O. Maw — RhcBtic Beds in Shropshire and Cheshire. 203 



is higher and less diversified in the east than in the centre of the 

 Kingdom ; but in tho oxtromo west it begins to rise again, bo that if 

 a certain portion of Franco had been included, tho map would 

 probably have shown the existence of a great surface-trough with a 

 nearly north and south direction. 



III. — On tue Oooubrenoe of the Eii^etio Beds in Noeth Shrop- 

 SniKE AND CnEsniRE. 



By Geo. Maw, F.G.S., F.L.S., etc. 



THE outlying mass of Lias on the borders of Shropshire and 

 Cheshire is so thickly covered with Boulder-drift, that its line 

 of boundary throughout almost its entire circumference is very 

 obscure. The direct sequence from -p ^ 



the imderlying Keuper Marls is '' 



scarcely anywhere visible, and I be- pfp^^^ft^l^A 

 lieve no record of the occurrence of ' ~^"~'^ " ^ *"" -=> -j-.-=*^ 



the Avicula contorta zone has hitherto 

 been published. 



About three years ago I noticed 

 near Audlem an exposure of fissile 

 shale, closely resembling the " Paper- 

 shales " of the Garden-cliff and other 

 Gloucestershire sections, and more 

 recently procured a small series of 

 fossils confirming their identity with 

 the KhEetic beds. 



The strata represented in the ac- 

 companying section, Fig. 1, occur in 

 a lane-cutting, near Audlem Mill, 

 immediately to the south of Audlem 

 Eailway Station. They dip about 7° 

 to the east, and include the following 

 beds : — a, drift of variable thickness ; 

 B, about 8 feet of black fissile shales 

 (Paper-shales) ; c, hard band of rock, 

 about 6 inches thick ; d, a repetition 

 of black flaky shales, about 15 feet 

 thick, passing downwards into a light buff marl, e, 6 feet thick; 

 but the junction is obscured by the Eailway Bridge. The buff marl 

 graduates into soft red Keuper marls, f, about 5 feet thick, 

 succeeded by hard variegated marl, g, exposed in the bed of the 

 brook. 



The black shales, d, abound with Avicula -contorta, and Mr. 

 Etheridge, who has kindly examined the fossils for me, has also 

 determined, in the shales, d, Pullastra arenicola and Cardium Bhceti- 

 cum ; and in the bed b, an Axinus and Pullastra arenicola. 



I could find no continuous sections showing the junction of these 



Section near Audlem Mill. 

 * Junction not visible. 



