226 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



exposed, and both under interesting circumstances" (Memoir, p. 65); 

 and he further states, " that these uppermost beds show a pecuhar 

 and unequivocal gradation or alternation from the lower to the upper 

 SUm'ian series." The phsenomena here noticed are also well described 

 in the ' Silurian System,' where all the beds between the Syenites 

 and the Woolhope limestone inclusive are considered as forming a 

 true Caradoc group. The phsenomena along the line of section are 

 as follows: — (1.) Immediately under the public road is a series of 

 beds dipping at an angle of about 60° towards the flank of the Wor- 

 cestershire Beacon, and therefore apparently passing under the 

 Syenite. They are in a reversed position. Their thickness is consi- 

 derable, and in mineral structure they certainly might be brought into 

 near comparison with some of the well-known calcareous and shelly 

 sandstones of the true Caradoc groups of Horde rley, Soudley, &c. 



(2.) Next follows a short interval of obscure ground, where the 

 rocks are partially covered ; beyond which break out the uppermost 

 beds of sandstone, graduating into the Woolhope limestone, exactly 

 as stated by Professor Phillips, and in exact analogy with the corre- 

 sponding beds of May Hill*. 



Are the lower (and probably inverted) beds of this section true 

 Caradoc sandstone? Professor Phillips's List of Fossils (pp. 65, 66) 

 might seem to sanction an affirmative answer to this question ; for in 

 addition to about twenty species, which might be looked for in a good 

 Wenlock group, he gives — 



Atrypa hemisphceriea, Orthis virgata, 



Orthis testudinaria, Trinucleus Caractaci, 



■''' • flabellulum, 



which are generally considered good characteristic Caradoc fossils f. 

 But if we adopt this conclusion, and also put down all the beds of 

 this inverted section as one group (No. 5), it then must follow that a 

 true characteristic Caradoc group (No. 5) may overlie a group with 

 characteristic and unmixed Wenlock speciesf (No. 4). This ad- 

 mission would virtually affirm, not merely that the species of an upper 

 group might descend into and be partially mixed with the species of 

 a lower, but that a good upper group of fossils might overlap and de- 

 scend beneath a lower group. Sooner than (in the case before us) 

 adopt so improbable an interpretation of the facts, we should appeal 

 to the broken discontinuous sections, and unhesitatingly affirm that 

 the upper and lower portions of the beds, above described, belonged 

 to two separate groups ; the beds near the Syenite having been brought 



* Professor Phillips, whose sections we have constantly relied upon, without 

 any doubt of their accuracy, states that the horizontal length of this section from 

 the Syenite to the Woolhope group is about 500 feet. 



f Respecting these species, see Professor M'Coy's observations appended to tlie 

 list of fossils from this locality, p. 227. All our specimens were found on the 

 north side of the rivulet, and we missed the purple sandstone (Phillips, p. 65) on 

 the south side. We did, however, trace our section close up to the Syenite. 



J. We have already shown that the fossils of the Eastnor Park group (No. 4) are 

 either new, or such as are found in true Wenlock beds. They are, therefore, a 

 good Wenlock group. 



