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The diagnosis of the genus and species is as follows:

Beania, gen. nov. Female fruit composed of scales arranged in loose spikes; scales stalked and peltate, supporting two ovoid sessile seeds, one on each side of the pedicel.

Beania gracilis, sp. nov. Axis of the female inflorescence slender; scales on slender stalks placed at right angles to the axis, peltate, apex of the scale small, scarcely covering the ripe seeds; seeds sessile, ovoid, slightly acuminate at the apex, symmetrically arranged on the two sides of the pedicel, reflexed.

Locality.-From the Oolitic Shale of Gristhorpe, near Scarborough, Yorkshire.

These characters show that this fossil belongs to that section of the order Cycadea, which was included in the Linnean genus Zamia. In the progress of discovery, this genus has gradually been broken up into nine distinct genera, arranged in two or more tribes (according to the views of different authors) based upon characters derived chiefly from the internal structure of the stem, but all agreeing in having the female fruits composed of two-seeded peltate scales arranged in cones. Beania agrees in every particular with the female strobilus of Zamia, as may be seen by comparing the fossil with the section of the cone of Z. muricata, Pl. IV., Fig. 3, except that the apices of the scales are not adpressed, but the scales are scattered over the axis so as to form a very loose spike. There is, however, a recent form, (Microcycas, D.C.,) which, according to De Candolle, in his lately published monograph of this Order in the Prodromus (Vol. xvi., sect. 2, p. 538), differs from the other genera in having the scales of the female cone "loosely juxtaposed." In Beania this character is still more pronounced, so as to produce an inflorescence, which cannot be called a strobilus.

A small and very imperfect fragment of Beania was figured by Lindley and Hutton on the same plate with their Sphæreda paradoxa, Fossil Flora, Plate 159. This fragment is of itself sufficient to show that it had nothing to do with Sphæreda, but it is obviously too imperfect to give any information as to its true affinities. There are no seeds preserved, and only three of the pedicels retain traces of their peltate apices. Dr. Lindley had not examined the specimens. He only prints the descriptions supplied by Dr. Murray and Mr. (now Prof.) Williamson, jun. Dr. Murray's description refers to the Sphæreda; and Prof. Williamson thus describes the specimen of Beania which was confounded with it-" The stems of the smaller specimens are striated, and the lateral branches appear to have been terminated by a kind of round or oval leaf, which is one homogeneous mass of carbon, without the least appearances of any regular veins or striæ either in the stems or leaves. The carbon is excessively thick, instead of being in thin laminæ as in most vegetable impressions." This description exactly agrees with what is seen in the specimen I have just described, and the explanation of those appearances, so anomalous to Prof. Williamson, is evident when the structure is properly understood, by the aid of the more perfect specimen now figured herewith.

I have sought to commemorate the successful labours of the late Mr. Bean in exploring the fossiliferous beds of the Yorkshire Oolites, by dedicating this genus to him.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE IV.

Fig. 1. Beania gracilis, sp. nov. From a specimen in the Bean Collection, British Museum.

Fig. 2. Young female cone of Zamia muricata, Willd.

Fig. 3. Section of the same, showing the young seeds attached to the scales. Being
a longitudinal section only a single seed is seen connected with each scale.
Fig. 4. A single scale, with its two ripe seeds, of Macrozamia spiralis, Miq.
Figs. 1, 2, and 3 natural size. Fig. 4, two-thirds the natural size.

II.-GEOLOGICAL NOTES ON PARTS OF NORTHAMPTON- AND LINCOLNSHIRES.

By J. MORRIS, F.G.S.

LTHOUGH the geology of the Midland Counties has been con

Asiderably elucidated, still there appear to be some points con

nected with the position and nomenclature of the Lower Oolites which require re-examination.

Having long since published some observations upon this district,1 in which the position of certain beds was somewhat doubtfully given, I am desirous to recall attention to the conclusions then arrived at by myself, as well as to others bearing upon the district subsequently published.2

The geologist who has personally examined the strata between the Upper Lias and Cornbrash, as they range between Gloucestershire and Yorkshire, or who may have become acquainted with them from the writings of Strickland, Hull, Lycett, and Wright, in the south-western area, and of Phillips, Williamson, Oppel, and Leckenby, in the northern, must be aware of the great lithological (and in part palæontological) differences which exist in the two districts, and would probably infer, that beds of an intermediate character might be found in the countries lying between them.3

In the south-western area the Lower Oolitic series attains its normal development both in formations and thickness, and presents a character almost entirely marine. This series consists mainly of limestones with intercalated sandstones, and clays, rich in Testacea, Corals, and Echinoderms, with occasional traces of land-plants in the Stonesfield slates of the Cotteswolds, which become more abundant in the similar beds of Oxfordshire, where they are associated with Reptiles, Fishes, and Terrestrial Mammalia.

