62 



LOWER LIAS. 



limestone, locally called Whetstones, and separated by intermediate shales; then in descending 

 order come the beds known as Grey Burr, Rotten Burr, Fire-stones, Cliff-ledge, Half-foot, 

 One-foot, Red Size, and Anvil-ledge, all separated by thin bands of shale ; on the 

 surface of the limestones, and in the shales are many fossils, among which Ostrea liassica 

 forms the dominant shell. The shale above Anvil-ledge contains great numbers of 

 PuUastra arenicola, Strickland, apparently indicating a change of condition in the series of 

 beds which lie below this fossil band. The beds from the Whetstones to the Pullastra shales 

 represent the Ostrea series, and from the circumstance of the exposed edges of the rocks 

 having weathered into a cream colour, they form the upper portion of the White Lias. The 

 lower portion of this formation differs both lithologically and palaeontologically from the upper 

 portion ; it is a compact, earthy limestone, with conchoidal fracture, cream-coloured, and 

 close-grained ; many of the beds are so fine that they might be used as lithographic 

 stone. Beneath Anvil-ledge are three feet of light-coloured, rubbly beds, containing 

 Modiola jmlonoti, Ostrea liassica, Myacites musculoides? resting upon eighteen inches of 

 White Lias ; then follow a series of irregular beds, with thin partings, twelve feet in thick- 

 ness, which overlie a bed, twenty-one inches thick, of fine, white limestone, resting on a like 

 thickness of shale ; beneath this is a bed of smooth, regular, fine, white limestone, six feet 

 thick ; then a bed of shale ; and at the base of the series is a band of Gotham marble or 

 Landscape stone. The lower portion of the White Lias from the Pullastra shales down- 

 wards represents, I believe, the upper part of the zone of Amcula contorta ; there are 

 many fossils in the limestones, which have not yet been determined. I have found 

 casts of Cardium Bhaticum, Monotis, Pullastra arenicola, and shells of Pecten Valoniensis. 

 Unfortunately the fossils are mostly in the form of moulds, and for this reason we must 

 wait until good specimens are obtained. The lower portion of the White Lias series is 

 only seen in Mr. Fowler's quarry at Up-Lyme. 



The coast-section at Pinhay Bay is a complete repetition of the Up-Lyme quarries ; the 

 Cidaris shales are here well exposed at low water during spring tides, and from thence are 

 obtained all the Echinidce sold in Lyme Regis. I know of no Asteriadce in these beds. 



In Gloucestershire this zone is well exposed at Brockeridge Common, at Wainlode, in 

 a quarry on the right-hand side of the Gloucester Road, between Hartpury and Ashelworth, 

 and at Elmore, in quarries near the Old Kennel. 



In Glamorganshire, it is seen in the fine coast-section at Penarth Head. In Somerset- 

 shire, in the cutting of the Great Western Railway at Saltford ; in the Uphill Cutting on 

 the Bristol and Exeter Railway ; in the coast-section at Watchet ; and in all the quarries 

 at Street. 



In Worcestershire it is found at Strenshara ; and in Warwickshire at Binton, Grafton, 

 and Wilmcote. 



It is likewise found at Robin Hood's Bay, on the coast of Yorkshire ; the beds here lie 

 below low-water mark, and large blocks, frequently washed up by the tide, are literally 



