On the Pliocene Beds of St. Erth. 363 



those met with were merely small portions remaining of a larger- 

 mass which had been denuded away. 



2. " On the Basement-beds of the Inferior Oolite of Gloucester- 

 shire." By E. Witchell, Esq., F.G.S. 



The author observed that few papers have appeared lately on this 

 subject in the Quarterly Journal, and admitted that the work done 

 between 1847 and 1860 was of such excellent character that there 

 seemed to be but little left to do in the Cotteswolds. Still he con- 

 sidered, after twenty-five years of experience, that there is room for 

 another paper on the lower beds : — 



(1) Because the Pea Grit of Leckhampton is made to include 

 too much. 



(2) Because this use of the term has led to confusion. 



(3) Because the Pea Grit proper has a greater extension than 

 has hitherto been supposed. 



Thus has arisen the mistaken notion that the oolitic limestone 

 at Eroeester and Haresfield Hills is part of the freestone series above 

 the Pea Grit. The author proposed to call the beds underling 

 the Pea Grit the " Lower Limestone," and gave sections at Crickley 

 Hill and Euscombe, near Stroud, in explanation of his views. 



Summarizing the results — (1) the Pea Grit is well developed in 

 the Cheltenham area, thinning towards the south, is no more than 

 from three to five feet thick in the Stroud area, extending as far as 

 Uley Bury, where it occurs as a thin band, having lost its ferrugi- 

 nous aspect. (2) Underlying this are several beds of white oolitic 

 limestone, having layers of freestone alternating with layers of shelly 

 detritus, and locally small quartz-pebbles, thickness from 20 to 30 

 feet. Attention was especially drawn to the contrast which these 

 beds present, both lithologically and palaeontologically, to the Pea 

 Grit ; and to their poverty in entire organic remains, limited chiefly 

 to a few very small and peculiar Gasteropods. (3) Brown sandy 

 limestones, locally coarse ferruginous gritty beds from 5 to 9 feet, 

 fossiliferous in the lower portion. These are within the Opalinus- 

 zone, and repose directly on the Cephalopoda-beds. 



3. " On the Pliocene Beds of St. Erth." By Percy E. Kendall, 

 Esq., and Bobert G. Bell, Esq., E.G.S. 



This paper consisted of a description of the beds exposed at 

 St. Erth, a list of the Molluscan fossils identified, and some pre- 

 liminary considerations of the evidence afforded by the Mollusca, 

 and may be considered a continuation of that by the late Mr. S. V. 

 Wood, read to the Society in November 1884. 



The beds consist of sand and clay dipping about 5° to N.N.W. 

 The only important fossiliferous bed is a blue clay, and fossils have 

 only been obtained in one spot, though the beds have been traced 

 over an area of about 120 acres. The fossils are well preserved, 

 and with a few unimportant exceptions, are of invertebrate forms, 

 chiefly jMollusca, Polyzoa, Ostracoda, and Eoraminifera ; remains of 

 Crabs, Cirripedes, Echinoderms, Annelida, Sponges, and even of 



