21G 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
about a mile and a quarter nort.h-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 neighhoui-hood, 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 1 have as yet found in these beds of Inferior 
Oolite, Terehratula maxillata, T. bullafa, Rhynchonella subtetrahedra, Modiola 
plinaba, 31. cuneata, Fholadomya Murchisonii, P. lyrata, Gervillia lanceolata* 
Isocardia minima, I. concentrica, Ostrea greyaria, 0. acuminata, Cardium globo- 
stm, Peden globosum, Lima, &c., &c. 
Most of the shells are filled with crystals of carbonale 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 Porest." 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 Terebratulae, 
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. 
I regret that my limits will not allow of any further particulars concerning 
the geology of this part of England. I am also sorry that I cannot touch upon 
t.ie Liassic strata, which succeeds the Inferior Oolite. But I trust that it will 
not be imagined that I have nearly exhausted the subject ; while I hope that 
this 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 
the South of England or of Yorkshire, in point either of the variety or quantity 
of their organic remains, there is still a charm in novelty. — J. H. Macalister, 
Stoke Goldington, Bucks. 
* This is a very characteristic shell. 
