262 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
upper series. As a general rule, it is said that the lower, or Gannister 
series, contains some of the best coking coals. It also contains the finest 
flags and tile stones. It is the principal earth for making firebricks. 
There are plenty of similar earths in the middle and upper series ; but it 
would seem that those in the lower series produce bricks which stand greater 
heat. Like the coals of the lower series, those of the lower portion of the 
middle series are chiefly good coking coals ; and at the top, or upper por- 
tion, swift or hot-burning coals are produced. The coals of the upper 
series are nearly all hot swift-burning coals. Cannel or Parrot coal is 
found in each of the three series, but the best is in the middle series. 
Commencing at Mossley, near Ashton-under-Lyne, the following section 
of the lowest coals is met with : — 
yds. ft. in. 
Sandstone — — — 
Coal 0 1 5 
Floor earth 0 0 8 
Shale and sandstone .... 29 2 4 
Shale 0 2 0 
Coal, Victoria 0 1 9 
Coal and Bass 0 0 9 
Earth 0 0 2 
Sandstone 1 0 0 
Shale 5 0 0 
Sandstone 3 0 0 
Shale 4 0 0 
Coal 0 0 7 
The lowest of these three coals lies at a distance of about 326 yards below 
the Gannister coal. The principal, or 1 foot 9 inch bed, is the one which 
is being worked at the "Victoria Colliery, at Mossley. The three seams 
retain their character southwards to Early Bank, in Cheshire ; but north- 
wards they do so for a short distance only, and, except in that immediate 
neighbourhood, there is no place in Lancashire where coal-seams are so fully 
developed so low down in the coal-field. 
A general section of the principal coal-seams of the lower series near 
Hartshead is as follows : — 
yds. ft. in. 
Coal (40-yards mine) ... 0 1 6 
Strata, with an inch of Coal . 34 0 0 
Coal, upper foot 0 1 0 
Strata 15 0 0 
Coal mountain, or f (Gannister) 0 110 
Strata 10 0 0 
Coal, lower toot 0 0 6 
Strata 90 0 0 
Coal, yard (sand rock) ... 0 0 6 
Strata, about 180 0 0 
And then the upper, or one-foot five-inch coal, given on the preceding 
section, at Mossley. 
At Crompton, near Oldham, the lower foot coal is called the half-yard 
mine, and the Gannister coal is still called the "mountain mine." The upper 
foot and the 40-yards coal are also still known by the same names. The 
upper foot coal has there a large number of round nodules both in it and 
upon it, and also a very large number of fossils, generally Gonidtites and 
Avicula-pectens. 
At Bamford and Asbworth, the 40-yards coal still retains its name, and 
