118 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



found iu the quarries has come before me, I have been able to secure 

 the most important, and to take such notes of the others as would be 

 of interest. 



Trimpley is evidently connected in its physical elevation with the 

 great upthrow of Palaeozoic strata, along the line of which lie the 

 Abberley and Malvern ranges. Of this ridge-line it would seem to be 

 the northern limit. No true Silurian bed, however, is exposed along 

 the strike of its anticline ; but as the lowest measures of the Upper 

 Tilestones, which form its backbone, are the exact equivalents of those 

 resting against the north end of the Abberley Hill, micaceous shales, 

 but fifty feet removed from Aymestry limestone, we can assume their 

 presence not far beneath the axial line of the hill. 



The ridge is flanked with true Old Red Cornstones, containing 

 Fteraspis Lloyclii, and P. Lewisii, CephalciBpis. Lyellii, and defensive 

 spines of Ctenacanthus or a related species. These fish-remains are 

 coloured blue and purple by phosphate of iron, and glisten like 

 enamel. Beneath these beds, somewhat un conformably, lie the Tile- 

 stones. Lithologicall}^ they are grey flagstones, interstratified with 

 bands of brashy cornstone (this, as far as I can yet learn, is a feature 

 peculiar to the Trimpley beds). Fish and crustacean remains occur 

 equally in both flagstones and cornstones, but the plant-remains form 

 bands of themselves, inter niediate between them. Beneath these lie 

 micaceous shales, having surfaces bearing tidal ripple-markings and 

 hollows. In the sheltered parts of these I have found Pterygotean 

 ova {Parlca decirnens) and a few drifted plants, but no fish or crus- 

 tacean remains. These beds, at Abberley, cover up sandy grits, at 

 the base of which I detected the Downton plant-beds, which contain 

 the earliest land-plants. 



To return to the Upper Tilestones : the fish-remains I have 

 met with are these, — Ce2:)]Lalaqyis LyeUii, Leads only, but in very fine 

 preservation; Fteraspis Lloi/dii, P. Banhsii, P. Lewisii, and P. rostratm. 

 Fragmentary remains are very abundant^ but good and well-defined 

 shields (I know not what else to call them) are rarely met with. The 

 triplex character of the plates composing these defensive bony shells 

 are beautifully preseiwcd in nearly every specimen I have seen. 

 I believe the Kington Pteraspides are remarkable for the want of 

 these ornamental layers. Ctenacanthus (?) spines, and fragments of 



