LOWER LIAS : BINTON. 
151 
PAVING-BEDS, finely laminated stone and shale, Ammonites 
Johnstoni, Insects, Eryon barrovensis, Pholidophorus 
Stricklandi - - - - - 
GRIESLEY [or GRIZZLE] bed, composed of comminuted 
shells (Lima and Ostrea liassica), fish-scales, saurian bones, 
Cidaris, Pentacrinus, A. Johnstoni 
BLUE STONE. Saurian remains rare. Insects 
Stone (unfossiliferous) 
GRAVE-STONE bed. Saurian remains, Otozamites acuminatus, 
Eryon barrovensis ... 
Shale ... ... 
PENDLES, hard crystalline stone. Ostrea liassica abundant 
FIRESTONE, hard crystalline and shelly stone. A. Johnstoni., 
Placunopsis alpina, Ostrea liassica abundant, Modiola 
minima, Pholadomya, Otozamites obtusus, &c. 
Stone, impersistent - ... 
BOTTOM BLUE STONE, impersistent. Monotis decussata [or 
FT. IN. 
16 
Shale 
GUINEA-BED, hard and crystalline, so called because the 
stones, if dry, ring when struck. Avicula cyynipes 
(longicostata), Monotis decussata [?], Cardinia, 0. liassica, 
O. intusstriata, Placunopsis alpina, Axinus, Sargodon tomi- 
cus, Hemipedina Tomesi, Thecosmilia Terquemi, &c. 
Greenish-grey clay - 
MAUMS or ' white lumps,' in all respects like the Estheria- 
bed of Westbury- on -Severn 
Clay of a greenish colour. 
8 
Particular interest is attached to the " Guinea Bed, " which 
was grouped, by Mr. Tomes, with the Rhsetic Beds. I was 
unable to see it anywhere in situ, but there are two slabs in the 
Warwick Museum. One of these, a grey earthy and fossiliferous 
limestone with fissile cap, yielding Hemipedina Tomesi, was from 
Binton ; and the other a grey shelly limestone, 2 to 2\ inches 
thick, and covered with Ostrea liassica, was from Wilmcote. Both 
specimens presented a Liassic rather than a Rhaetic appearance. 
The fossils however that are recorded by Mr. Tomes from this bed 
at Binton, indicate an association of Rhsetic and Lower Lias fossils ; 
and as he tells me that the bed is sometimes conglomeratic, it 
seems likely that the fossils may be to some extent remanie. 
A study of the Rhretic Beds leads to the conclusion that we are 
not far from a local margin of the deposit. There is a development 
of sandy beds, the black shales are very thin in places, and near 
Church Lavvford they are absent ; again, the White Lias north of 
Harbury is somewhat sandy, it shows current-bedding and ripple- 
marks, and is itself occasionally nodular, like the beds at Pinhay 
Bay near Lyme Regis. It is not improbable therefore that there 
was some irregular overlap of the Rhastic Beds, accompanied by 
re-construction of some layers, during the changing conditions 
that ushered in the Lower Lias. (See p. 141.) 
The occurrence in the Guinea Bed of Binton, of Avicula cygnipes 
and Hemipedina Tomesi is strongly indicative of Lower Lias ; 
moreover Dr, Wright records Lima punctata from the same bed. 
The Monotis he identifies as M. fallax. Pleuromya crowcombeia 
