160 PROF. T. T. GROOM ON THE GEOLOGICAL [Feb. I9OO, 



beneath the limestone at a point north-north-west of Cowleigh Park 

 Farm ; the others are well shown on the road north-west of the 

 farm, where they were seen by Phillips. 1 They dip northward. 

 Regarded by Phillips as the base of the Wenlock Shale, they 

 yielded only a few imperfect fossils. 2 In view of this dearth 

 of fossils, it appears difficult at present to say whether these beds 

 represent the base of the Lower Ludlow Shale or the summit of 

 the Wenlock Shale. Mr. Wickham regards them as Wenlock : 

 in this case the fold would be a syncline, as represented in the 

 section (fig. 11, p. 157). 



Judging by the character of the soil, the Wenlock and Ludlow 

 beds are bounded on the north by a transverse fault running along 

 the depression occupied by Whippets Brook. It would appear 

 also from the character of the soil, and from fragments turned up 

 by the plough, that a small patch of purple sandstone, let into the 

 Wenlock beds, forms the eastern boundary of the middle Archaean 

 patch, but no exposure is seen. 



Of the rocks now exposed on the eastern side of the southernmost 

 of the Archaean patches, the nearest to the latter is a shattered rock, 

 which Phillips regarded as altered ' Caradoc ' (May Hill Sandstone), 

 though he correctly termed it a 'quartzite, or quartz-rock.' This 

 resembles no May Hill rock in the district ; on the other hand, it is 

 both macroscopically and microscopically identical with the Cambrian 

 quartzite of the Southern Malverns and of other parts of the 

 Midlands, and I have no hesitation in ascribing to it the same 

 age, in spite of the fact that it has hitherto afforded no fossils. 3 

 Phillips figures this quartzite as resting on the ' syenite,' but does 

 not state in the text that such is the case : the relations were pro- 

 bably inferred. The rock being now imperfectly exposed, its dip 

 cannot be determined; moreover, its junction with the Archaean is 

 not visible ; for the present, therefore, it must remain doubtful 

 whether the two rocks are separated by a fault, or not. 



Still farther east are seen brown May Hill Sandstones. These 

 are separated from the Wenlock and Ludlow beds by a transverse 

 fault, evidently noticed by Phillips, and represented in his section, 

 but no longer exposed. The brown sandstones contain, as Phillips 

 states (loc. supra cit.), numerous fucoids. Traces of May Hill 

 Sandstone are seen as far east as Cowleigh Park Farm. 



The structure shown is perhaps best explained on the hypothesis 

 of the overthrust of the Archaean rocks on to the overfolded May Hill 

 Sandstone, followed by the faulting down of overfolded beds to the 

 north-east (fig. 11, p. 157). The same hypothesis may account for 

 the position of the upper set of purple sandstones in the well at 



x Mem. Geol. Surv. vol. ii (1848) pt. i, p. 37. 



2 Namely, Phacops caudatus (?), Ortkis elegantula (?) , Bhynchonella sp., and 

 crinoids. 



3 Prof. Lapworth informs me that he recognized this Cambrian quartzite 

 some years ago. 