The series attenuates rapidly as we proceed easterly, (as pointed

1 See Brit. Assoc. Reports, 1847, p. 127, and Quart. Journ, Geol. Soc. 1853, Vol. ix., p. 317.

2 See Memoirs Geol. Survey of Great Britain, 1860, Description of Sheet No. 53, S.E, and 1861, Description of Sheet, No. 53, N.E.

3 See the interesting paper by Professor Phillips, "On some comparative sections in the Oolitic and Ironstone series of Yorkshire, Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. Vol. xiv,— "Neither can the Bath type of the Oolites be adapted to the midland districts of England without some important changes." (P. 86). Also Geol. York. i. p. 130.

out by Mr. Hull,) so that the Inferior Oolite, which attains a thickness of 250 feet at Leckhampton, is reduced at Stonesfield, near Oxford, to 15 feet. The Fullers Earth and Great Oolite are subject to similar variations. The former, as well as the Bradford clay, becoming thicker to the south, while the sands below the Inferior Oolite also vary in thickness in the same area.

Professor Phillips has alluded to a similar variation in the Yorkshire area, "The great series of sandstones, shales, coal plants, and ironstones lying above the Lias and below the Oolite of Gristhorpe, 500 feet thick in the Peak and the great range of cliffs at Staintondale, is only 270 feet thick near Thirsk, and is further reduced near Bransby, until on the banks of the Derwent it is scarcely traceable." (op. cit. p. 97).

The whole thickness of the south-western formation, where fully developed, is upwards of 600 feet. The marine conditions and cal careous character of the strata in this area is strongly contrasted with that of Yorkshire, where the limestones are extremely thin, and are intercalated with sandstones, clays, ironstones, and shales, containing an abundance of land-plants such as Cycads, Ferns, and Coniferæ, with beds of "Moorland Coal" accompanied with Unio and Estheria: the whole series having a somewhat corresponding thickness of 600 to 700 feet. Thus the difference of condition in these two districts of deposition is well-marked by the abundance of organic and chemically-formed deposits (limestones) in the one area, and of inorganic or mechanically-formed deposits (shales and sandstones) in the other. Besides which, in the latter area, the geological sequence between the Lias and Cornbrash is not complete, for the associated thin limestones contain fossils from which it is inferred that the whole series should be classed with the Inferior Oolite, the equivalents of the Great Oolite, Bradford Clay, and Forest Marble being there wanting; this view is taken by Dr. Lycett,' and also by Dr Wright.2 Dr. Oppel, however, whilst he includes the Lower Sandstone, Shale, and impure Limestone and underlying Dogger with the Am. Murchisona and Am. Humphriesianus zones of the Inferior Oolite, appears to consider the Upper Sandstone and Shale as belonging to the Bath Oolite formation. On the other hand, Dr. Oscar Fraas says, "In the north of England (Yorkshire), the lowercoal or moorland sandstone consist of a great local sandstone formation, with a large quantity of fragments of plants which is placed between 'the Inferior Oolite and the "Grey" Limestone of Phillips. But the Grey limestone of Yorkshire is merely what the Fuller's-earth of the south, the Marnes à foulon and the Marnes vésuliennes also are, the 8 of the Swabian "Brown Jura." 5

Professor Phillips, however, from the comparative sections given in the paper before alluded to, seems to be of opinion that the Oolite of Gristhorpe is the equivalent of the Bath Oolite, and that the over

1 Pal. Soc. Suppl. to Gr. Ool. Mollusca, p. 115. The Cotteswold Hills, p. 74.
2 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 1859. D'Orb. Prodrome, 1850.
Die Jura-Formation, p. 326, 333.
4 Ibid, p. 439.

5 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vii. Translations, p. 60.

lying shales and sandstones represent an upper part of the same formation.

It is to some points in the Geology of the intermédiate area that the following observations refer.

The Ferruginous Sand and Sand-rock, sometimes oortic, of Northamptonshire, formerly referred to the Inferior Oolite, but subsequently called the "Northampton Sands," and referred to the Stonesfield Slate (Great Oolite), immediately overlies the Upper Lias Clay, and vary in thickness from 20 to 60 feet.

This rock, presenting nearly similar lithological characters, and occupying the same stratigraphical position; may be traced more.or less continuously over the whole district through which the Nen and Welland flow. It is this rock which is now so largely explored ir many localities of the district for the extraction of iron-ore. It presents, however, some well marked zones (especially near Northampton) which differ in the amount of iron they contain, as well as in the abundance of their fossil remains.

