BRODIE AND BUCKMAN ON THE COTTESWOLD HILLS. 223 



Numerous fossils have been obtained from this quarry, and the 

 most perfect remains of plants have been found. These, as far as 

 can be ascertained at present, consist of Coniferce (two species, one 

 of which greatly resembles the Thenytes, if it be not a new spe- 

 cies); PalmcB ; Cicadece; Liliacece; and two species of ferns; besides 

 leaves of plants of too anomalous a kind to be determined. Stems 

 of trees, much broken, occur in considerable quantity. Silicified 

 wood of a coniferous tree has also been obtained from the above 

 quarry. The third quarry exhibits little difference, except in the 

 better marked subdivisions of the overlying beds, but the wing 

 cases of beetles, and sauroid and fishes' teeth, are more frequent. 



The next place at which the Stonesfield slate is worked seems 

 to have been laid bare by a fault. It is about half a mile from 

 Brockhampton Hill (see section above), and appears in a valley 

 surrounded on all sides by hills which are capped with inferior 

 beds. From this spot the beds of Stonesfield slate run in a N.W. 

 direction ; and at Kyneton Thorns and Eyeford are many quarries 

 from which the slates are extracted for roofing.* The following 

 is the sequence exhibited at one of the best quarries : — 



3. Rubble and superficial detritus - - - - 3 to 4 feet. 



2. Ragstone, not very fissile - - - - - -13 „ 



1. Stonesfield slate, a compact sandy stone, very fissile, especially after"! 



exposure to frost - - - - J " 



A new species of Asterias, and a species, also new, of Pollicipes, 

 were found beautifully preserved in the quarries at Eyeford. 

 Belemnites canaliculatus and B. fleuriansus, some remains of 

 plants, the teeth and palates of fishes, and a tooth of Megalosaurus, 

 have all been obtained from this locality. 



Section. No. 2. 



N.W. S.E. 



(For a description of the strata, see Section No. 1.) 



The eastern edge of the Stonesfield slate of the Cottes wolds ex- 

 hibits the ragstone much thicker, and of a coarser kind. The 

 quarry at Upper Swill, near Stow on the Wold, seems to show 



* From one quarry alone 120,000 roofing slates are obtained in the course of 

 a season. The work is thus conducted : — At the latter end of the year a 

 quantity of stone is raised from the quarry, and spread over the surface of the 

 ground. Being thus exposed, it loses the bluish tint presented when first quar- 

 ried, and becomes light-coloured ; this change, the result of weathering, ren- 

 dering the slate more readily separable into tiles. The best tiles are said to be 

 made from the middle of the beds. 



