Tol. 51.] IN THE ' PERMIAN ' ROCKS OK WTRE FOREST. 531 



At Bullock's Farm, near Spon Lane, a pit was sunk through them 

 for 700 feet, probably beginning in beds below the lowest of the 

 conglomerates ; that is, in beds corresponding to No. 1 of the Clent 

 section. The following is an abstract of the upper part of the 

 section : — 



feet, inches. 



1. Red Sandstones and Marls 169 



2. Fireclay 3 



3. White Binds 12 



4. Coal 10 



5. Fireclay 3 8 



6. Red Sandstones and Marls 511 6 



700 



Below these followed ordinary Coal Measures, probably of the 

 Middle division. The fireclays and coal passed through in this pit 

 were essentially similar to those of the ordinary Coal Measures. 

 We have here then a case of coal and fireclay occurring in 

 the midst of a thick series of red rocks. From the red 

 sandstones below the coal, casts of plants resembling Sigillaria 

 were obtained. 1 Jukes considered this a true Permian coal, and 

 not that the beds containing it were red Coal Measures. Prof. Hull, 

 however, inclined to the opinion that they were Coal Measures. 2 



In 1870 the Sandwell Park sinking, 3 which passed through these 

 red rocks to the thick coal, was commenced. The first 575 feet 

 were in red and purple sandstones and marls ; in these, at a depth 

 of 369 feet, was a band of Spirorbis-limestone, 12 inches thick, 

 containing Spirorbis pusillus. We have here a Spirorbis-limestone 

 band amidst a series of red rocks at a distance of more than 200 feet 

 above ordinary Coal Measures. This is a very noteworthy fact, for 

 since the sinking at Sandwell a Spirorbis-limestone band has been 

 observed cropping out in several places on the southern edge of the 

 coalfield, about 50 feet below the lowest of the red rocks, and 

 associated with blue and yellow clays and flags, and orange and 

 olive sandstones and grits. It is, therefore, highly probable that 

 the Sandwell Spirorbis-b&nd and that of the outcrop on the southern 

 margin of the coalfield are different bands, especially when we 

 consider that at Sandwell there are only about 670 feet of rocks 

 between the thick coal and the base of the red rocks, while in 

 the Hales Owen district there are probably not less than 900 feet of 

 strata 4 between the same horizons ; and it is, therefore, quite pos- 

 sible that the Spirorbis-b&nd found at Sandwell may be very much 

 higher than that seen at the outcrop near Hales Owen — this latter 



1 Jukes, ' South Staffordshire Coalfield,' 2nd ed. p. 12. 



2 Hull, ' Triassic and Permian Rocks of the Midland Counties of England,' 

 Mem. Geol. Surv. 1869, p. 12. 



3 See H. Johnson, Brit. Assoc. Rep. (Birmingham) 1886, pp. 636-638; also 

 « Colliery Guardian,' April 7th, 1893. 



* Jukes, op. supra cit. pp. 28 & 29. 



