246 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Jail. 9, 



tinuously within the hmits of the coralline zone, the same fauna might 

 be found as that close to the shore ; consequently any inference of 

 neighbouring land, where no vei*y precise facts indicating its proxi- 

 mity are present, must be drawn within considerable hmits." 



These observations also tend to connect the upper and lower oohtes 

 more intimately together ; and it is not unlikely that future iuTCstiga- 

 tions will corroborate this opinion. It is well known, that many genera 

 and species, which had been long considered to be hmited to par- 

 ticular groups of strata, are now found to have a far wider range *, 

 and it may be ultimately necessary, in accordance with this, to remove 

 or modify certain divisions or subdivisions, as being in some measure 

 arbitrary and conjectural. 



The inferior oolite and lias exercise an important influence on the 

 physical geography of Gloucestershire ; the wearing away of the 

 shales in the latter has effected a gradual descent to the wide plain 

 below, and the whole of the Cotswold range commands fine views 

 over the adjacent valley. This extensive vale is hmited by many na- 

 tural boundaries, not only where the Cotswold escarpments form an 

 unbroken line of bold promontories, but by the distant syenitic axis 

 of the jMalverns on the north-west, the May Hill anticlinal, and the 

 further prolongation of the Silurian system at Huntley and Longhope 

 on the west. And we are thus forcibly reminded of that compara- 

 tively recent epoch, when the estuary of the Severn extended to the 

 base of these hills, of which we have at least one decisive proof in the 

 occurrence of several marine plants still hving in the neighbourhood'!*, 

 although it is singular that it has left few other traces of its fonner 

 existence. In other places the inferior oolite has been subjected to 

 local disturbances and dislocations, and consequently is divided into 

 numerous transverse gorges, which present some of the most pic- 

 turesque scenery in the county, especially near Stroud, Woodchester, 

 and Rodborough, where the hills are well-wooded, and diversified by 

 rugged declivities and gentle undulations. 



The following list of shells from the freestone is of course at pre- 

 sent very incomplete ; and as there is a great deal yet to be done in 

 the oohtes of Gloucestershire, especially by a comparison of the shells 

 in the upper and lower divisions, I wish it to be clearly understood, 

 that the above remarks and accompanying table of fossils, although 

 founded upon recent discoveries, are only so far conditional, and may 

 require considerable additions and alterations when further researches 

 have been made. A few have been named by Mr. Morris, but the 

 identification of the greater number rests upon the authority of Mr. 

 Lycett, to whom I am indebted for this important service. My 



* Thus in the lower strata of the inferior oohte near Ilminster, I detected the 

 same species of Spirifer, so frequent in the marlstone below, whilst the upper lias 

 contains a few species hitherto supposed to be peculiar to the inferior oohte. The 

 upper lias of that district also affords two species oi Lepteena. At Bath, again, the 

 Avicula inceguivalvis is common to the inferior oohte and marlstone (Lyell's Ele- 

 ments, 2nd ed. vol.ii. p. 59), and many other examples of the same sort might be 

 cited. 



t Professor Buckman has lately pubhshed an interesting pamphlet upon this 

 subject, entitled, " The Ancient Straits of Malvern." 



