1853.] MORRIS — LINCOLNSHIRE OOLITES. 335 



To those geologists who are famiUar with the Lower Oolites of the 

 West of England, more especially as developed in the Cotteswold 

 Hills, the above Lincolnshire section will appear somewhat anoma- 

 lous, while on the other hand it will be readily perceived that in its 

 main features it agrees with those of the Yorkshire coast and the 

 North. 



In a short paper communicated by Captain Ibbetson and the 

 author to the British Association*, the affinities of the strata near 

 Stamford with those of Yorkshire were briefly noticed, but a subse- 

 quent examination of another part of the district has enabled the author 

 to confirm the opinion therein expressed, and to add many new facts, 

 in which respect the Railway sectionsf above described have materially 

 assisted, although there are still some anomalies to be cleared up, 

 dependent on the distribution of the organic life of the period. 



Commencing with the inferior oolite : this consists of a brown 

 ferruginous sandy rock with little calcareous matter, and varies in 

 thickness from 80 to 50 and 20 feet, and even less between the slate- 

 beds and the lias near CoUyweston ; in the Witham valley near Gran- 

 tham it was estimated about 30 feet ; but few organic remains have 

 been found through this district. Some of the beds, as near Welling- 

 borough, have been used for the extraction of iron. 



Above the ferruginous oolite, the Fuller's earth being here wanting, 

 are beds of stratified sand and clays, local in their occurrence, and 

 underlying the white oolite. These beds in some places, as at Ufford 

 and near Kingsthorpe, show traces of bituminous clays from which 

 proceed downwards vegetable markings, as if indicating terrestrial 

 conditions. These beds, although of limited extent and occurring 

 but locally beneath the white oolite, and where the slates are wanting, 

 are of importance as indicating its superior position, and may there- 

 fore represent the lower sandstone of the Yorkshire coast, and the 

 equivalent of the Fuller's earth of the south. The slate-beds, i. e. of 

 CoUyweston and Wettering, which also locally underlie the white oolite, 

 were not met with in the railway cutting, but an equivalent bed was 

 found reposing at the base of the series in the Little Ponton Cutting,. 

 and containing similar fossils to those found at Easton and CoUy- 

 weston, such as Trifjonia Phillijisi, T. Moretonis, Gei'villia acuta. 

 The beds, although locally developed, form part of, and pass up into 



* Reports of the British Association, 1847, Trans. Sect. p. 127. This commu- 

 nication was the result of a survey of the oolitic quarries in tlie vicinity and 

 soutli of Stamford hy Capt. B. Ibbetson, accompanied by myself, in which some 

 facts bearing on the present paper are given. 



t The acknowledgement of much kind assistance during these investigations is 

 due from the author to some friends, and to no one more than Mr. J. Bentlcy, of 

 Stamford, who has verified with him the sections above given, as well as many 

 others in the vicinity, and whose residence in the neighbourhood has enabled him 

 to enrich our knowledge of the fossil fauna, but who is not responsible for any 

 opinions herein expressed. Nor must it be forgotten how much the geologist 

 has lost of a knowledge of this district by the non-publication of the observations 

 made by Mr. Lonsdale during his elaborate survey, of which the coloured maps 

 in the archives of the Society are ftdl evidence. 



