LOAVEH LIAS : SHROPSHIRE. 181 
Gryphcsa arcuata and Cardinia Listen (var. ovc.lis and hybrida) 
are abundant in the Drift near Prees. 
Murchison states that " some of the sinkings [for coal] produced 
small pieces of jet or lignite like that of Whitby; others nearer 
the escarpment went through the Lias, and reached brine springs 
in the subjacent red marl/'* This was the case in the boring at 
Adderley, opposite Kent's Rough, after piercing black shale, and 
at a depth of 300 feet. 
Mr. Henry Ikin informed me that a boring for coal was made 
about | mile S.E. of Prees church, on the low ground at the 
foot of the Marls tone outlier. The site is in a small plantation, 
but no traces of the spoil-heaps are now to be seen. Probably 
the stone brought up was of sufficient value to be removed. 
Mr. Ikin however had picked up one thin slab of limestone, of 
Rhaetic aspect, which contains Modiola minima and some other 
fossils. This he kindly presented, as well as other specimens from 
the Middle Lias of Prees, to the Museum at Jermyn Street. 
Murchison remarked in reference to the Lias that " The western 
boundary is ill defined, owing to the low and featureless form of 
the ground and its being covered by vast accumulations of gravel, 
sand, and peat-bog. It is therefore possible that the Lias may 
extend in this direction to some distance ; but even assuming that 
it does not, and limiting the boundary by a line passing from 
Wem and Edstaston to Burley Dam, east of Combermere, places 
where the formation has been detected, we find this bowl has a 
length of about 10, and a breadth of three to four and a half miles." 
He adds that " At Moreton Wood south of Oloverly [near 
Moreton Say] the Lias dips westerly, thus indicating that it is 
there near the eastern side of the basin ; whilst at Audlem and 
Burley Dam, along the north-eastern and northern boundary, the 
strata dip south-west and south, at angles varying from 5 to 7.'* 
He further mentions that " The Lower Lias consists entirely of 
finely laminated shale, as proved by shafts which have been sunk 
on Wolliston Common. In the vicinity of Burley Dam, some of 
the beds are so hard as to have induced Lord Combermere ta 
quarry them for slating purposes, and others at the same locality 
being slightly bituminous have very much the mineral aspect of 
Kimmeridge Coal. At Lightwood Green, the shale was found to 
contain nodules of ferruginous cement-stone ; while at Cleverly, 
beneath numerous beds of dark marly shale, occurred one thin 
band of hard white stone with others of a dark colour. J 'f 
Mr. Ikin has obtained Pleuromya costata from a well 22 feet 
deep at Wolliston, N.E. of Prees. 
Lower Lias was exposed in the banks of the brook (one of the 
feeders of the river Weaver) that rises north-west of Bulterlev 
Heys, south-west of Audlem. 
* Murchison mentions borings for coal at Heathgate, Moreton Wood, Frees 
Wood, Calver Hall (Calvin Wood), Burley Dam, Marchamley, Cleverly, and 
Wolliston Commons, &c. S ! l. Syst., p. 23. 
f Sil. Syst., pp. 22, 23. 
