 

 gentle westerly dip which the Silurian strata of the South Stafford- 

 shire Coal-field had assumed before the deposition of the Coal- 

 measures, he continues : " That this gradual rise to the east was 

 continued yet further in that direction beyond the bounds of our 

 district is rendered probable by the fact of rocks still older than the 

 Upper Silurian (perhaps older than any Silurian) appearing in the 

 Warwickshire and Leicestershire coal-fields, with the Coal-measures 

 resting directly upon them." Previously (pp. 80, 81, fig. 11), he 



1 Notice on the Black Oxide of Manganese of "Warwickshire, by S. Parkes, 

 Trans. Geol. Soc. series 2, vol. i. p. 168, 1824 (read 1821). 



2 Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales, by the Eev. W. D. Conybeare 

 and "W. Phillips, book iii. chap. iii. p. 406, and chap. v. p. 456. 



3 On the Structure of the Border Country of Salop and North "Wales, etc., Trans. 

 Geol. Soc. series 2, vol. ii. p. 237, 1829 (read in 1824). 



