COOKE : WORK FOR LINCOLNSHIRE GEOLOGISTS. 207 



Another problem, similar to the preceding, is the determination 

 of the line of demarcation between the Kellaways Rock and the 

 Cornbrash. 



In the adjoining counties these beds are separated by Shales or 

 by Clays. In Lincolnshire the dividing line has been traced, but 

 the character of the argillaceous beds that occur at that horizon 

 has not been ascertained. The sections in the neighbourhood of 

 Sudbrooke Holme, Metheringham, Bishops Norton, and Brigg afford 

 an opportunity for the investigation of this point. The origin of the 

 Upper Sands, and of the Carstone and its fossils, offer themselves as 

 interesting problems. These beds are well developed in the cutting 

 at Donington, and along the Wolds from Claxby to Cawkwell. Are 

 the materials and the contained fossils derivative or indigenous ? 

 and if the former, whence were the materials and fossils derived ? 



The Spilsby sandstone and the determination of its derived 

 fossils, as well as the tracing out of sections shewing the nodule bed 

 which invariably occurs at its base, leave mueh*to be desired. Good 

 work, too, might be done around Gainsborough in distinguishing 

 between, and mapping out, the estuarine and the eolian sands that 

 occur so plentifully in the alluvium of the Trent valley ; and in the 

 north of the county in studying the lithology and fossil contents of 

 the superficial clays of the Ancholme Valley, for the purpose of 

 determining whether they be true Oxfordian or of Glacial origin. 

 But there may be many members* who have neither the time to 

 devote to, nor the opportunities for, the carrying out methodical work 

 such as the satisfactory solving of problems like the preceding 

 would necessitate. They, however, might be the means of greatly 

 assisting others by the careful recording of the geological details of 

 any new drains, wells, or quarries that may be opened in <heir 

 neighbourhoods. It is of the greatest importance that such records 

 should be made, both for the scientific value attached to them, as 

 well as for the practical benefits which; may possibly accrue. Thes 

 records might include notes on the character'of the strata traversed, 

 and on the contained fossils, as well as^accurate measurements of 



the thickness of each layer. 



The scientific value of such observations is evident, for not only 

 do they furnish direct and positive knowledge of the serial order of 

 the strata, as well as explanations of many of the subsidiary 

 phenomena of the district, but they also serve as guides in the 

 antecedent study of proposed wells and mineral borings. 



The value of fossils in the determination and the correlation of 

 rocks is now universally recognised. Paleontology, or the study 

 of foss ils, has not inaptly been described as being the handmaid of 



July 1896. 



