C. LAP WORTH ON THE MOFFAT SERIES. 271 



peculiar white-clay seams, and affording some characteristic fossils. 

 In the main section the grits of the district are seen to repose, at 

 an angle of about 60°, upon the grey and white-lined shales of the R.- 

 maximus zone. The component beds of this zone are by no means so 

 satisfactorily exhibited as in Thirlstane Syke ; but the characteristic 

 fossils are abundant. Its strata lie in their natural order upon an 

 excellent section of the dark and pale shales of the zone of M. spini- 

 gerus. Here we recognize immediately the peculiar black pyritous 

 mudstones, with their beautifully preserved examples o£M.spinigerus, 

 M. Hisingeri, &c, and the accompanying grey and yellow sandy 

 shales with their strange reticulations, so strikingly characteristic 

 of the zone at Dobb's Linn. 



Below the M.-spinigerus seams the shales are much contorted; but, 

 running as a continuous bed among them, zigzag fashion, we notice 

 with much interest the extraordinary " Clingani " band of our typi- 

 cal section. It is here nearly a foot in thickness, and is crowded 

 with well-preserved examples of Monograptus Clingani (Carr.) and 

 M. leptotheca (Lapw.). These Upper Birkhill beds are faulted im- 

 mediately against the " Barren-Mudstone " zone of the Upper Hart- 

 fell Shales, the whole of the Lower Birkhill beds being missing from 

 this spot. The " Barren Mudstone " reposes in its natural order upon 

 a distorted mass of the slaty black shales of the Lower Hartfell 

 group. The highest or Pleurograptus zone of the latter is remark- 

 ably conspicuous, being repeated again and again in the section. It 

 yields a few of the characteristic fossils, and shows many of the soft 

 white sandy mudstones, which are here much thicker than at Dobb's 

 Linn. 



The inferior D. -Clingani and C.-Wilsoni zones occur in the abrupt 

 arches below. Their beds are almost destitute of fossils ; the chief 

 forms obtainable are Dicranog vastus rarnosus (Hall), Dicellograptus 

 Forchhammeri (Gein.), Diplograptus foliaceus (Murch.), Corynoides 

 calycularis (Nich.), &c, an association sufficient to place beyond 

 doubt our determination of their place in the succession. 



They are faulted at their southern termination against a long- 

 convoluted sheet of the " Barren Mudstone," which is very indiffer- 

 ently shown in the bed of the stream. This is followed by a portion 

 of the D.-vesiculosus band of the Lower Birkhill group, dipping to the 

 south and overlain by a fragment of the variegated M.-gregarius zone 

 with Monograptus gregarius, M. lobiferus, &c. The latter is finally 

 faulted abruptly against the neighbouring greywackes. 



EarVs Hill. — From the Moory Syke the black-shale band passes 

 to the south-westward over the crest of Earl's Hill. In the deep 

 notch in the ridge a good exposure of its beds may be examined. 

 The faulting and contortion so conspicuous in the preceding section 

 are here continued and greatly intensified. The central beds of the 

 M.-gregarius zone are visible to the right, marked by the presence of 

 M. lobiferus (M'Coy) and M. tenuis (Portl.). They are faulted 

 against the white-banded zone of Pleurograptus linearis, w T hich in 

 the floor of the score yields good examples of its most characteristic 

 fossil forms, Pleurograptus linearis (Carr.), Amphigraptus divergens 



