THE COEALLIAN E0CK.S OF ENGLAND. 365 



(interior whorls), A. cordatus, Pecten Jlbrosus, Avicula ovalis, Pleu- 

 romi/a, sp., and Echinobrissus scutatus. Altogether group A of this 

 quarry comprises groups A and B at Appleton, the thickness being 

 the same, viz. about 20 feet. It has already been intimated that 

 these limestones have very little in common with the ordinary Coral- 

 line oolite ; how far they represent the oolite of the Lower Lime- 

 stones remains to be proved. It is by no means impossible that the 

 oolites of Broughton, Swinton, Amotherby, &c. immediately overlie, or 

 take the place of the upper part of this group, as in their general 

 character, and, to a certain extent, in their fossil contents, they are 

 very different from the Coralline oolite of Old Malton. But this ques- 

 tion, and also the possible presence of some equivalent of the Middle 

 Calc-Grit, must be left open for the present, the indications being 

 obscure and difficult to read. Such being the case in those portions of 

 Yorkshire most readily accessible, it is not surprising that the great 

 development of Middle Grits and Lower Limestones — a discovery 

 first made by Mr. Fox Strangwaj'S — should have escaped general 

 notice. A streak of brash or a gritty line in some of the quarries 

 may perhaps be all the trace we have of any separation between the 

 two limestones. Perhaps the nearest approach to any thing like the 

 Middle Grits hereabouts is in the old quarry at Middle Cave, on the 

 north-west side of Malton. Here we perceive a very gritty lime- 

 stone, 10 feet thick, presenting the lithological features of a passage- 

 bed stone, and separating two oolites. Towards the base of this 

 series there is a shell-bed charged with fossils, generally of large 

 size. The bed is noted for large specimens of Trigonia Meriani, 

 Pecten intertextus, and Pholadomyce ; otherwise the fauna is much 

 the same as that of the Pickering Trir/onia-'heds. In column 11 of 

 the Table of Comparative Sections (PI. XII.) we indicate whatwe have 

 ventured to consider may be the geological position of these beds. 



Coralline Oolite. — The succession of beds, going upwards, in this 

 district is best followed on the east side of Malton, where the great 

 quarries in the Coralline oolite have long been known, but not, so 

 far as we know, described. The Pye pits quarry, close to the town, 

 from which chiefly the great supplies of fossils have been obtained *, 

 is no longer worked. The Thirsk railway traverses this old exca- 

 vation, and discloses for the most part moderate dips to the E.S.E. 

 This line crosses the southern bounding fault of the Coralline penin- 

 sula near the Lady's Spring, and, after passing through a considerable 

 thickness of Coralline oolite, emerges into the dry valley (apparently 

 an old river-course) which bisects the town of Malton. 



To the east of the railway are the principal quarries now worked. 

 The one on the flat summit of the hill, at the cross-roads, is just 

 within the 125-feet contour. 



* N.B. The locality "Malton" is quoted by dealers and others for all oolite 

 and Rag fossils within a radius of 5 or 6 miles, including sometimes the Inferior 

 Oolite of Whitwell. 



