ROBERTS A RAMBLE ROUND LUDLOW. 339 



Beyond the quarry, a lane diverges on the right to the famous 

 " star-fish " quarry of Church Hill. Lower Ludlow shales are well 

 exposed along its course; here may be found Graptolites in great 

 perfection, and some rare Orthocerata {0. suldidce, 0. gregarium), &c. 



Little is now to be got in the star-fish bed ; for the thin layer, in 

 which the Aster tad(S occur, is kept in place by some 10 feet of solid 

 rock ; while the debris of the quarry has been carefully picked over by 

 the Ludlow geologists. However, the collector may obtain from 

 Meredith, a keeper on the Leintwardine fishery, good specimens at a 

 moderate cost. To him geologists are indebted for the discovery of 

 these remarkable fossils. Falceocoma Marstoni is at once the com- 

 monest and most interesting species. Other forms occur, but more 

 rarely. 



Fragments of Ptenjgotus, and limbs and patches of skin belonging to 

 P. punctatus, are not uncommon in the upper shales, with Cormdites of 

 remarkable but badly-preserved character, and other interesting fossils. 

 A curious branched Graptolite has been recently met with near this 

 place ; but I could not learn the precise locality. Meredith has good 

 specimens of it for sale. 



The geologist who is returning from this point to Ludlow, should 

 take the path through the beautiful walks of Downton Castle. In 

 some overhanging cliffs a clear section may be obtained, exhibiting 

 Upper Ludlow rock as a cap, covering up Aymestry limestone (with 

 Pentamerus Knigldii), and Lower Ludlow Eeds. The botanist, too, 

 will be charmed to find in profusion Poly podium dryopteris, Cystopteris 

 fragiJis, and C. angustcda, trailing their exquisitely beautiful fronds 

 down the banks. 



I continued my excursion to the Black Mountains, through Presteign 

 and Kington ; crossing a country 2,000 feet below the surface-level in 

 carboniferous days, as is witnessed by the detached fragments hori- 

 zontally stratified, and capped with mountain limestone, which form 

 the lofty Scyrrid, Blorenge, Fans of Brecon, and other spurs of the 

 South Wales coal-field. 



The Upper Old Bed (Quartzose conglomerate), which forms the 

 great mass of these hills, is singularly unproductive of fossils ; but 

 there is a charm in working out the grand development of its physical 

 geology, that makes up for its lack of life-remains. A pleasant and 

 instructive companion to this district is the Old Stones," of my friend 

 the Bev. ^V. S. Symonds, of Pendock. Its geology and natural 

 scenery has found in him a truthful and eloquent interpreter. My 

 notes for these mountains must form the subject of another paper. 



