THE LOWER OOLITES NEAR BRISTOL 
153 
to use it as the chronological indicator of the faunal 
sequence. Successive ' hemerse ’ should mark the smallest 
consecutive divisions which the sequence of different species 
enables us to separate in the maximum developments of 
strata. . . . The term ‘ hemera ’ is intended to mark the 
acme of development of one or more species. It is designed 
as. a chronological division, and will not therefore replace 
the term ‘ zone ’ or be a subdivision of it, for that term 
is strictly a stratigraphical one.” 
II. DESCRIPTION OF EXPOSURES. 
Midford Sands. 
The lowest beds within the purview of this paper are 
termed Midford Sands ; or, Midford, Cotteswold, or 
Yeovil Sands, according to the locality in which they are 
found. 
In Gloucestershire these sands are usually capped by 
a marly, ironshot limestone of variable tliickness, crowded 
with Ammonites, and termed by Dr. Wright the “ Cepha- 
lopoda Bed.” 
The sands, with their Cephalopoda bed, have been 
placed alternately in the Lias and in the Inferior Oolite, 
and subsequently divided between them, being regarded 
by the Survey as Passage beds. 
Mr. Buckman objects to this view, because, as is un- 
doubtedly the case, the sands in the three localities named 
are on different palseontological horizons, occupying higher 
positions in the South than in the North. In the Cottes- 
wolds the sands were deposited earlier than the beds of the 
Striatuli hemera ; at Midford and at Yeovil they are of 
later date, ranging, in point of time, from the Striatuli 
hemera to the Dumortierise hemera at the former place, 