In the neighbourhood of Northampton this rock, reposing on the Lias, is overlain by Sand, Sandstones, and clay, containing fragmentary plant-remains, which are again covered by a considerable thickness of hard and soft limestones, rich in fossils, mostly belonging to the Great Oolite, as may be seen in tracing a section from the lower part of Northampton, in an ascending series, by Kingsthorpe, to the quarries on the Moulton-road, near to which a shaft was sunk, through the Lias, to a considerable depth, in search of Coal. A similar sequence is also seen in ascending from the Canal, near the Railway Station at Blisworth, to the quarries in the Oolite above the village, which, as on the opposite side of the valley, is covered by Drift clay. Amongst the fossils of the Red Rock may be enumerated:-Tancredia axiniformis, Isocardia cordata, Trigonia v- costata, Quenstedtia laevigata? Hinnites velatus, H. abjectus, Ter. trilineata, Echinobrissus clunicularis, Hyboclypus agariciformis, Pygaster semisulcatus, Cardium Buckmanni, Pecten personatus, Ceromya Bajociana, Cypricardia acutangula, D'Orb. Macrodon Hirsonensis, Pecten demissus, P. personatus, Ostrea Marshii? Lima bellula, L. punctata, L. pectiniformis, Astarte elegans, Trigonia Phillipsi, T. costata, Pholadomya fidicula, P. Heraulti, Gresslya abducta, Chemnitzia vittata, Neringa cingenda, Am. bifrons? Am. corrugatus, Belemnites, Nautilus, all of which are characteristic of the Inferior Oolite. Some of these fossils are found in the same rock at Cranford and Woodford near Thrapstone, and other localities in this district.

Thus it appears that this rock, so persistent in character and fossil contents over a large area, should be assigned to the position in which it was originally placed-as described in Conybeare and Phillips, and later by Dr. Oscar Fraas," who remarks, under his section "Lower Brown Jura," that, "to the north of Bath, Sandstones re-appear in part as great local formations, as at Northampton

1

1 Outlines of Geology, England and Wales, 1821, p. 218.

2 On the Comparison of the German Jura with that of France and England. See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. vii. 1851, Translations, p. 58.

and Cheltenham, which are known as Inferior Oolite. These formations change from the coarsely Oolitic character, through all shades, to the finest sand, sometimes brown and ferruginous, sometimes white, with yellow bands (Arbury Hill). Ammonites Murchisona is certainly wanting, but Pecten personatus, Clypeus sinuatus, Pholadomya obtusa, and others are chiefly found."

Oppel refers these beds to the same period,' and Dr. Lycett2 also. In the Northampton area the White Oolites overlying the ferruginous bed do not appear to contain, in their lower beds, many forms of Mollusca belonging to the Inferior Oolite, as do those limestones to which we shall presently allude in the neighbourhood of Stamford. Species of Astarte, Nerinæa, and Trigonia, are found, and in the upper beds Pholadomya abundantly occur, frequently occupying the position in which they originally lived, as may be well seen in the quarries on the Moulton-road.

A somewhat similar arrangement of the same rocks may be found in ascending from the Wellingborough Station to Wollaston, where, however, beds equivalent to the Forest Marble occur, Terebratula digona being found in tolerable abundance, associated with other Great Oolite forms.

The next point for consideration is the position of the Collyweston Slates, which have been extensively worked in the neighbourhood of Stamford, since the time of Henry VII. Quarries may be seen at Wittering, Collyweston, Easton, Dene, and Kirby.

The geological position of these slaty rocks can therefore be clearly seen in many localities.

Thus, in the Valley of the Welland as of the Nen, the ferruginous Sand-rock before noticed overlies the Lias, and is covered by sand and concretionary calcareous Sandstones, which split horizontally after exposure, thus forming the so-called Collyweston Slates.

Overlying these are a series of cream-coloured marly limestones, as well as Ŏolitic rag-stones of some thickness, as seen in the quarries near Stamford, where they yield the so-called "Stamford marble,” also at Barnack, Casterton, Geeston, Ketton, and Collyweston, whilst further west at Morcot, similar compact limestones overlie slaty rock containing Lingula. It is these Lower Limestones which contain a series or group of Mollusca, which are considered in part to be characteristic of the Inferior Oolite, associated with similar species of Cycads and Ferns (Pecopteris polypodioides), as occur in the Oolitic shales of Yorkshire, whilst the Upper White Limestones include a fauna in which those forms are more rare.

In some quarries, as near Ketton, a line of separation is marked in the Oolitic rocks by definite perforations caused by Lithodomi, which clearly indicate a period of arrested deposition in this old seabed, during which these mollusks lived and inhabited the surface of the subjacent rock, already partly consolidated.

It is above these upper beds that the laminated Clays and Shales containing plants, with one or two species of Cyrena, showing their probable fluvio-marine condition, occur, as seen at Ketton and 1 See Die Jura-Formationen, 1856-58, p. 357. 2 The Cotteswold Hills, p. 73.

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