70 Fuller' s-Earth in the [Jan., ' 



rubbly limestone or calcareous sandstone. Most of the limestones 

 are a lumachelle, some of them being entirely composed of Ostrea 

 acuminata cemented together.* 



Palasontological Features of the Typical Fuller' s-Earth. — The 

 Fuller 's-Earth does not possess a special fauna, and though regarded 

 usually sterile as to the number of species, yet it is characterized by 

 the profusion of Ostrea acuminata, Terebratula ornithocephala, and 

 Rhynchonella varians. Professor Kamsay t summarizes the species 

 of the Fuller 's-Earth as follows : — Echinodermata 1, Conchifera 17, 

 Brachiopoda 4. Total species 22, and remarks thereon : — " The 

 majority of the forms that passed upwards from the Inferior Oolite 

 limestone seem to have fled the muddy bottom of the Fuller's-Earth 

 sea, and to have returned to the same area when the later period of 

 the great oolite began .The Fuller's-Earth may be considered only 

 as a comparatively unfossiliferous and inconstant lower zone of the 

 Great Oolite." The inference stated in the first sentence of the 

 quotation is not consonant with facts ; for in the first place that 

 portion of the Inferior Oolite which has furnished the larger pro- 

 portion of Great Oolite species, and indicates similar conditions of 

 deposition, is that of lower freestone beds and pea grit of Chelten- 

 ham, which occupy the base of the Inferior Oolite,! and in the second 

 place, of the species common to the Inferior Oolite and Great Oolite, 

 those which appear in the later stages of the former formation, 

 occur also in the Fuller's-Earth. The second sentence of the above 

 quotation is no longer applicable, inasmuch as though the fauna of 

 the Fuller's-Earth is not exceedingly rich, yet far exceeds in number 

 the then catalogued species, and, as I shall endeavour to show, has 

 a greater affinity to the Inferior Oolite than to the Great Oolite. 



The number of species catalogued by me from the Fuller's-Earth 

 is 93, distributed in the following classes : — 



Zoantharia 3 



Annelida 4 



Echinodermata .. .. 10 



Brachiopoda 10 



Conchifera 52 



Gasteropoda 4 



Cephalopoda 10 



Total . . 93 



So that the Fuller's-Earth is not so barren in species as is 

 generally supposed. Of the 93 recorded species, two, Montlivaltia 

 tenuilamellosa and Belemnites parallelus, have not been found in 

 any other formation ; and respecting the range of Myacites Ter- 

 quemns, Buv, and Pholadomya truncata, Buckman, I have no 

 information ; 6 forms are at present undetermined, whilst the bulk 

 of the species, 81, occur in either the Inferior Oolite or Great Oolite, 

 or in both formations. 



* Hull, Mem. Geol. Surv., sheet 34, p. 11. 

 t Anniversary Address Geol. Soc, 1864. 



j See Lycett Cotteswold Club, vol. i., p. 71 et seq. ; and Wright, Q. J. G. S., 

 vol. xvi., p. 11, 



