Correspondence. 425 



from that gentleman specimens from the shales of "West Craraling- 

 ton and other places since June, 1865. Both gentlemen are personally 

 unknown to me, though it is possible that they may have been of 

 the number of those who submitted fossils to my inspection after a 

 lecture I previously delivered at Newcastle-on-Tyne. 



EioHD. Owen, 



SPIRIFER CUSPID ATUS AND SYRINGOTSYRIS TYPA. 



To the Editor of the Geological Magazine, 



Sir, — Absence from home and other causes compel me to defer 

 my reply to Dr. Carpenter's and Mr. Davidson's papers on the 

 structure and histology of " Syringothyris typa" for a short time 

 longer, when I shall be able, from ample materials in my possession, 

 to show clearly that it is no other than Spirifer cuspidatus, as repre- 

 sented by imperforate and tubeless specimens. 4 



William King. 

 Belmont, near Galway, 



Jul^j 8th, 1867. 



THE CLAY-BED NEAR STANNAGE, DERBYSHIRE. 



To the Editor of the Geological Magazine. 



Sir, — I went up to Stannage the other day for the purpose of 

 determining whether the bed of clay, seen by Mr. Binney, and 

 mentioned by Mr. Maw in his paper in the June number of your 

 Magazine (page 247), was a member of the Carboniferous system or 

 a more recent deposit. There can be no doubt that it is the former. 

 A small pit has recently been sunk close to Spitewinter in order to 

 get clay, it may be some fifteen or twenty feet deep, but as it was 

 partly filled up with water I had no proper means of ascertaining the 

 exact depth. The tipper part exposes a section of thin shales, 

 beneath are sandy clays and clay, and lastly, a thin seam of coal, 

 which appears to have been only just touched. There is a good 

 deal of clay under the peat in the immediate neighbourhood, and it 

 has been dug into somewhat extensively still further to the west 

 near the old Cupola marked on the Ordnance Map. When I have 

 time I will endeavour to find out, if possible, the boundaries of the 

 deposit ; immediately above it, to the north, is the fine escarpment 

 of what I conclude to be the first grit. May not the shales above- 

 mentioned correspond with those spoken of by Messrs. Hull and 

 Green in their paper on the Millstone Grit, in No. 79 of Geol. Journ. 

 They say " shales, with a thin coal at the bottom, west of Buxton, 

 lie below the Eough Eock." A thick bed of shales has also been 

 exposed by a landsKp on the north bank of the river Hipper, below 

 Catholic hill, on the north-west side of Stannage. I may mention 

 that the grit escai'pment of Stannage has every appearance of having 

 been an old sea- worn cliff ; it has hollows or rock-pools in its face 

 or on its summit ; the escarpment is on the south-west side of the 

 hill ; on the other side the slope is more gradual, and three or four 



