21G 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



about a mile and a quarter north-east of the village of Stoke Goddington, 

 forming a ridge of high ground extending onwards towards Northamptonshire, 

 and having a gentle dip towards the north-west. There are many quarries in 

 the neighbourhood, where the stone is found of a rubbly oolitic character, very 

 shelly, and in some places merely an aggregate of Terebratulse, and other shells 

 cemented by a ferruginous sandy limestone. The following is a list of the 

 most characteristic fossils which I have as yet found in these beds of Inferior 

 Oolite, Terebratula maxillata, T. bullata, Rhynchonella subtetrahedra, Modiola 

 plimba, M. cuneata, Pholadomya Murchisonii, P. lyrata, Gervillia lanceolata* 

 Isocardia minima, I. comentrica, Ostrea gregaria, 0. acuminata^ Cardium globo- 

 sum, Tecten globosum, Lima, &c, &c. 



Most of the shells are filled with crystals of carbonal e of lime ; they are easily 

 detached, and in good preservation. We have now crossed the boundaries of 

 Buckinghamshire, and are in the county of Northamptonshire. The country is 

 woodland, and in some places very picturesque. On the west there extends a 

 large wood called " Salcey Eorest." At the entrance of this wood there are 

 quarries which once supplied the whole of the surrounding country with " metal" 

 for the roads. The limestone apparently belongs to the upper bed of the Great 

 Oolite ; but on account of its exceeding barrenness in fossils it is difficult to 

 determine its exact geological position. The same stone is found at Hantwell, 

 Hanslope, and near Castle-Thorpe, succeeding the Eorest-marble. The only 

 fossils that have been found in these sterile beds are oysters, a few Terebratulae, 

 two or three Echinites, and slight traces of vegetable-remains. It is remarkable 

 (but I believe frequently the case in the " great oolite") that although the 

 stone seems almost wholly composed of comminuted and broken fragments of 

 shells, yet few entire ones are here found. 



But to revert to the Inferior Oolite, by far the most interesting formation of 

 this neighbourhood. We find it again at the village of Piddington, overlying 

 the Lias of Northamptonshire ; a very characteristic shell here is Pholadomya 

 lyrata. It becomes very ferruginous in places, being of that peculiar colour 

 always indicative of oxide of iron. The top beds on account of their rubbly 

 character are of little or no value as building-stone, the only use to which they 

 can be put is that of mending the roads ; but underneath the beds a much harder 

 and more indurated stone is found. This consists principally of Terebratulse, 

 with a great deal of spar or crystallized carbonate of lime. This limestone 

 becomes very useful for building-stone. The order of the succession of the 

 layers in most of the quarries is as follows : — 



1st. Soil. 



2nd. A shell bed, consisting of various shells in an argillaceous and in some 



places a rubbly matrix. 

 3rd. Soft gritty limestone, with an abundance of shells, &c. 

 4th. Sandy limestone, with few fossils. 



5th. Lower beds, with crystallized carbonate of lime, as above described. 



T regret that my limits will not allow of any further particulars concerning 

 Ihc geology of 1 his part of England. I am also sorry that I cannot touch upon 

 tae Liassic strata, which succeeds the Inferior Oolite. But I trust that it will 

 nql be imagined that I have nearly exhausted the subject; while I hope that 

 l Ins short and rather cursory sketch may induce others to visit our rather out- 

 of-the-way quarries ; and although they may not be so interesting as those of 

 Die South of England or of Yorkshire, in point either of the variety or quantity 

 ol i hen- organic remains, there is still a charm in novelty. — J. H. Macalistee, 

 Stoke Goldington, Bucks. 



* This is a very characteristic shell. 



