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PROCEEDINGS OE THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



[Mar. 6, 



be the equivalent of the amorphous limestone previously mentioned ; 

 and from this we infer that the beds found beneath that deposit in 

 some of the sections about Pontefract are here wanting. 



One of the most interesting sections illustrative of the junction of 

 the lower limestone with the Rothliegendes is at "Wentbridge, in 

 the cutting on the Great North Road. The latter deposit is here 

 seen towards the south end of the cutting, forming a large portion of 

 the cliff on each side of the highway, and capped by a few feet of 

 limestone, which, by the ascent of the road and the dip of the beds, 

 gradually increases in quantity to the north-east — the sandstone 

 disappearing, and fresh beds of limestone coming in that direction. 

 The beds of limestone immediately above the sandstone are thinnish, 

 of a brown colour, compact in texture, and contain the remains of 

 Aoeinus clubius and Gervillia antiqua. These strata occupy a few 

 feet of the section and are superimposed by a stratum of hard lime- 

 stone about 6 feet thick, full of the casts of G. antiqua. Other 

 massive beds follow, some of which are fossiliferous; and above them 

 are some thinner beds of soft and friable limestone, also with casts 

 of Gervillia?. 



On other parts of the escarpment, as at Hampole Stubbs *, the 

 Rothliegendes is covered by some thick beds of reddish limestone of 

 a compact, subcrystalline, or oolitic character, and which contain 

 several species of fossils, among others Axinus dubius very large. 

 But in this section the oolitic beds of the member occur much nearer 

 the sandstone than in other places to the north and south. 



Another section showing the two deposits in juxtaposition is found 

 on the escarpment between Hooten Pagnell and Hickleton, where a 

 series of thin-bedded, hard, crystalline, unfossiliferous limestones of 

 a brown colour are seen to rest immediately upon the Rothliegendes, 

 which is here soft and very incoherent. The structure of these lime- 

 stones rather resembles that of the Brotherton beds, the strata being 

 of similar thickness and hardness as those of that member. As a 

 section of the Lower Limestone it certainly differs most widely from 

 any other that I met with on the escarpment or elsewhere in South 

 Yorkshire t- 



Viewing the Lower Limestone as a whole, we perceive it to be 

 more inconstant in structure, composition, and general character, 

 than any of the other subdivisions of the series. The sections just 

 noticed suffice to prove its mutability; and more comprehensive 

 details woidd only tend to make the fact more evident. Neverthe- 

 less, though the most variable member of the Permian formation in 

 South Yorkshire, it can always be easily distinguished from either of 

 the limestone members that overlie it, its features being peculiar and 

 well marked. 



Most of the limestones of this group are included along with the 

 * The locality of Hampole Stubbs, which is on the road leading from Don- 

 caster to Wakefield, and just beyond Little John's Well, would seem to be 

 identical with the " Stubbs Hill" of Sedgwick. 



f This section occurs in a plantation scarcely a mile south of Hooten Pagnell, 

 and near to a footpath that winds along the escarpment from that village to 

 Hickleton. 



