IN THE ANGLO-PARIS BASIN 63 



the Childrey section (1947a ; 169) and I have been kindly allowed to re-examine them. 

 They are, as identified by Mr. Wright, a specimen of Dimorphopiites biplicatus 

 (C.W.W., 9762) and a specimen of D. glaber (C.W.W., 9761). Together they 

 indicate an horizon somewhere between the base of the meandrinus and the top of the 

 daviesi Subzones. 



Nine miles ENE. of the Childrey brickyard is the famous section at Culham (Oxon). 

 This pit situated approximately 200 yds. N. of the River Thames, 425 yds. E. of the 

 road bridge over Culham Cut and 700 yds. SSW. of Culham College, Culham, Oxon 

 (SU 51159487) was in work from the middle of the last century until the late 1940*5. 

 It has been described by Phillips (i860 ; 548-550, 1871 ; 426-428), Jukes-Browne 

 (1900 ; 268-9, 1908 ; 13-14), Osborne-White (1904 ; 300-304), Treacher (1908 ; 

 548-550) Pringle (1926 ; 101-2), and Arkell (1947a ; 169-170). Osborne- White's 

 account paved the way for the more detailed description given by Pringle, but the 

 section is now badly degraded and overgrown and it is not possible to confirm or deny 

 Pringle's subzonal grouping repeated by Spath (1943 ; 745-6). Neither is it possible 

 to make a direct comparison with the sequence at Badbury Wick. From the list of 

 fossils collected by Osborne- White (Jukes-Browne & Osborne-White 1908 ; 14) from 

 Bed 3 (= Bed 1 of Pringle 1926) it seemed possible that either the mammillatum Zone 

 was present or possibly the eodentatus Subzone. Douvilleiceras does range up into the 

 lyelli Subzone but is rare in that Subzone in England except at Shere. Casey, 

 who has revised the identification of the ammonites, is in favour of a basal dentatus 

 Zone age (1961a ; 565), and it is significant that Osborne-White records ' Hoplites 

 interruptus ' just above Bed 2 (1904 ; 304). Beds 2 and 3 of Pringle were classified 

 by him with the ' benettianus Subzone ', and Beds 4 and 5 with the spathi Subzone. 

 From the ammonites preserved in the various collections it is apparent that both the 

 lyelli & spathi Subzones are present. 



It is interesting to note that in the remnant of Gault formerly exposed at the 

 abandoned Chawley Brickyard, Hurst Hill (SP 47550420), Cumnor, Pringle (1926 ; 

 98, 103) recorded ammonites which he considered to be characteristic of Bed 4 at 

 Culham. This section was situated 7 miles NNW. of Culham and has also been 

 discussed by Arkell (in Richardson, Arkell & Dines 1946 ; 104). If the equivalents of 

 Beds 1 to 3 are truly absent in this outlier, this is of some palaeogeographic significance. 



The only other useful information yielded by this area is provided by two borings, 

 Nos 6 and 21, drilled for the new Central Electricity Generating Board Didcot Power 

 Station (SU 51289174 & 51339194 respectively). Together, the fragments of these 

 two cores show the following features in the sequence. The orbignyi Subzone is in a 

 Gault facies, indicated in Boring No. 21 by a fragment of core containing Inoceramus 

 sulcatus preserved in mid-grey micaceous silty clay with lighter coloured burrows 

 from a height of 122 feet 6 inches (37-34 m.) above the base of the Gault. The 

 intermedins Subzone is also present at a height of 68 feet (2073 m.) above the base of 

 the Gault in Boring No. 6 where the core yielded a crushed specimen of Anahoplites 

 praecox preserved with a pyrite-replaced shell in silty brownish grey clay (cf. Bed 

 8 ii at Caen Hill, Devizes, p. 60). Boring No. 21 shows that the spathi Subzone with 

 Hoplites (H.) spp. is certainly present in the sequence between 42 feet 6 inches and 

 17 feet 6 inches (12-95-5-33 m.) above the base of the Gault. The pieces of core 



