126  PROCEEDINGS  OE  THE  GEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY.  [May  1893,- 
that  have  been  put  upon  the  word  ‘  Portlandian  ’  would  occupy 
too  much  time.  Something  of  the  sort  we  have  already  seen  in 
connexion  with  the  Speeton  Clay. 
Inferior  Oolite  and  Upper  Lias. — It  might  have  been  thought 
that  the  geology  of  the  Cotteswolds  had  been  fairly  worked  out 
in  previous  years,  yet  there  have  been  two  or  three  communications 
of  some  importance  dealing  more  especially  with  the  lowest  beds  of 
Inferior  Oolite  in  that  region.  The  late  Mr.  Witchell,  when  intro¬ 
ducing  the  subject  of  the  Pea-grit,  felt  it  necessary  to  preface  his 
work  by  a  few  words  of  apology  for  venturing  to  write  on  so 
well-known  a  theme.  His  corrections  may  perhaps  be  regarded  as 
only  of  local  interest,  yet  the  experience  which  comes  of  twenty-five 
years  of  careful  observation  and  collecting  is  not  to  be  altogether 
unnoticed.  Mr.  Witchell’s  conclusions  were  that  the  Pea-grit  is 
well  developed  in  the  Cheltenham  area,  but  thins  away  towards  the 
south,  and  is  no  more  than  from  3  to  5  feet  thick  in  the  Stroud 
district,  where  the  characteristic  lithology  of  this  peculiar  formation 
may  yet  be  distinctly  recognized.  Underlying  the  Pea-grit  in  the 
Stroud  district  are  several  beds  of  white  oolitic  limestone,  having 
layers  of  freestone,  as  he  describes  it,  alternating  with  shelly  detritus. 
Attention  was  especially  drawn  to  the  contrast  which  these  beds 
present,  both  lithologically  and  palaeontologically,  with  the  Pea-grit. 
Their  poverty  in  organic  remains  is  also  very  remarkable,  the  fauna 
being  limited  to  a  few,  very  small  and  ill-preserved  Gasteropoda, 
together  with  fragments  of  Crinoids,  Urchins,  etc.  Pelow  this  are 
a  few  feet  of  brown  sandy  limestones,  very  fossiliferous  in  the  lower 
portion,  and  resting  directly  on  the  so-called  ‘  Cephalopoda-bed.’ 
"Witchell  points  out  how  rich  and  important  a  fauna  comes  in 
with  the  Pea-grit,  and  consequently  how  necessary  it  is  to  separate 
the  Lower  Limestone  from  it.  To  the  substantial  accuracy  of  these 
views  I  have  myself  borne  witness.1  In  the  i^ailsworth  district  the 
Pea-grit  is  only  3  feet  thick,  but  abundantly  charged  with  Nerinceoe , 
especially  at  Longford’s  Mill;  it  is  a  curious  circumstance,  however, 
that  the  Lower  Limestone,  although  25  feet  thick  hereabouts,  hardly 
contains  any  Nerincece  or,  indeed,  any  recognizable  fossils  :  in  cha¬ 
racter  it  rather  reminds  one  of  some  beds  of  the  Lincolnshire  Lime¬ 
stone,  and  seems  to  be  equally  poor  in  Cephalopoda.  Hence  we 
cannot  readily  say  whether  the  Lower  Limestone  of  Witchell  should 
be  classed  in  the  Murchisonoe-zone  or  in  the  opalinus- zone,  which 
1  Pal.  Soc.  vol.  xli,  (issued  1888),  ‘  Inferior  Oolite  Gasteropoda,’  pp.  60  &  67. 
