A. M. Davies — Base of the Gault of E. England. 161 



of fossils from it. These were in part collected by my wife ou 

 the visit of the Geologists' Association, partly by myself on a later 

 occasion. All except the belemuites are phosphatized. 



SopUtes interruptiis. Bentalium. 



S. tuberctilatus. Inoceramns concentrieus. 



H. lautus (?) (a Tvora fragment) . I. sulcatm. 



Schlonbachia inflata. Fish-scales. 



Belemnites minimus (abundant). Fish-coprolites. 



Solarium. 



The mixture of Upper and Lower Gault fossils is striking, but 

 has been noted already for this district by Mr. Jukes-Brnwne ^ and 

 also appears to exist in the Isle of Wight, whei'e S. inflnla occurs 

 in the Gault Clay along with H. interrnptus, as well as ranging 

 through the Malm and Chert beds above.^ I should, however, 

 add that some thickness of Gault is exposed at Heath (at least 

 fifteen feet, speaking from memory), and that owing to the large 

 extent of slip no fossils could be obtained actually in place, so that 

 some may have come from a higher zone than others. 



At Thame the actual junction of Gault and 'Lower Greensand ' 

 (here pi'obably of fresh-water origin) is not seen, but the tvv^o 

 are dug in shallow pits not many yards apart. The fossils 

 I obtained here were — 



Hoplites iniemtpius, 

 Belemnites minimus, 



and the following Foraminifera : — 



Cristellaria ffibba, D'Oih. 

 0. subalata, E-euss. 

 C. gaultina, Berthelin. 

 Pul'vinulina spinulifera (Reuss). 



Another Gault-pit, a mile and a quarter farther west, where the 

 Shillingford Eoad crosses the railway, is absolutely unfossiliferous, 

 even foraminifei'a being unobtainable. 



On the outlier at Long Crendon, 2|^ miles to the north-west, 

 the base of the Gault is clearly exposed, but here I failed to find 

 Ammonites, though foraminifera were plentiful. 



In the 38 miles between Culham and Devizes, the Gault appears 

 to be very unfossiliferous. When the Geologists' Association 

 visited Faringdon in 1877, Mr. E. C. Davey published a catalogue ^ 

 in order, as he states, " to vindicate the paleeontological honour 

 of Berkshire." He complained that " the Government Surveyors 

 have not recorded a single sjjecimen from either Gault or Upper 

 Greensand," and "the late Professor Philips is equally silent." 

 Nevertheless he was himself only able to give six genera (without 

 species) for the Gault. There are therefore no data available, 

 so far as I am aware, for fixing the exact age of the base of the 

 Gault between Culham and the Devizes district. 



^ "Handbook of Historical Geology," p. 412. 



2 Eeid & Strahan, " Geology of the Isle of "Wight." 



3 " Catalogue of Fossils from the Cretaceous Beds of Berkshire, in the Collection 

 of E. C. Davey, F.G.S." (Wantage, 1877). 



DECADE IV.— VOL. YI. — NO. IV. 11 



