INFERIOR OOLITE SERIES: SHERBORNE. 
i I 
Zone of A. opalinus 
FT. IN. 
1. Dew bed ; hard sandy 
limestone used for 
road-metal. Ammo- 
-<j nites Moorei 1 to 2 
2. bellow sands with in- 
durated bands : not 
exposed in quarry. 
This famous section has been described by many geologists, and, as 
might be expected, with somewhat varying lithological and palaeonto- 
logical details. It will be sufficient to refer to the records of Dr. Wright,* 
Prof. Buckman.t Mr. S. S. Buckman,J Mr. Hudleston, and Mr. E. F. 
Tomes. || In noting the fossils of particular beds, I include species men- 
tioned by Mr. S. S. Buckman, Mr. Hudleston, and Mr. Tomes. The 
occurrence of A. Moorei in the Dew Bed, led Mr. Buckman to consider 
that his " Opalinus-bed " was absent : but this view can only be main- 
tained, by inferring a fixity in the horizons of the particular species of 
Ammonites found in the Zone of Ammonites opaliwut (see p. 41). It may 
be questioned whether the Dew Bed (so named by the quarrymen) is on 
the same palseontological horizon in the different quarries. 
The chief fossil-bed of Bradford Abbas, spoken of as the 
" Concavus-bed " or " Soiverbyi-zone," is mentioned by Mr. 
Hudleston, as the "most important bed for Gasteropoda dis- 
covered in the English Oolites." Fine examples of Alaria, 
Cerithium, Pnrpurina, Spinigcra, &c. have been obtained from it. 
The zone of A humphriesianus appears to be but feebly repre- 
sented ; while the higher beds, belonging to the zone of A. Parkin- 
soni, are not very fossiliferous at this locality. They have however 
yielded one Brachiopod of considerable interest Tcrcbratula 
Morierei, which was discovered in 1878, for the first time in this 
country, by Mr. J. F Walker.^f The species has since been found 
at one or two other localities, although somewhat sparingly. 
FIG. 36, 
Ruilway-cuttina at Bradford Abbas, near Sherborne, Dorsetshire. 
West. East. 
JL 
F F 
The same beds have been well exposed in the railway-cutting 
at Bradford Abbas. There two faults displace the strata : a mass 
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xvi. p. 36. 
f Ibid., vol. xxxiii. p. 7. 
J Ibid., vol. xxxvii. p. 591, xlix. p. 485 ; Inf. Ool. Ammonites, pp. 5, &c. 
Gasteropoda of Inf. Ool., pp. 43, &c. ; Proc. Geol. Assoc., vol. ix. p. 187. 
II Geo'i. Mag., 1886, p. 389. 
1 Ibid., 1878, p. 552. 
