180 LIAS OF ENGLAND AND WALES'. 
Needwood Forest. 
The occurrence of "Lower Lias" on the high ground of 
Needwood Forest was made known during the course of the 
Geological Survey by J. B. Jukes and Mr. H. H. Howell. The 
beds then traced out, belong to the series now grouped as Rheetic : 
the only remnants of Lias being fossils occasionally found in the 
Drift deposits. 
Shropshire and Cheshire. 
A tract of Lower Lias occurs in North Shropshire and on the 
southern borders of Cheshire. The area is largely covered with 
Drift deposits, to the depth of 80 or 90 feet in places. These 
Drifts consist mostly of sand with a stony soil, or of clay; but 
being of little economic value they are not often exposed in pits. 
The ground is gently undulating, and it rises from 200 to 
upwards of 400 feet. One of the highest points is at Frees (383 
feet), a little south of the church, where the Middle L'as, there 
comparatively free from Drift, forms a prominent hi)l ; while at 
Ash Magna between Ightfield and Whitchurch the elevation is 
421 feet. 
The occurrence of Lias in this area was ascertained by Murchison 
in 1834, and about 20 years later the beds were mapped for the 
Geological Survey by Mr. A. R. C. Selwyn. 
The main area occupied by the Lias was pointed out by 
Murchison, who acknowledged assistance received from the 
Rev. T. Egerton and the Rev. "W. Egerton.* Attention was 
drawn to the subject by sinkings made in search of coal, in the 
district between Whitchurch and Market Dray ton. The reported 
" coal shale " proved to be Lias shale, containing lignite. Thus 
shafts penetrating Lias, were sunk to the depth of 400 feet at 
Wolliston, 300 feet near Cloverly and Adderley, while on 
Wolliston Common a shaft was sunk 240 feet and a boring 
continued to 150 feet more, and numerous fossils were extracted. 
Among the fossils from the Lower Lias of this district, the 
following may be mentioned : 
Gryphaea arcuata. 
cymbium. 
obliquata. 
Lima gigantea. 
pectinoides. 
Modiola minima (Burley Dam). 
Ostrea irregularis. ? 
Pecten (Burley Dam). 
Pleuromya costata. 
Spiriferina Walcotti ? 
Cidaris. 
Pentacrinus scalaris. 
Lignite. 
Ammonites angulatus. 
Bucklandi. 
Conybearei. 
planicosta. 
planorbis. 
semicostatus. 
striatus. 
Belemnites. 
Gasteropods. 
Area. 
Avicula cygnipes (Frees and 
Adderley Brook). 
Cardinia Listen and vars. ovalis 
and hybrida. 
* Proe. Geol. Soc., vol. ii., pp. 114, 115 ; and Silurian System, pp. 23, 24, 25, and 
Plate rxii., figs.2 and 3. See also G. H. Morton, Proc. Liverpool Geol. Soc., 1863- 
64, p. 2 ; and R. A. Eskrigge, Trans. Manchester Geol. Soc., vol. iv. p. 318. 
