186 
MIDLAND UNION OF NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETIES. 
ground to the left of the railway, and just after passing Stocking- 
ford Station a good section of the Cambrian shales, and the 
intrusive bands of diorite which pierce them, can be seen in the 
railway cutting for nearly half-a-mile. 
After lunch at Nuneaton, the party visited a quarry in the 
quartzite near the railway station. In this was clearly seen the 
Cambrian quartzite dipping south-west, at an angle of about forty 
degrees, together with an intrusive dyke of diorite. Another 
interesting point was that the New Red Sandstone (Keuper 
sandstone) was seen lying unconformably on the Cambrian 
quartzite at the top of the quarry. 
From this point the party passed through several quarries 
in the quartzite to one below Caldecote Windmill, where the 
Caldecote Volcanic Series, or Archaean rocks, were seen. They 
here consist of a volcanic ash containing angular and much 
weathered fragments of Rhyolitic rocks, &o. A little further on, in 
another somewhat lower exposure, they are very fine grained and 
beautifully stratified. Further on, these Volcanic rocks are to be 
seen less weathered in a quarry close to Hartshill, and in this same 
quarry there are rounded pebbles of Archaean rock, many inches 
across, in a sort of conglomerate which forms the base of the 
quartzite, but time did not suffice to visit this. 
At Mancetter a visit was made to the Cambrian shales at 
the quarry below the Oldbury Reservoir and in Purlev Park. 
These are the dark shales which contain Agnostus sociale ; but 
fossils in these, as in all the beds here, are extremely scarce 
and difficult to find. One specimen of Obolella and some sponge 
spicules were found, however. 
A halt was made for tea at Atherstone, and afterwards the 
Upper Cambrian shales beyond Merevale Abbey were visited. In 
these, in a small roadside quarry, an exposure of the celebrated 
Dictyonema beds was seen, and some very good specimens of this 
characteristic fossil obtained. 
These are the highest Cambrian beds here exposed, for in 
the fields on the north side of the road, the newer rocks are 
let down by the great fault which bounds the Cambrian area on the 
August, 1893. 
