282 ADAMSON : DISCOVERY OF STONE IMPLEMENT AT BARNSLEY. 
the west side shows the same sequence, with the exception of D (sand) 
which is wanting. The junction of F and E is somewhat pecuhar, 
the blue clay rising up in some places in bosses, some of which curve 
over in pointed tongues in the overlying gravel. The base of the 
section is a bed of ordinary blue shale (soft bind) evidently having 
been subjected to denudation before being covered with the overlying 
strata. The shale increases in hardness along with its depth. The 
clay, F, is of a fine texture, and is unmixed with other material. The 
gravel, E, varies very much, being of a fine nature in the upper part, 
but in the hollows of the blue clay consisting of coarse boulders, the 
chief part of these being local sandstone and shale, a large number 
also being of ganister and coarse grits. There are also some of 
basaltic and felspathic rocks. The presence of the ganister of the 
lower coal measures, the grits of the millstone grit series, and more 
especially the far travelled trappean rocks is worthy of notice. Over- 
lying the gravel, E, is another layer of clay, C, of a dark colour, with 
a number of angular blocks of sandstone scattered throughout; these 
have evidently been denuded from the escarpments of the Dearne 
Valley. The clay also contains lenticular patches of fine sand, shown 
at D on the east side of the section. Above this stony clay is another 
bed of gravel, B, ranging in thickness from one to six feet, containing 
patches of vegetable accumulations, including oak and other kinds of 
wood, hazel nuts in great quantities, leaves, &c. There was also found 
a fresh- water shell (bivalve), and the leg of a beetle of a very brilliant 
blue colour, in the deposit. Above the bed B comes the silt, 12 to 14 
feet in thickness, which does not call for any special notice. In the 
gravel, B, was found a remarkable implement composed of mica schist, 
smoothed, and having at the sides peculiar groovings, without doubt 
the work of human hands. In one of the grooves may be seen a 
growth of organic matter, deposited when it lay under water, thus 
attesting its antiquity. The implement is in all probability a whet- 
stone ; it has been worked, and was at one time longer. It has the 
appearance of having been used to sharpen some kind of instrument, 
probably an axe. The transverse markings could be made by the 
stone being rubbed along the edge of the axe to make it uniform, 
then the flat sides used to sharpen the edge. 
