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old red sandstone, in a similar manner to those of the Brown Clee 

 Hills, the Forest of Wyre, &c. &c. 



In concluding his reports upon these detached coal-fields, the 

 author gives the following as the positions which he has attempted 

 to establish : 



1st, The existence of a younger zone of coal, which contains a 

 peculiar freshwater limestone, and passes upwards into the oldest 

 strata of the new red sandstone, (Shrewsbury coal-field.); and down- 

 wards into the inferior coal strata of Coalbrook Dale. 



2ndly, That the inferior coal strata were deposited in some parts 

 upon mountain limestone and in others upon the old red sandstone 

 and transition rocks. 



3rdly, That the Clee Hill fields exhibit only the lower system, 

 graduating down in two situations to mountain limestone, and in 

 others resting upon old red sandstone. 



4'thly, That in the Brown Clee Hills, the Forest of Wyre, and at 

 Newent, the carbonaceous matter was originally deposited upon the 

 old red sandstone, 



5thly, That in some of the poor and ill-consolidated coals, particu- 

 larly in the upper zone, the traces of vegetable organization are so 

 distinct, that even the generic and specific characters of the plants 

 can be recognised in the coal itself. 



Lastly, That wherever the mountain limestone has been inter- 

 polated between the bottom coal grits and the old red sandstone^ it 

 can invariably be traced to thin out and disappear within a very 

 small area; and hence it is inferred, that as calcareous matter ap- 

 pears never to have been elaborated in these regions, except at wide 

 intervals and in minute quantities, mighty convulsions are not ne- 

 cessary to account for the absence of the mountain limestone through 

 such large carboniferous tracts. 



The coal-field of Oswestry is not included in the application of 

 these inferences; for, like the great coal basin of South Wales, it 

 has been deposited upon a thick girdle of carboniferous limestone. 



