Vol. 69.] SERIES OF THE SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE COALFIELD. 443 



Manager of Witley Colliery, and a miner from that pit. The 

 miner pointed out a spot where he had seen the coal proved. It 

 was here 2 feet thick, ' with light-blue clay above and stiff blue 

 clay below.' Other places where the coal had been exposed were 

 also indicated. Spirorbis Limestone occurs in this clay near the 

 colliery. 



From Witley Lodge the outcrop appears to run on the south side 

 of the road into Halesowen. No exposure is now seen, but a 

 Halesowen resident kindly pointed out to me a grass-grown ex- 

 cavation above Queen Street, as the site of a former brickworks 

 where the clay was burnt with coal from a 3-foot seam found in 

 the clay-pit. 



There is also reason to believe that coal underlies the town of 

 Halesowen from this point eastwards to the churchyard, since it has 

 been proved in sewerage excavations in the streets of this locality. 

 The churchyard is certainly situated on yellow (or blue) clays, in 

 which indications of the presence of coal are found. 



South of the churchyard is a broad hollow which appears to 

 have been once excavated somewhat extensively, but now shows 

 only a clayey surface. This may well have been the site of the 

 * coalworks ' mentioned by Murchison. 



At this point the beds bend somewhat sharply south-eastwards, 

 as the next exposure is in the bed of the Eiver Stour, and clays are 

 seen in an adjoining lane to pass under pale-brown sandstones 

 dipping south-eastwards. This is the lowest point of the outcrop. 



A thin covering of clay occurs at ' The Mount,' and clay dips 

 into the steep ascent of the Eromsgrove road below ' The Grange.' 

 On the eastern side of Illey Brook, clay is found along the 

 railway, and in the banks of the canal, where coaly traces have 

 also been seen. The beds are here rising at about 40° towards the 

 Eussell's-Hall Fault, by which they appear to be cut off, as they 

 occur in a different position in the ground beyond. 



East of The Leasowes, clays are well developed near the 600-foot 

 contour-line, and beds above that level show fragments of coal in 

 every rabbit-burrow and mole-heap. An outcrop of coal was 

 mapped at this point by Jukes. Still farther east blue clays are 

 exposed in Spies Lane, and shallow coal-mines were formerly 

 worked at Moor Street. North of Mucklow Hill, pale-blue clays 

 were formerly made into drain-pipes and tiles at the Eellevue 

 Eotteries, and it may, therefore, be inferred that the beds underlie 

 the Glacial drift which occurs upon the higher ground. A fault is 

 visible immediately north of the last-named exposure, and no 

 further indication of the presence of the beds is found between 

 this point and the brickworks at Blackheath, where a 1-foot coal 

 is seen, associated with bluish clay from which Dr. Walcot Gibson 

 obtained Spirorbis Limestone exhibiting the characteristic fossil. 



It is, then, possible to trace p%Le-blue clays, which are associated 

 with a- variable but persistent seam of coal and with earthy 

 Spirorbis Limestone, from the western boundary-fault to the eastern 

 borders of the district. A definite horizon is thus established in 



