1871.] BKODIE "WOOLHOPE PASSAGE-BEDS. 257 



At Putley, near the road from Ledbury to Woolhope, to the N.E. 

 of the latter village, a remarkable bed of very hard horizontal 

 sandstone, composed mainly of small pieces of quartz in a sandy 

 matrix, overlying a stratum of white and yellow clay, used for 

 making tiles, may be seen in a brickyard to the depth of about 

 3 or 4 feet, the blocks of sandstone averaging about 2 feet in thick- 

 ness. I could find no fossils in it, and it had very much the aspect 

 of a volcanic rock ; but my friend Professor Phillips, to whom I 

 sent a specimen, recognized it at once, and states that he believes it 

 to have been derived from Trappean and other Plutonic rocks, 

 though it may be presumed to be one of the bands of sandstone be- 

 longing to this series. About two miles to the south of Putley, at 

 a farm called " Chandler's," there is a sandstone quarry, which yields 

 large blocks 1| feet square, having a dip to the north-east, a por- 

 tion of which is of a very dark colour, almost black, similar to the 

 peculiar igneous-looking rock just referred to ; and at one place the 

 strata are much contorted, being thrown up in a small anticlinal. 

 From the top of Marele Hill, for at least three quarters of a mile, 

 in a lane leading to this quarry, on each side of it, there is a thin 

 band of sandstone, running parallel with the road ; but no " olive 

 shales" appear above it. Three miles to the north, on Putley com- 

 mon, near Maine's wood, other beds of a close-grained more or less 

 quartzose sandstone occur, in which I found the cast of the larger 

 form of Lingula cornea. This seems to correspond with the hard 

 micaceous grit (though there of a purple colour) at the Tin Mills, 

 Downton, which immediately overlies the " olive shales," and 

 contains the large Lingula cornea in abundance. The beds were 

 much disturbed, and more or less inclined, as most of the " passage- 

 beds" are here, dipping from the older Silurian rocks of "Woolhope, 

 and in the same direction, for the most part on this side. The par- 

 tial opening was of no great depth, and therefore the thickness of 

 the sandstone visible was of limited extent ; but judging from the 

 relative position of the Ludlow formation on the west, and the Old 

 E.ed Sandstone on the east, the thickness would perhaps be consi- 

 derable if fairly exposed. A mile or two towards the north-west, 

 near Lower Hazle, between this spot and Tarrington, is a small 

 quarry of thick-bedded variable sandstones, charged as usual with 

 carbonaceous remains, but finer-grained than those already described. 

 On the same line, still further towards the north-west, on the brow 

 of the rising ground called " Hillfoot," similar bands of sandstone 

 are exposed, more or less disturbed, dipping towards the north- 

 east, and underneath them the " olive shales," 3 or 4 feet thick, 

 passing into, and resting on, a thin stratum of sandstone, similar to 

 the section at Perton. The shales are horizontal, and contain in the 

 lower part abundant fragmentary relics of plants, among which are 

 the seed-vessels of Lycopodium, and larger fruits (or sporangia) 

 which seem to be quite distinct. I could find no Crustacea ; but a 

 longer and careful search would no doubt detect them. I also 

 obtained one specimen of the smaller form of Lingula cornea, sup- 

 posing this species to be identical, which Mr. Symonds thinks it is 



