1870.] SHARP—NORTHAMPTONSHIRE OOLITES. 381 
Had not the limits necessarily of such a dissertation as this and 
of my own time forbidden, by extending my field some nine or ten 
miles: to the north and north-east of Northampton I might have 
added to my General Section another member, second only (if second) 
in importance to, and perhaps as full of interest as, the Northampton 
Sand itself. 
The great bed of limestone which marks the country about Stam- 
ford, and, traversing Rutland and West Lincolnshire, attains to its 
greatest development in the last, and which abounds in charac- 
teristic fossil forms of the Inferior Oolite, approaches Northampton 
on the north to a little south of Harrington, and on the north-east 
to the neighbourhood of Kettering, and is seen no more in the direc- 
tion of Northampton or in the southern districts of the county. 
During the last summer, I had the privilege of visiting, with Pro- 
fessor Ramsay, Mr. Etheridge, Mr. Judd, and Mr. Howell, a quarry 
in this limestone at Glendon Wood, near Kettering ; whence, on 
that occasion, were obtained Pygaster semisulcatus, Natica leckhamp- 
tonensis, Nerinea cingenda, Serpula socialis, Pholadomya fidicula, 
Ceromya bajociana, Lima (large new species occurring also in the 
ironstone), Cardium cognatum, Trigonia hemispherica, Gervillia 
acuta, Pinna cuneata, and other fossils, sufficiently pointing to the 
Inferior Oolite as the formation to which this bed is to be assigned. 
The position of this limestone, with reference to the Northampton 
Sand, appeared to be indicated by the neighbouring Glendon cutting 
of the Midland Railway in that sand, but had already been deter- 
mined conclusively, as I believe, by Mr. Judd. 
The place of this limestone of the Inferior Oolite, in reference to 
my General Section, is above C and below B, at XX, in the line of 
unconformity (see fig. 5)—thus marking the range upwards of the 
Inferior Oolite in this Midland district, establishing the line of de- 
marcation between the Great Oolite and the Inferior Oolite in the 
neighbourhood of Northampton, and representing a period of marine 
as intervening between two periods of variable estuarine conditions. 
I mention this fact incidentally only, as having but a secondary 
bearing upon the subject proper of my present Memoir. Should it 
ever be my lot to complete the scheme set forth in my Introduction, 
I shall go fully and carefully into an examination of this limestone, 
and into the question of its position with regard to higher beds. 
In conclusion, I wish to acknowledge and to tender my thanks 
for the aid and information which I have derived from many geo- 
logists, naming especially Professor Morris (who first inoculated 
me with a love for geology, from whom I derived my initiatory 
knowledge, and, during many a pleasant excursion, much subse- 
quent information), Professor Ramsay, Mr. Etheridge (who has 
kindly identified the majority of my local fossils), Mr. Judd (who 
has given me much assistance and original information), Dr. Lycett, 
Mr. H. Woodward, Mr. Carruthers, Dr. Hall, Mr. Davies (British 
Museum), and, lastly, but particularly, Dr. Wright, who has done 
me the great favour of writing an account of my new starfish, as a 
fitting accompaniment (as he kindly deems it) of this my maiden 
contribution to this Society. 
