Yol. 69.] SERIES OF THE SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE COALFIELD. 437" 



Above these massive conglomerates other purple marls are found, 

 and the highest beds of -the series consist of alternations of coarse, 

 ashy, pebbly sandstones with thin bands of purple marl (see 

 pp. 438-39). 



West of Homer Hill these alternations disappear, and the upper 

 marls directly underlie the massive grey sandstones of the Hales- 

 owen Series, as may be seen in the cutting of the inclined tramway 

 from Oldenhall Colliery to The Hayes, and also at the foot of Ham 

 Dingle, near Pedmore. The clays worked in the large pit at The 

 Hayes, on the eastern flank of the rNetherton anticline, are asso- 

 ciated with massive conglomerates, and lie lower in the series than 

 the alternating beds above mentioned. I have had no opportunity 

 of examining the exposures at Wollescote. 



As in the case of the Etruria Marls of other Midland Coalfields, it 

 has hitherto been deemed well-nigh hopeless to search for fossils in 

 the Old-Hill Marls. I have, however, satisfaction in announcing 

 my discovery of some four horizons at which plant-remains occur, 

 and one of these contains also a scanty and diminutive fauna. 

 The plants are now under examination by Dr. E. A. N. Arber. 1 



IV. The Halesowen Sandstone Series. 

 Distribution and Exposures. 



The Halesowen Sandstones cover a strip of country 3 miles 

 wide, ranging from the eastern boundary-fault of the coalfield at 

 Quinton to the western boundary-fault near Pedmore, and lying 

 between Cradley and St. Kenelms. South of this area small inliers 

 appear on the flanks of the Lickey anticline at Ptubery. North- 

 wards small outliers are recorded by Murchison, near Kingswinford 

 and Lower Gornal, 2 and by the officers of the Geological Survey 

 at Daffodilly, near Great Barr. 3 Small exposures which I found at 

 Cakemore, Bowley Begis Station, and the Blackheath brickworks, 

 do not appear to have been recorded hitherto. The sandstones 

 capping High Haden Hill, and referred by Jukes 4 to this series, 

 are identified by me as belonging to the Old Hill Series. 



In the Quinton district the surface is covered with Glacial drift, 

 and exposures are few and insignificant. West of this, from 

 Mucklow Hill to Pedmore, owing to post-Glacial denudation, 

 magnificent exposures abound. Very noteworthy are the con- 

 secutive sections found in the valley of Illey Brook, and in the 

 canal- and railway-cuttings, the roadsides, and the quarries around 

 Halesowen. Still more noteworthy are the continuous sections 

 displayed in the ravines cut by the streams flowing towards 

 Cradley and Stourbridge. These descend the strike-face of the-- 

 sandstone escarpment from summit to base. 



1 For preliminary report, see Geol. Mag. dec. 5, vol. x (1913) pp. 215-16. 



2 ' The Silurian System ' 1839, p. 57. 



3 ' Sum. Progr. Geol. Surv. 1911 ' Mem. Geol. Surv. 1912, pp. 21-22. 

 * 'The S. Staffs. Coalfield' Mem. Geol. Surv. 2nd ed. (1859^ p. 28. 



