334 R. I. MuRCHisoN, Esq. and H. E. Strickland, Esq., on the 



2. Sandstone, consisting in detail of 



a. A cover of finely laminated flag-like marly sandstone, 



of delicate greenish and light drab colours, alterna- 

 ting with marls S!0 to 30 Feet. 



b. Thick-bedded, finely laminated, soft, siliceous sandstone, 



of various colours, the prevailing one being a white 

 or pinkish white, with occasional tints of green, pur- 

 ple, &c 15 to 30 — 



c. Finely laminated flag-like sandstones, similar to n 



3. Red and green marls similar to No. 1. 



These sandstones, though usually of a white or lightish colour, exhibit so 

 many lithological varieties, that their characters can, with difficulty, be rigor- 

 ously defined. 



At the Great Quarries or Inkberrow Stone Pits, there are several excava- 

 tions exposing surfaces of the rock from 30 to 40 feet in depth. The chief 

 or central beds are brownish red, brownish yellow, rusty pink, delicate pale 

 green and white, the same tint being seldom persistent for more than a few 

 yards in horizontal extension. The quality of the stone also varies very much, 

 in short distances. A sandstone of a fine grain and good quality sometimes thins 

 out and terminates in soft marly beds, whilst wedge-shaped masses of marl are 

 dove-tailed with the sandstone. The very great variety of the rock is well seen 

 in the tombstones, piled up for sale. From these the purchaser may select 

 slabs of five or six distinct tints, varying from nearly a pure white to a deep 

 purple; each slab being for the most part of one colour. This uniformity, 

 however, extending only to the length of a large tombstone and to the depth 

 of four or five inches, is due to the fine lamination of the beds, and the effect, 

 though evident to the depth of a few inches, disappears where the rock is 

 quarried for troughs or building purposes, when various tints and zones 

 occur in the same block, it is, however, essential to remark, that although 

 blotches of marl appear at intervals to certain depths, the rock is never spotted 

 red and green like many of the inferior sandstones, whether of the new or of 

 the old red systems. In the quarry atMucklow'sGrave,the upper flag-like beds 

 are underlaid by sandstone, which weathers to brownish yellow colours with 

 dark ferruginous stripes, marking the laminae of deposition, the edges of the 

 stone being sometimes worn into cavities. The thin way-boards are of green 

 and deep red colours, and they sometimes cover rippled surfaces of the rock, 

 on which are often raised, serpentine strings of sandy marl. Occasionally, 

 these assume the forms of Septaria, the fine sand penetrating irregularly in 

 minute and sinuous courses through the marly way-boards. In some instances, 

 these layers of clay appear to have been cracked before the sand was accu- 



