Vol. 51.] THE BAJOCIAN OF THE MID-COTTESWOLDS. 421 



that the ' JNotgrove Freestone equivalent ' and the ' Gryphite-grit ' 

 had been deposited during the Witchellice hemera, contempo- 

 raneously with the lower part of the Sandford Lane ' Fossil Bed.' 

 Further, I stated on p. 495 in regard to that particular ' Fossil Bed' : — • 

 ' My own impression is that if the strata were more developed, it 

 would be seen that the species which lived during three hemerae are 

 contained in the ' Fossil Bed ' of Sandford Lane, (a) species of the 

 Sonninia propinquans-type ; (b) Witchellia and allies ; (c) species 

 of the ' Sonninia' fissilobata type.' This recent work in the 

 Cotteswolds, where the strata are so very much thicker than in 

 Dorset, has shown that such a surmise can be fully substantiated. 

 The bed now called Witchellia-grit, because it yields angust- 

 umbilicate Witchellice, lies several feet above the Gryphite-grit 

 which contains the Jissilobata-tyr>e of ammonite. The comparative 

 diagram on the opposite page (Table I.), showing the relative deve- 

 lopment of strata in Gloucestershire and in Dorset, will explain how 

 that which, on account of thinness of strata, could only be surmised 

 in the latter county, can be fully proved in the former, where the 

 deposits are so much thicker. 



In my former paper the middle and lower parts of the Sandford 

 Lane fossil-bed were considered to have been deposited during what 

 was called a Witchellice hemera, contemporaneously with the 

 Gryphite-grit of Leckhampton. Now greater precision can be 

 attained. The middle part of the Sandford Lane fossil-bed was 

 deposited contemporaneously with the Witchellia-grit at Cold 

 Comfort ; the lower part was deposited contemporaneously with the 

 Gryphite-grit of Leckhampton : between the two Cotteswold beds 

 lies the Notgrove Freestone. Therefore it is necessary to call the 

 time during which the upper deposits were laid down ' Witchellice 

 hemera,' and to the time during which the lower beds were accu- 

 mulated it will be advisable to give a new name, say, ' Sonninice 

 hemera.' Consequently, one will need to remember that the space of 

 time called Witchellice hemera in my former paper is now divided 

 into Witchellice hemera preceded by Sonninice hemera — but the 

 correlation of the deposits themselves remains practically the same. 

 The placing of the Notgrove Freestone in the later hemera is a 

 mere matter of convenience ; it ought to be divided between them. 



Table II. (see next page) will illustrate the correlation of the 

 Gloucestershire and Dorset strata according to the method described 

 above. It shows that from the cliscitce to the Witchellice hemerae 

 (inclusive) there was deposited in the Cotteswolds about 38 feet 1 of 

 strata, and in the Sherborne district only about 3 feet. The cor- 

 respondence in the faunal succession is remarkable, and the greater 

 accumulation of deposit in the Cotteswolds justifies the statement 

 that the acme of the Witchellice was very distinctly later than the 

 time when the ammonites of the fissilobata-ovalis type were in 

 existence. 



1 If the Witche/lia-grit had capped the Notgrove Freestone at Chedworth 

 Wood there would have been about 60 feet of strata (see infra, p. 425). 



