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Geology. 271 



and entomology, and particularly for the light he has thrown upon the Miocene 

 Flora. 



Siratigraphical Geology. — Attention has been directed, particularly on the 

 Continent, to deposits which fill up gaps in the table of strata. England is no 

 longer considered as forming an epitome of the geology of the world, and yet 

 gaps are being filled up in it, rather than new unconformities made out. On the 

 Continent, the Tithonic stage of Stramberg forms in places a gradual passage 

 between the Neocomian and Jurassic strata, which elsewhere, as in Northern 

 Germany, Yorkshire, and Lincolnshire, are uncomformable. 



Some discussion has taken place in regard to the Punfield formation, named 

 by Mr. Judd. This he regarded as Neocomian, though still closely connected 

 with the Wealden, and, in fad, forming a transitional series of beds between 

 the two, though absolutely belonging to neither, and therefore worthy of a 

 distinct name. Mr. Meyer, who recently read a paper on the subject before 

 the Geological Society of London, repudiates the distinctive name, and includes 

 the Punfield beds in the lower Greensand. 



The Midford sands, so called by Prof. Phillips, occupy an intermediate 

 position between the Inferior Oolite and the Upper Lias clay, but for a long 

 time their true position was obscured by the appellation of either Upper Lias 

 sands, or sands of the Inferior Oolite, according to the formation to which the 

 writer inclined to consider them as more closely related. The term Midford 

 sands, therefore, removes a good deal of misunderstanding, and its adoption 

 will cause the neutral position of the beds to be better recognised. 



In the same way the discussions" as to whether the Rhastic or Penarth beds 

 of England belonged more closely to the Lias or the Keuper are rendered 

 needless, when both their stratigraphical and palaeontological features are 

 taken into account. It is now known that they present a gradual passage 

 between the two, and although but a feeble representative of the beds developed 

 on the Continent, they are yet a complete series in our country, and, as such, 

 link the Keuper and Oolitic rocks in one conformable series. 



It is becoming more evident that the sequence of beds which holds good in 

 one place requires some modification in another. Like sedimentary conditions 

 certainly did not always prevail over very large areas, while the organic 

 remains will vary in a measure according to the different physical conditions 

 which prevailed. Thus our Oolitic system varies greatly in its extension from 

 Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, through Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, to 

 Gloucestershire, Somersetshire,>nd Dorsetshire. The divisions of the North- 

 amptonshire Oolites have received a great deal of attention recently from 

 Mr. S. Sharp and Mr. J. W. Judd, and the former geologist has this year given 

 a second paper to the Geological Society of London on the subject. He showed 

 that the series of beds were as follows : — 



(Clay 

 Great Oolite -j Limestone 



( Upper Esturian Clays. 



(Lincolnshire Limestone (present only as a thin 

 T r . _ .. band in the north-east portion of the district.) 



Inferior Oolite n L Estuarine beds l M .. , - Q . 



„ . -c , \ Northampton Sand. 



\Feruginous Beds J r 



Upper Lias Clay. 



He considered that the great Oolite clay represented the Forest Marble and 

 the Bradford clay of the West of England ; that the Great Oolite limestone 

 was nearly equivalent to the Great Oolite of Bath and the Cotteswolds ; that 

 the Upper' Estuarine clays were identical with the Stonefield slate of Oxford- 

 shire; that the Lincolnshire limestone was nearly synchronous with the grey 

 limestone of Yorkshire (Inferior Oolite), and probably with the lower portion 

 of the Am. Humphriesiantis zone of the West of England, but extending a 

 little below this zone ; that the Lower Estuarine answered to the Lower Plant 

 Shale of Yorkshire, but had no representative in the west ; that the upper 

 portion of the ferruginous beds of the Northampton sand w 7 as nearly upon the 



