488 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



Name. Localities. 



Echinobrissus Griesbachii, Wright Blisworth. 

 Clypeus Plotii,. Klein ... Blisworth, &c. 



„ Mulleri, Wright Gayhurst quarry. 



Corals, various. Blis worthy Woolaston, &c. 



Many of the mollusca occur merely in the form of casts ; some how- 

 ever, are well preserved, and generally entire ; but on the weathered 

 sides of many blocks of Great Oolite, portion of shells, plates and 

 spines of Echini tea, star-like portions of the stems of Pentacrinites, 

 together with worm-tracks and Serpulse, are common enough. In 

 many of the quarries, before reaching the good workable beds of 

 freestone or hard limestone, a marly bed has to be cut through : this 

 bed is full of shells and Nucleolites clunicularis and other echinoderms. 

 In a word, the Great Oolite is by far the most fossiliferous formation 

 of the district. Though this is its general character, yet miles in 

 extent of hard bluestone, with scarcely a vestage of a fossil, save at 

 most a few oyster- shells, extends over the high ground east of 

 Road station ; and what few fossils there are, are usually in a 

 fragmentary state, bearing evidence of having been drifted by currents. 



The Lower Zone next claims our attention, " the Northampton 

 sand" equivalent, as I before stated, with the Stonesfield slate, but 

 remarkably opposite to that formation in one respect, namely, that 

 whereas that is full of organic remains — plants, molluscs, echinites, 

 and fish, — this can scarcely boast of more than a dozen species (found 

 at least as yet). The Northampton sands consist of ironstone, sands, 

 sandstones, and slaty limestones, spreading over a large tract of 

 country west and south-west of the town of Northampton. 



The Northampton sands are used as an iron ore to a great extent, 

 as they are peculiarly rich in the hydrated oxide : 74,084 tons of this 

 ore were raised in the year 1855, and sent into Staffordshire to be 

 smelted ; but since that time furnaces have been erected near 

 Weedon for smelting. The flaggy Oolitic stone belonging to this 

 formation greatly resembles in appearance the Stonesfield slate, and 

 what organic remains have been found, resemble those of Stonesfield 

 still more closely than those of the Lias or Inferior Oolite. Although 

 allied to the Great Oolite, there is no passage between them, but the 

 sandstone rests on the Great Oolite quite unconformably. 



List of Fossils from the Northampton Sand. 



Name. Localities. 



Megalosaurus Bucklandi, Mey. ... Duston stone pits. 



Bones of Dinosauria ... ... Duston stone pits. 



Belemnites compressus, Sow. ... Duston stone pits. 



Cardium Buckmanii, Jjyc. ... Duston. 



Hinnites velatus, Gold/. ... Duston. 



Pecten (small sp.) ... ... ... Duston. 



Trigonia Moretonis, Lyc. and Mor. Duston, Danes' Hill. 



„ costata, Sow Gayton, Danes' Hill. 



