312 PKOCEEDIKGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, [Mar. 18, 



many ConcJiifera in a good state of preservation ; but it attains its 

 greatest development at Leckhampton Hill. 



Over a considerable portion of the north-western part of the 

 Cotteswolds, especially towards the verge of the hills, the Upper 

 Ragstone has been denuded, and it is only beneath the isolated 

 patches of Fuller's Earth, brought down by faults, that it occurs, and 

 in these localities it is seldom well exposed. It may be seen, how- 

 ever, to the east of the fault at Cold Comfort, and still better on the 

 hills beyond Andoversford. 



The cropping-out of this bed before reaching the verge of the hills 

 in the neighbourhood of Cheltenham appears to have led Dr. Wright 

 to overlook it altogether*. 



I quite agree with Dr. Wright in his suggestion that, away from 

 the western escarpment of the hills, the Upper and Lower Trigonia- 

 grits have come into contact, as the great Oyster-bank which consti- 

 tutes the Gryphite-grit extends only from the vicinity of Rodborough 

 Hill to Cleeve Cloud, and eastward to the neighbourhood of Andovers- 

 ford ; but the Lower Ragstone, as seen in the quarries between the 

 latter place and Hampen, consists chiefly of the Upper Trigonia-grit, 

 having at its base a bed, from 1 to 2 feet in thickness, of very hard, 

 brownish limestone, pierced everywhere by small vertical tubes, pro- 

 bably the work of some species of Annelid. These Lower Ragstone- 

 beds may be seen in situ on the Stow Road, a mile and a half east of 

 Andoversford, and again half a mile beyond Naunton Inn, and on 

 the top of a hill a mile south-west of Aylworth, where its junction 

 with the Upper Freestone is exhibited. 



But above this Lower Ragstone, and resting upon it, there is seen, 

 over all the country around Naunton and Turk Dean, and west of 

 North Leach, a higher bed, 15 or more feet in thickness, of very 

 coarse-grained, rubbly, white oolite, containing fossils in abundance, 

 but not in great variety. This is the northern extension of the 

 Upper Ragstone, which has here become fossiliferous and more 

 coarsely oolitic. The lower part of the bed is crowded with Tere- 

 hratula globata, and the central portion contains Clypeus PJotii in 

 great numbers. In going from Naunton Inn to Harford Bridge, 

 we cross in succession the outcrop of the Upper Freestone, the Lower 

 Ragstone, and then the Upper Ragstone to the Fuller's Earth, and we 

 again find the two latter, on the opposite side of the stream, in the 

 lane above Harford. 



The Upper Ragstone is well exposed at Aylworth, where it has 

 been brought down to a lower level by faults, and also by the side 

 of the road leading from Turk Dean to Aston, where an upper bed 

 is exposed, made up of badly preserved fossils imbedded in coarse 

 white oolite. Clypeus Plotii is most abundant in the middle portion 

 of the bed. 



The junction of the Upper Ragstone with what remains of the 

 Lower Ragstone is well seen in a quarry by the side of the Roman 

 Foss-way, near the fifth milestone from Stow, where we find the 

 following section : — 



* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xvi. pp. 38 & 43. 



