INFERIOR OOLITE SERIES : CEPHALOPODA BED. 103 
Oolite in the Cotteswold area, as compared with those of other 
regions. 
For the sands below the Cephalopoda Bed the local names of 
Nailsworth, and Frocester Sands have been used ; but in 1876 the 
name Cotteswold Sands was employed by Professor Buckman,* 
and it has been adopted by E. Witchellf and other geologists as 
a convenient local term. 
The COTTESWOLD SANDS, like the Midford, Bridport, and 
Yeovil Sands, consist of yellow micaceous sands with bands and 
concretionary nodules of calcareous sandstone. Towards the base 
they become more or less argillaceous and merge gradually into 
the Upper Lias ciay beneath ; consequently there is no definite 
stratigraphical division between these formations. 
Palseontologically the beds are intimately linked with the Upper 
Lias, and, through the Cephalopoda Bed, with the Inferior Oolite ; 
between both formations they constitute passage-beds. 
The thickness of the beds at Cam Long Down and Frocester 
Hill has been estimated at from 120 feet to 130, and at Stroud 
100 feet. At Birdlip the beds appear to be nearly as thick,:}: but 
northwards they decrease to 60 feet and less ; indeed at Cleeve 
Cloud they are hardly distinguishable, but this may arise partly 
from the fact that the declivities are obscured by landslips, and 
by a rubble of limestone. 
The GLOUCESTERSHIRE CEPHALOPODA BED consists of iron- 
shot marly limestones and marls, from 2 to 15 feet thick, that 
yield, more or less abundantly, Ammonites and Belemnites as well 
as other organic remains. The bed was particularly described by 
Dr. Wright in 1856, but it had long been known to collectors as 
the " Ammonite Bed," and had been previously noticed by the 
Rev. P. B. Brodie as the "Ammonite and Belemnite Bed." In 
point of names the bed is not lacking, for Professor Hull, in 
describing the strata, employed the name " Ammonite Sands " to 
include both both Cotteswold Sands and Cephalopoda Bed. If 
Moreover the abundance of Rhynchonella cynocephala led Dr. 
Lycett, in 1857, to adopt the term "Cynocephala stage" for 
both Cephalopoda Band and Sands below.** This fossil is, 
however, chiefly found in the upper beds, and a variety of it also 
occurs at higher horizons in the Inferior Oolite of the Cotteswold 
Hills. 
Palceontologically the Gloucestershire Cephalopoda Bed and the 
Cotteswold Sands have been divided into a number of zones, aa 
previously indicated (p. 40.) In order to maintain a consistent 
* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xxxiii. p, 6. 
f Geology of Stroud, p. 30. 
j Lucy, Proc. Cotteswold Club, vol. viii. p. 161. 
Quart. Jourii. Geol. Soc., vol. xii. p. 293. 
|| Ibid , vol. vi. p. 244, and vol. vii. p. 209. 
1 Geol. Cheltenham, p. 25. ' 
** The Cotteswold Hills, pp. 16, 18. 
