74 



POSSIL ESTHERI^. 



Gloucestershire, the Jvicula contorta zone, and the Bone-bed ; so that, were the 'White Lias ' 

 to be considered to represent a distinct formation, not less than four geological eras would 

 be exhibited in one section of about thirty feet in depth. 



" A thin band of conglomerate, one and a half inch thick, of precisely the same aspect, 

 and the same age, is present in the Uphill railway-cutting, near Bristol." 



Mr. C. Moore has lent me three specimens containing Bstheria from the Vallis. One 

 is a fragment of hard calcareous conglomerate, consisting of brecciated limestone (moun- 

 tain-limestone ?), small, oval, rounded pebbles of similar dark-coloured limestone, and a 

 cream-coloured calcareo- argillaceous matrix, in which, besides a cast of Cardium (obscure), 

 are some ill-preserved but distinct specimens of Estheria mimcta, var. Brodieana, pre- 

 serving, in some degree, their convexity. The other two specimens are pieces of a light- 

 grey, laminated, calcareo-argillaceous stratum, slightly micaceous, with minute, dark, 

 vegetable (?) specks, and rare scattered individuals of the same Estheria, convex and 

 well preserved (PL II, fig. 8, is taken ^from one of these specimens). These EstJieriae 

 from Frome are rather larger than those of Westbury and Wainlode. 



I 



Fig. 4. — Section in the Vallis, near Frome, SomersetsMre. 



U)S?:^^?^;y^■^AVv^■;^S^';^j■^^ Oolite (12 ft.), with conglomerate towards the base. 



Clay with limestone-bands (1 foot). Estheria, Plants, Insects. 



iiil^!^^^|^^fe^^^^^B ...Grey conglomerate (4 inches). Estheria, Cardiu7n{l), &c. 



H...Blue clay (4 inches). No fossils. 

 ' '«. - . 



'a: 



'{...Siliceous conglomerate (2 feet). Fish-teeth and scales (rare). 



l...Blue clay (4 inches). Avicula contorta. Fish-remains, &c. 



..Mountain-limestone (15 feet seen). Dip 35° 



IV. Morayshire. — In the Rhsetic formation are included the fossiliferous shales, lying 

 on the " cornstone " and Triassic (?) sandstone, at Linksfield, near Elgin, in Scotland. 



In these beds also occurs the same variety of Estheria minuta as that which we find 

 in Gloucestershire and near Frome ; but it is somewhat larger than those of Wainlode 

 and Westbury, and of a squarer and more symmetrical form ; and occasionally it is less 

 strict in its pattern of superficial ornament than is usual in either Estheria minuta or the 

 var. Brodieana. (See PI. II, fig. II, and PI. V, fig. 10.) 



