252 
THE OEOLOOIST. 
wlicre it is largely developed. Several sect-ions arc well exposed at 
tke qiian'ies near the Wiliiey Cemetery, where its upper poition con- 
sists of a dark-coloui'ed bed of clay containing lihynchuneUa concinna, 
Terebratula dirjona, and T. maxiUata, with spines of Cidaris, and 
joints of Pentacrinites. This clay is divided about the centre by a 
thin band of slaty sandstone, which, although not equal to the 
Stonesfield Slate for the purpose, is capable of being worked by -the 
hammer into a rough kind of roofing-tile. This Forest Marble slate 
recalls vividly to the mind the condition of the ancient Oolitic sea 
by whose agency it was formed, the surfaces of many of its slabs 
being strongly ripple-marked, and covered with the valves of small 
Ostrese, RhynchonelliB, and comminuted fragments of other shells, 
with here and there a perfect specimen of Pecten lens, or P. vagaus, 
and occasionally a small sea-urchin, Diaclcma depressa. In one 
solitary instance the writer was so fortunate as to obtain from one 
of these slabs a specimen of Acrosalenia, much compressed, but still 
retaining its long, smooth, pointed spines attached to their sockets, a 
condition in which Echini are very rarely met with in this or any 
other formation. These beds of clay and slate are succeeded by a 
thick stratum of coarse shelly limestone, containing portions of coni- 
ferous drift-wood, and but few organic remains of any kind, with the 
exception of Lima cardiifonnis and imperfect Terebratulse. At 
Stonesfield the Bath Oolite consists of a soft white Umestone, suc- 
ceeded by a stratum of hard compact fissile ragstone passing down- 
ward into the true Stonesfield Slate. The upper portion is very 
fossiliferous, and contains several forms of hfe which seldom occm' 
in the lower division. These are chiefly some interesting corals 
TJiamnastraia Lijellii, two species of Isastrcea, and some others, asso- 
ciated with a flat species of sea-urchin, Ghjpetis Mullerii, and much 
more rarely a beautiful Hemicidaris as yet unnamed. This bed also 
contains a variety of shells, among which maybe enumerated Astavte 
elegans, Terebratula maxillata, Nerincea Endes'd, N. melanoides, Lima 
cardiiformis, and a species of Chemnitzia, C. Hamptonensis. 
This division of the Bath Oolite may also be studied at Witney, 
where it has yielded some interesting fish remains identical with 
those of the Stonesfield Slate. At Minster Lovel, and other places 
situated on the Cheltenham road, many cuttings have been made in 
this formation, chiefly for the purpose of procuring road-stone, for 
which it is, however, but ill adapted. A quarry situated by the road 
side, near the Minster turnpike, has furnished some instructive speci- 
mens, chiefly the palatal teeth of fishes, with fragments of bone and 
scales ; these are found in an insulated condition, and are confined to 
a thin stratum of brown friable marl, forming the summit of the 
section. 
The second division of the Bath Oolite, both in lithological compo- 
sition and organic remains, is so nearly allied to the underlying slate 
that we shall prefer studying them in connection with each other, and 
regard them both as belonging to one and the same period, rathei- 
than treat of them as two separate and distinct formations. A com- 
