﻿To]. 6 1.] KHiETTC ROCKS OF MONMOUTHSH1EE. 375 



here of Lias and Red Marl, but remarked that the section ' is now 

 almost entirely concealed by a high sea-wall erected in front of it.' l 

 In a paper communicated to the British Association, 2 and again 

 in his ' Note-Book of an Amateur Geologist,' 3 J. E. Lee drew 

 attention to the occurrence of a bone-bed in the Keuper Marls ; 

 but apparently it did not occur to him that the fact was of any 

 interest, for it was not until 1888 that it was remarked by 

 Mr. Horace B. Woodward, F.R.S., that Lee had 



' omitted to point out that the Bone-Bed there occurs beneath 3 feet of tbe 

 greenish-grey marls, which are thus shown to be intimately linked with the 

 Avicula contort a-Shales above/ i 



In a recent memoir published by the Geological Survey, Mr. A. 

 Strahan, E.R.S., has given some interesting and valuable details 

 concerning the junction of the Kinetic and Keuper, and commented 

 upon the fact that 



'the base of the Rhsetic is conspicuous and sharply defined, and the green 

 marls below it exhibit the cuboidal weathering so commonly seen in the 

 Keuper. The occurrence in them, however, of a "bone-bed" is quite 

 exceptional.' 5 



It will be observed from the foregoing quotations that, although 

 certain details concerning both the Rhsetic and the Lower Lias have 

 been recorded, the description nevertheless remained very incom- 

 plete, as nothing was known about the middle portion of the series. 

 Therefore it was fortunate, when I visited the section, to find that 

 a breach in the wall was being repaired, and that the sequence of 

 deposits, from about where Mr. Strahan's record ended, up to the 

 Lower Liassic beds, was visible. Mr. Strahan gave details of the 

 deposits up to, and inclusive of, that numbered 15 in the present 

 record : but, when the writer visited the locality, that bed, according 

 to the foreman, had just been hidden by the masonry. Many pieces, 

 however, were lying about, so that the rock could be examined for 

 fossils. Owing to the interest which is attached to this section, the 

 complete record is appended (PI. XXXII). 



Concerning the Low er Li as no particular comment is necessary ; 

 the faunal and lithic characters of the beds are similar to the 

 equivalent beds at Sedbury Cliff— indeed, they correspond almost 

 bed for bed. According to a detailed record of the Lower Liassic 

 beds in the Sedbury-Cliff section that I made, the first appear- 

 ance of Psiloceras planorbis was in the deposit corresponding to 

 the stratum which should come immediately above the deposit 

 numbered 1 in the section accompanying this paper (PI. XXXII). 



As the ground at Goldcliff rises somewhat away from the sea-wall, 



1 Trans. Geol. Soc. ser. 2, vol. i (1824) p. 305. 



2 Eep. Brit. Assoc. (Brighton) 1872, Trans. Sections, p. 116. 



3 London, 1881, p. 72 & pis. clxxi-clxxii. 



4 Proc. Geol. Assoc, vol. x (1888) p. 538. 



5 Mem. Geol. Surv. ' The Geology of the South-Wales Coalfield pt. i : 

 1 The Country around Newport, Monmouthshire ' 1899, p. 75. 



