110 LIAS OF ENGLAND AND WALES : 
of the Sutton Stone that they could not be distinguished.* This 
is remarkable, as there is no evidence of any original continuity 
over the intervening area between beds of this character. The 
identity is due to the similar origin of the strata, both being 
largely due to the direct destruction of the Carboniferous Lime- 
stone, thus originating as shore-deposits of calcareous mud with 
which angular detritus was occasionally mixed. In other cases 
where the Lower Lias rests directly on the Carboniferous Lime- 
stone, and at the same time presents its ordinary characters, we 
may infer that the beds were probably laid down on submarine 
shelves or platforms of the older rock. 
The appearance of the beds in the cliffs of Sutton and 
Southerndown, changes much, according as the layers come within 
the influence of the sea,t also where they are much weathered 
or present joints or fault-faces. Where the Southerndown Beds 
have been long exposed in the cliffs, they present often a wavy or 
crinkly appearance which is not exhibited on freshly cut faces ; 
the fact Being that softer shaly or marly partings are eroded, and 
the irregularities of the limestone bands are made more manifest. 
The Southerndown Beds are more divided in some places than in 
others by partings of shale. The surfaces of beds just uncovered 
by the sea, present a smooth appearance, and are blue or bluish- 
grey in colour, while further on, the platforms, long exposed to the 
action of the sea, have become brown, rough, and honeycombed. 
Many beds above and below the chief Gryphsea-bed under 
Southerndown are " fucoidal " at the base, and also here and there 
on the surface. There is no definite horizon of Gryphaeas, nor of 
Fucoidal beds, nor even of Gasteropoda 
Concerning the organic remains, fossils as a rule are not 
abundant, and those that are present in the conglomeratic beds of 
Lias, are difficult to extract, owing to the hardened nature of the 
rocks. In the lower portions of the Sutton Stone and con- 
glomerate, and especially in the conglomerate exposed, above the 
Carboniferous Limestone, on the coast near the Black Rocks and 
Pant-y- Slade, Corals are not uncommon. Some are identical 
with forms found in the Alpine Trias. The most abundant 
species is Elysastraa Fischeri, which, according to Mr. Tomes, 
appears " in some places in great masses, the corallites of which, 
either more or less closely packed, or in disjointed branches, 
penetrate the stone through and through. "f Many other species 
of Corals have been obtained, and although in Mr. Tomes's 
opinion many of them " must be assigned to a period antecedent 
to that at which those beds were formed," yet the lithological 
characters of the rocks, and the absence of clayey sediments, 
suggest that conditions favourable for coral-growth may have 
* See also Moore, Trans. Cardiff Nat. Soc., vol. viii. 1877, p. 56. 
t That the induration of the beds is not to any extent due to the action of sea- 
water, may be judged from the fact that where the ordinary beds of the Lias pass 
down to <he sea-level, they do not exhibit any marked differences. 
J Quart. Journ. Qeol. Soc., vol. xl. p. 368. 
Ibid., p. 354, nd remarks by Prof. Bonney, p. 375. 
