Morris — Oolites 0/ Northampton, ^c. 101 



lying shales and sandstones represent an upper part of the same 

 formation. 



It is to some points in the Geology of the intermediate area that 

 the following observations refer. 



The Ferruginous Sand and Sand-rock, sometimes oolitic, of North- 

 amptonshire, formerly referred to the Inferior Oolite, but subse- 

 quently called the "Northampton Sands," and referred to the 

 Stonesfield Slate (Great Oolite), immediately overlies the Upper Lias 

 Clay, and vary in thickness from 20 to 60 feet. 



This rock, presenting nearly similar lithological characters, and 

 occupying the same stratigraphical position, may be traced more or 

 less continuously over the vrhole district through which the Nen and 

 Welland flow. It is this rock which is now so largely explored in 

 many localities of the district for the extraction of iron-ore. It pre- 

 sents, however, some well marked zones (especially near North- 

 ampton) which differ in the amount of iron they contain, as well as 

 in the abundance of their fossil remains. 



In the neighbourhood of Northampton this rock, reposing on the 

 Lias, is overlain by Sand, Sandstones, and clay, containing fragmentary 

 plant-remains, which are again covered by a considerable thickness 

 of hard and soft limestones, rich in fossils, mostly belonging to the 

 Great Oolite, as may be seen in tracing a section from the lower part 

 of Northampton, in an ascending series, by Kingsthorpe, to the 

 quarries on the Moulton-road, near to which a shaft was simk, 

 through the Lias, to a considerable depth, in search of Coal. A 

 similar sequence is also seen in ascending from the Canal, near the 

 Eailway Station at Ellsworth, to the quarries in the Oolite above the 

 village, which, as on the opposite side of the vaDey, is covered by 

 Drift clay. Amongst the fossils of the Eed Eock may be enume- 

 rated: — Tancredia axtniformis, Isocardia cordata, Trigonia v — costata, 

 Quenstedtia laevigata ? Hinnites velatus, H. abjectus, Ter. trilineata, 

 EcMnobrissus climicularis, Hyboclypus agariciformis, Pygaster semisid- 

 catus, Cardium Buckmanni, Pecten personatus, Ceromya Pajociana, 

 Cypricardia acutangula, D'Orb. Macrodon Hirsonensis, Pecten de- 

 missus, P. personatus, Ostrea Marshii ? Lima bellida, L. punctata, L. 

 pectiniformis, Astarte elegans, Trigonia Phillipsi, T. costata, Pliola- 

 domya fidicula, P. Heraulti, Gresslya abducta, Chemnitzia vittata, 

 Nerincea cingenda, Am. bifronsf Am. corrugatus, Belemnites, Nautilus, 

 all of which are characteristic of the Inferior Oolite. Some of 

 these fossils are found in the same rock at Cranford and Woodford 

 near Thrapstone, and other localities in this district. 



Thus it appears that this rock, so persistent in character and fossil 

 contents over a large area, should be assigned to the position in 

 which it was originally placed — as described in Conybeare and 

 Phillips,^ and later by Dr. Oscar Fraas,^ who remarks, under his 

 section "Lower Brown Jura," that, "to the north of Bath, Sand- 

 stones re-appear in part as great local formations, as at Northampton 



1 Outlines of Geology, England and "Wales, 1821, p. 218. 



- On the Comparison of the German Jura with that of France and England. 

 See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. vii. 1851, Translations, p. 58. 



