336 



A RAMBLE EOUND LUDLOW. 



By George E. Eobeets, of Kiddeeminstee. 



Aftee the al fresco dinner of the Worcestershire I^aturalist Club," 

 under the Sorb Tree, in Wyre Forest, I and Mr. Baxter of Worcester, 

 well known for his botanical acumen, started for the Ludlow pro- 

 montory, via Cleobury and Caynham. I copy from my note-book the 

 following geological facts— some may be of use to the definer of the 

 limits of ancient life-periods; others, deficient in value for such pur- 

 poses, may save future explorers time and trouble in working up 

 the district. 



I arrange them in the order of their occurrence. 



The Brownstones " of the cornstone series are finely quarried a 

 mile east of Cleobury ; very fine rippled-marked slabs may be obtained, 

 and ichnites (fossil footprints) should be apparent, it being an equiva- 

 lent bed to the one in which they occur at Puddlestone, Herefordshire. 



The curious outlier of the Eorest Coal-field," on which Cleobury 

 stands, has been fruitlessly sunk into for coal this year ; another proof 

 that the geologist is not abroad " in the land, no bed in the whole 

 coal-field having paid expenses, and, in some instances — this I find 

 among the number — the Old Bed has been reached without coal being 

 met with. 



The south end of the Titterstone Hill, presenting a fine escarpment 

 of mountain limestone to the valley, is very barren of fossils. I could 

 not meet with or hear of any of those interesting fish-jaws, spines, and 

 palatal teeth, so numerous along its northern sides at Oreton and 

 Parlow. !N^either did the yellow sandstones, dipping beneath the 

 limestone, yield any trace of HoloptycMus or Pterichthjs ; they are 

 here well exposed, but very gritty, and more irregularly bedded than at 

 Earlow. Sir B. Murchison notes, in Siluria'' a fin-spine of Ctenacan- 

 thus from Gorstley Bough, a mile N.W. of this place, but it would 

 seem a solitary instance of what may be obtained in plenty at Oreton. 



Our excursion thus commenced badly, for though my companion, 

 ecclesiologically inclined, sought the church at Corley, he retired, dis- 

 gusted with such an example of early churchwarden-art." 



Through the Upper Ludlow of Caynham we reached Ludlow. The 

 Caynham beds are coloured, in error, as Wenlock in the Geological 



