MIDDLE LIAS : ILMINSTER. 203 
showed 15 feet of laminated micaceous sandy clay, with bands of 
very tough bluish nodular limestone, containing much iron-ore. 
I obtained no fossils from these beds, but according to Moore 
they belong to Group 1 of the above section, and he records 
Ammonites Bechei from beds on the same horizon at " Haslewell " 
[? Ashwell]. It is noteworthy that Mr. Day obtained "two 
crushed fragments of Ammonites Bechei " from sandstone in the 
Yellow Sands near the top of the Middle Lias on the Dorsetshire 
coast.* 
A pit at the brickyard south of Ilminster (probably the section 
at Cross, mentioned by Moore), showed blue micaceous sandy 
clays with Ammonites margaritatus ; and at Ashwell, north of 
Ilminster, beds of micaceous sands with hard sandy limestone 
have been opened up. Moore has published a list of species from 
the former locality.t 
The Marlstone has been opened up in quarries on the north of 
Ilminster, at Tortwood Hill and Moolham, and to the north of 
Down Lane, east of Donyatt. The rock consists of irregular 
beds of reddish-brown iron-shot limestone, sometimes sandy 
and micaceous, yielding Ammonites spinatus A. margaritatus, 
A. Engclhardti, Belemnites breviformis, B. compressus, B. 
cylindricus, B. paxillosus, Pholadomya ambiyua, Pecten cequivalvis, 
Gri/pkcea cymbium, G. gigantea, Pleuromya costata, Rliynchonella 
acuta, R. tctrahedra, R. serrata, Terebratula punctata, Wald- 
heimia quadrifida var. cornuta, and W. resupinata. 
Moore has given a long list of species from the Marlstone of 
Ilminster including Plant-remains, Sponges, Foraminfera, Echino- 
dermata, Crustacea, Fishes (Hybodus and Lepidotus}, and 
Saurians {Ichthyosaurus'}, Numerous Gasteropods are recorded, 
and these include species found in the Transition Bed of 
Northamptonshire (see p. 229). Two species of Cryptcenia (C. 
rotellceformis and C. expansa) occur also in the Marlstone of the 
Dorset coast. Of Pleurotomaria Moore obtained one example 
"2 ft. in circumference by 7| in. in height." J 
The fact that the uppermost band of Marlstone, which is some- 
times much iron-stained, is separated from the main mass of the 
rock by a few inches of sandy marl or clay, is a general feature in 
this neighbourhood. The stone is quarried to a depth of from 
5 to 10 feet, a ferruginous sandy clay being usually met with at 
the base of the stone-beds. The rock has been used for building- 
purposes, it forms a durable material, and is locally known as the 
" Moolham Stone." It has also been burnt for lime ; but it is more 
commonly employed for road-mending. 
The Marlstone has been extensively quarried at Boxtone Hill 
and Hurcot, between Sevington St. Mary and Stocklinch 
Ottersey, and at Shepton Beauchamp, where it exhibits the same 
general characters as at Ilminster, although somewhat reduced in 
thickness. 
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xix. p. 293. 
f Proc. Somerset, Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. xiii. p. 162. 
j Ibid., pp. 164, &c. 
