546 Miss Eyton — Age of the Western Counties Clay. 



base of the bed has not yet been reached, and no shells have hitherto 

 been found ; but as it has only been newly opened, it is hoped that 

 we may obtain some specimens differing from those found in the 

 overlying gravels. 



Mr Wilson's description of the blue clay, near Eugby, tallies so 

 well with that of the above bed, that there seems scarcely any diffi- 

 cult}^ in recognizing it for the same ; and what is still more important, 

 is the fact that in some of the localities which he describes there are 

 chalk fragments contained in the clay, thus very nearly identifying it 

 with the "purple clay with chalk" ^ of Mr. Searles Wood. He says: 

 " Below the gi-avel, in sinking Mr. Darnell's well," (at Hill Morton) 

 "was a stiff" sandy soil, wet with streaks of white and red clay, 

 then a stiff blue clay containing chalk pebbles, three or four feet, and 

 finally blue clay containing nodules of Limestone." " At the slope of 

 the hill, on the way towards Clifton, the London and North-Western 

 Eailway offers a magnificent section through this deposit" (clayey 

 sand). "The cutting is not less than 60 feet in depth and three- 

 quarters of a mile long, and exposes a re-formation of Lias clay con- 

 taining scratched stones. I have put in the school collection well- 

 striated blocks of Liassic Limestone and Chalk and some flints, and a 

 curious group of serpulge." 



It is not my intention in this paper to enter into a minute de- 

 •scription of the deposit under consideration^ that having been fre- 

 quently done in reference to separate localities. I rather wish, 

 ^fter attempting a definition of its boundaries, to bring forward some 

 points regarding its relation to the superincumbent beds, and thus to 

 the whole series of drift deposits, which may result in assigning 

 to it and them a more definite and satisfactory position than they 

 now occupy. The points submitted are — 



That the blue clay of the Western counties, underlying the shell- 

 bearing gravels, strikingly resembles, in most of its characteristics, 

 the "purple clay without chalk" ^ of Mr. Searles Wood. 



That it passes in the neighbourhood of Eugby into a similar bed 

 containing chalk, just as the purple clay of Yorkshire does on ap- 

 proaching the Chalk district. 



That in the Cheshire and Shropshire plain it is apparently the 

 deposit of a deep and calm sea, whereas the superincumbent sands 

 and gravels must have been thrown up in shallow and disturbed water. 



That the isolated patches of clay occurring upon the hills, con- 

 siderably to the east of the main bed, afford evidence of currents 

 passing from east to west during the height of the submergence. 



That there being no overlying clays of equal extent and thickness, 

 and equally persistent and uniform ia their characteristics, it follows 

 that there has been no general submergence of equal depth since its 

 deposition. 



That, therefore, it must coincide very nearly, in point of time as 

 well as in general appearance and character, with the " true or great 

 Boulder-clay" of the Eastern counties deposited during the height of 



1 Geological Magazine, January, 1870. 

 ^ Geological Magazine, January, 1870. 



