On the Carboniferous Limestone of Oreton and Farlow. 243 



The paper was illustrated by a series of Specimens from the 

 Author's Collection. 



January 8, 1862.— Sir C. Lyell, F.G.S., in the Chair. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. " On the Carboniferous Limestone of Oreton and Farlow, Clee 

 Hills, Shropshire." By Professor John Morris, V.P.G.S., and 

 George E. Roberts, Esq. With a Note upon a new species of Pte- 

 richthys; by Sir P. de M. G. Egerton, Bart., M.P., F.G.S. 



The rocks described in this paper are a series of thin beds of 

 limestone and sandstone lying between the Old Red Sandstone of 

 South Shropshire and the Millstone Grit which forms the basement 

 of the Titterstone Clee Coal-field. 



In consequence of the opening of new quarries and the cutting of 

 a roadway through the Farlow ridge, transversely to the strike of 

 these deposits, the authors were enabled to add somewhat to the 

 description of the locality given in * The Silurian System.' The 

 series of deposits from the Old Red " cornstone," upwards, was 

 shown by them to be : — 1. Laminated yellow sandstones, with peb- 

 ble-beds and sands. 2. Bright-yellow sandstones containing Pteri- 

 chthys. 3. Brecciated yellow sandstones, pebble-beds, sandy layers, 

 and laminated sandstones. 4. Sandy and concretionary limestone. 



5. Grey oolitic limestones, containing palatal teeth of great size. 



6. Clays, with ferruginous bands. 7. Shaly Crinoidal limestones. 

 S. Clays with limestone-concretions, and shaly limestones. Against 

 the last-mentioned bed, the Millstone Grit rests unconformably. 



These beds thicken out at Oreton, a mile East of this Farlowsection, 

 and are there extensively worked for various economic purposes, the 

 oolitic limestones, locally termed " jumbles," being used for decora- 

 tive purposes under the name of Clee Hill marble. In describing 

 the physical conditions of the localities, mention was made of the 

 " mole river," which, losing itself at the West end of the ridge, takes 

 a subterranean course nearly parallel with its axis, and re-appears 

 at its lower end, a mile distant. An interesting fact was communi- 

 cated to the authors by the Rev. J. Williams of Farlow, of an acci- 

 dental accumulation in the hollow of its inlet, of a body of water 

 estimated at 1,635,000 cubic feet, the whole of which was carried 

 away in 48 hours by the sudden clearance of the channel. 



In describing the palaeontology of these rocks, the authors specially 

 drew attention to the fortunate discovery in the Yellow Sandstone 

 of Farlow, of Pterichthys macro cephalus (spec, nov., Egerton), made 

 while reducing the thickness of a large ripple-marked slab sent them 

 by Mr. Weaver Jones in illustration of the physical conditions of the 

 deposit. .This Pterichthys proving identical with the fragment pre- 

 viously found in the Farlow sandstone by Thomas Baxter, Esq,, 

 F.G.S., they attached to the paper a descriptive note on that fossil, 

 by Sir Philip Egerton, in which the Farlow Pterichthys was con- 

 trasted with that of Dura Den, and additional proof given of the 



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