TJie Whitehaven Limestones, 421 



Silica 2*8 



Alumina with Iron 1*2 



Carbonate of Magnesia 4*2 



Do. I.ime 91 "8 



lOO'OO 



Two examples were sent, and in each of them Spirorbis 

 was to be found with a lens. I had thin sections 

 cut, which showed their structure to be very similar 

 to that of the Levenshulme limestones. They take 

 the same marble polish, and are mottled. Under the 

 microscope the reddish colour is seen to be produced by 

 numerous red crystals, probably hematite stained. The 

 sections now exhibited are full of Spirorbis and Ento- 

 mostraca — probably Ostracods of the Carbonia groups — 

 and there is one small shell of a brachiopod. The ostracods 

 are frequently in pairs and very perfect — but there are 

 many detached and broken shells. The white limestone 

 which occurs at the greater depth is a very beautiful object 

 under the microscope. Veins run across the section in 

 roughly parallel lines, and of these there are two distinct 

 sets, the later series being darker coloured and cutting 

 through the lighter veins. The Spirorbis and Ostracods are 

 abundant, and some of them beautifully perfect. The veins 

 cut through these fossils, which have evidently been broken 

 through long after they were calcified. It will thus be 

 seen that the limestones exactly resemble those from 

 Levenshulme, which were recently exhibited to the Society, 

 and the whole series of strata resembled those in which the 

 Spirorbis limestones occurred. There can, therefore, be no 

 doubt that they belong to the uppermost of the Upper 

 Coal Measures which have not previously been recognised 

 in the West Cumberland coal field. 



At the time of communicating the foregoing to the 

 Society (March loth), the cores from the Diamond rock 



