1850.] BRODIE ON THE INFERIOR OOLITE. 243 



lowest of which exposed are composed of freestone with irregular 

 shelly bands as at Leckhampton : but I could not positively decide 

 whether there was here or at Painswick a thickness of forty feet of 

 rock containing shells, more or less perfect, at the base of the free- 

 stone, which is a distinctive feature in the Leckhampton section 

 (p. 242). This is overlaid by the oolite marl with many NerincBce 

 and other shells, somewhat reduced in bulk, which, in its turn, is suc- 

 ceeded by a flaggy, bastard freestone, identical with No. 4 of the Sec- 

 tion, p. 242, near Cheltenham. The above constitute the lower 

 quarries ; the Pisolite (if present) and lias are not visible, the sides of 

 the hill being covered with grass. The upper quarries consist of a 

 coarse kind of freestone, about fifty feet thick, clearly representing the 

 series at Leckhampton which intervene between the bastard freestone 

 (No. 4) and the Trigonia grit (No. 1). It is a shelly, calcareous, 

 marly oolite, though more sandy above, where it is traversed by thin 

 layers of carbonized vegetable matter, and yields many small Cidares 

 with attached spines and teeth, stems of Pentacrinites, Terebratula, 

 and a species of Pollicipes, apparently the same as the " P. ooliticus'^ 

 from the Stonesfield slate. A thin, flaggy, oolitic rag forms the top 

 of the quarry, the superior strata being concealed until near the sum- 

 mit of the hill, which is capped by the Trigonia grit, harder and 

 more crystalline than its equivalent near Cheltenham, which is its 

 prevailing character in this neighbourhood. It contains Area, Mya- 

 cites, Trigonia costata, Avicula, and Trichites, one of the thick fibrous 

 shells allied to Perna and Inoceramus, The Gryphite grit and rubbly 

 oolite are most likely wanting, and their place is occupied by the 

 strata above described. I was unable to determine the relative thick- 

 ness of the inferior oolite in detail, either here or at Painswick ; but 

 on the whole, the oolite marl and freestone are thinner than at Leck- 

 hampton. I am informed by Mr. Lycett, that the shelly freestone 

 has its representative in one or two places at least in this part of 

 Gloucestershire, being far beneath the building-stone, and imme- 

 diately above the lower rag (Ammonite and Belemnite bed), which, 

 near Cheltenham, is represented by the ferruginous oolitic stone 

 below the Pisolite, containing many Belemnites (No. 7 of Section). 

 The sanrls and sandy marls beneath, often passing insensibly* into 

 the lias, may be seen at Leckhampton and Crickley occupying a 

 similar position, and reposing immediately upon the subjacent 

 lias. The beds above the lower rag vary very much, being hardly 

 alike in any two places, sometimes occurring as shelly freestone, or 

 barren bastard freestone, more or less fossiliferous. The upper stra- 

 tum on Frocester Hill, a few miles south-west of Stroud, and eleven 

 south of Gloucester, is composed of fine-grained oolite with few fos- 

 sils, the chief of which are corals, and these not abundant. It evi- 

 dently occupies the position of the Cheltenham freestone, though 

 differing to a certain extent. The more shelly portions seem to be 

 absent, or at any rate deficient in those peculiar and remarkable charac- 

 teristics observable at Leckhampton. On the north-eastern escarp- 



* This must be an exception to the general rule, for in most other instances in 

 the Cotswolds, the transition from the oolite to the lias is abrupt and decided. 



