352 J. F. BLAKE AND W. H. HUDLESTON ON 



Avicula expansa, Avicula Icevis, Pecten lens, Lima elliptica, Lucina, 

 Hhynchonella Thurmanni, Ecliinobrissus scutatus (abundant), Holec- 

 typus oblong us, Astropecten (fragments). 



Although these limestones are probably continuous along the 

 strike with the Lower Limestones of the Tabular Hills, it is certain 

 that in this area they thin to the south and south-east. We have 

 seen that at Kepwick, in the face of the western escarpment, they 

 are about 50 feet thick ; but on the summits of the moors the thick- 

 ness in the several localties can only be inferred. None of the 

 numerous quarries, allowing for the dip, require that they should 

 be more than from 20 to 30 feet ; and towards the south the oolitic 

 character of the stone seems to be becoming more uncertain. For 

 instance, in Shaw's-Gate quarry, at the back of Eoulston Scar, the 

 following section is seen: — 



ft. in. 

 Soil and broken stuff 



Flaggy, fine-grained, sandy oolite 9 



Flaggy calc-grit, with pinhole structure in the lower part 2 4 



Sandy suboolitic limestone, generally in three blocks 5 2 



Half grit, half limestone 3 9 



12 



Ecliinobrissus scutatus and a small Belemnite were the only fossils 

 here noted. It is where wo find it overlain by the next series of 

 beds that we begin to have proof of its thinning out, as will pre- 

 sently be shown. 



No. 3. This series, which may be identified as the Middle Grit, 

 nowhere reaches the western escarpment, but is spread out over the 

 moors, and may be seen on the dip. If we trace the oolites (No. 2) 

 from the Dialstone quarry (Cold Kirkby), where about 15 feet are ex- 

 posed, in an easterly direction along the road called High Street, we find 

 limestone quarries with a stone very similar to that at the Dialstone 

 as far as a point rather over two miles from the inn. Here the 

 country rises from 822 feet to 857 feet in about a quarter of a mile; 

 the thickness of this rise of about 35 feet is entirely occupied by 

 reddish sands, henceforth keeping the surface of the moor, which 

 rises to within the 875-feet contour. The oolites may thus be dis- 

 tinctly traced to a position below these sands; and the outcrop of 

 these sands, as they are traced backwards in a south-westerly direc- 

 tion, is seen to encroach upon the area occupied by the Hambleton 

 oolite until the latter is covered up altogether, as is the case on the 

 top of Wass Bank. On descending this we should expect to find 

 the oolites again ; but they can scarcely be made out at all, though 

 there seems to be a line of quarries where calcareous matter has 

 been dug out at intervals, and a narrow band of such oolite may be 

 seen. The semioolitic calc-grit of Wass Bank is at too low a level 

 to represent them. Upon Wass Moor the Middle Grits generally 

 consist of loose sands of a reddish colour, occasionally consoli- 

 dated into stone. Their present physical condition is clue to the 

 powerful action of the organic acids generated by the gradual decay 



