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



These last-menlioned beds lie near the turnpike-gate, west of the town of 

 Bromsgrove, the whole mass dipping westerly. They are succeeded, on the 

 opposite side of the valley in which the town stands, by distinct courses of deep, 

 red, soft sandstone, which in their turn are underlaid by strata, containing ir- 

 regular concretions of impure limestone or cornstone. The further consider- 

 ation of these lower beds, in Worcestershire, would carry us beyond the limits 

 of this memoir; and as they have been already described, at some length, by 

 one of the authors, and proved to be the equivalents of the Dolomitic Con- 

 glomerate and Lower New Red Sandstone,* and that the latter passes down 

 conformably into the coal-measures, they are now merely cited to corroborate 

 the inference, that the overlying red sandstone of Bromsgrove, including the 

 light-coloured rock, with plants, constitutes the true equivalent of the Bunter 

 Sandsteinf. (Plate XXVII., fig. 5.) 



Sandstone of Waricick. 



We now proceed to show, that the sandstone of Warwick occupies the same 

 geological position as that of Ombersley and Bromsgrove. In approach- 

 ing Warwick from the west or south-west, this peculiar rock rises suddenly 

 from beneath the red marl. It extends for several miles to the north-east, 

 and is quarried at Warwick, Guy's Cliff, Leek Wootton, Blakedon Hill, Lea- 

 mington, Bubenhall, and other places. Its strike appears to be from north- 

 east to south-west ; while its abrupt termination at Warwick may perhaps be 

 due to a fault ranging in a northerly direction to the west of Kenilworth. It is 

 probable that the upcast which has thus raised the sandstone above the marls on 

 the west, has given the more or less dome-shaped structure to the hill on which 



* See The Silurian System, p. 46, et seq. 



f Passing over these lower rocks, and also those of much higher antiquity, which constitute the 

 Lickey, we again meet with a fine section of whitish sandstone rock at the " Sandhills" near Alve- 

 church, the dip being reversed, to the N.N.W. The section of these quarries consists, in descend- 

 ing order, of 



a. Red loam and marl 6 to 8 feet. 



b. Thin, flag-like sandstone and marl alternating 10 to 12 



c. Solid, whitish sandstone, of a delicate green tinge, void of wayboards, soft under the ham- 



mer, and working into any form. Lines of bedding partially indicated by flakes of dark 

 mica, so that when cut and smoothed, the undulations of the dark-coloured material 

 appear through the light-coloured ground; thus producing the appearance so well 

 known in the Cipollino marble. In other parts, the mass is freckled with small dark 

 spots (manganese ?), which, when the stone is rubbed down, give it a warm brown tinge. 

 We could detect no plants or organic remains in this beautiful sandstone. It is perhaps, 

 therefore, not precisely of the same age as that of Bromesgrove and Ombersley, but a 

 repetition of analogous strata rather lower in the series. 



