354 J. P. BLAKE AND W. H. HUDLESTON ON 



of section in Sproxton quarry (d of fig. 16). Its actual relation to 

 No. 3, or the Wass-Moor Grit, may be seen in ascending the hill from 

 the river Eye in Duncombe Park, near the footbridge, where the 

 sandy beds are seen to lie underneath it. In Sproxton quarry we 

 have : — 



ft. in. 



a. Coral Rag 4 



b. Coral shell-bed 1 6 



c. Coralline oolite, compact and occasionally snboolitic limestones ... 26 



31 6 



a. A few feet of true Coral Eag is here to be found capping the 

 true Coralline oolite ; it has the usual fossils, of which we noted 

 Lima jpectiniformis, Pecten vimineus, Cidaris florigemma, &c. 



b. This is one of the shell-beds occasionally to be found at the 

 base of the Coral Eag, which forms a conspicuous feature in some 

 of the quarries throughout the Tabular range, but is a rare pheno- 

 menon, as far as our experience goes, in the neighbourhood of Mal- 

 ton and Langton Wold. This particular one contains corals, abun- 

 dance of the spines of Cidaris florigemma, Lithodomus inclusus, Lu- 

 cina, sp., together with Nerincea and Cliemnitzia. These, on wea- 

 thering out, form a handsome entablature in arabesque. 



c. Numerous long univalves occur in the upper layers : the whole 

 forms a series of thick-bedded limestones, which are very different 

 in appearance from those of the Hambleton Oolite. The base of the 

 limestones is not seen. 



The floor of the quarry shows a dip to the eastward of 4° or 5° ; 

 perhaps this may be due in part to the rapid thinning-out of the 

 Middlo Grit beneath. 



Descending the hill still further, the Coral Eag keeps the surface 

 for some distance. Its general character hereabouts must be in- 

 ferred from quarries in or near to Duncombe Park. In the Park 

 thero is a quarry, on the 325-feet contour, which presents coralline 

 layers and boulders, with the peculiar chalk-like limestone so cha- 

 racteristic of this subdivision, and which usually contains the fossils. 

 Cliemnitzia, Littorina muricata, Perna mytiloides, Astarte rlxom- 

 boidalis, Pecten vimineus, and Cidaris florigemma were noted. 



In the quarry on the York road just out of Helmsley, a little above 

 the 200-feet contour, about 20 feet of Eag beds are seen putting on a 

 somewhat different lithological type. The stone is in strong blocks, 

 and is a hard cherty (?) limestone with many flints, both in sheets 

 and in tuberous masses ; it is very rarely coralline. The beds are 

 not so full of fossils as in the more typical Eag ; but a considerable 

 number of species may be noted, such as Belemnites abbreviates, 

 Cliemnitzia (short variety of heddingtonensis?), Natica clio, Nerincea 

 fasciata, Phasianella striata, Pecten vimineus, Trigonia (large clavel- 

 late form), Lucina aspera, Euvig., Terebratida insignis, Cidaris flori- 

 gemma (spines). Dip of quarry N.N.E. moderate. 



This peculiar phase of the Eag is rather local ; for on following 

 the steep southern bank of the Eye in an easterly direction below 



