ely known to me, are
found, like the ores of Cumberland and Lancashire, in churns or caverns
formed in the upper beds of the mountain or carboniferous limestone. The
leaner ores contain a great deal of calcareous matter in the shape of
common limestone or spar, which reduces the percentage in the ore as low
as between 15 and 25 per cent., and it seldom exceeds 25, except when
mixed with fragments of what is called brush ore, which, when in
quantity, raises the percentage to 40 or 45. Brush ore is a hydrate with
protoxide of iron, and frequently, if not much mixed with calcareous
earth, contains from 60 to 65 per cent. of iron. These ores are found in
chambers, the walls of which are exceedingly hard limestone, crystallized
in rhombs. This limestone is called the 'crease,' and is frequently
found enveloped and covered with the iron ore. The miner has to cut his
way through this crystallized limestone from chamber to chamber, a
distance of from 20 to 100 yards, before he reaches the next of these
deposits, which are sometimes found to contain 3,000 or 4,000 tons of
ore. The principal part of the ore is then dug easily, somewhat like
gravel; but the sides of the chambers are often covered with the stony
ore before described, which requires gunpowder to detach it from the
rock." These various ores were found by the same excellent authority to
yield iron in the following proportions:--

Hydrates of Iron 57.5 per cent.
"Brush" Ore 64.5 ,,
Red Calcareous Ore 9.7 per cent.
"Blake Ore" 22 ,,

The inhabitants of the Forest consider the ores obtained on the east side
superior to those on the west. They likewise suppose, but probably
without foundation, that the ore will be found to deteriorate in
proportion as the workings descend. Red and yellow ochre of superior
quality occur in the iron veins, and have at various times been in
considerable request. They are now used in the neighbourhood for marking
sheep, and tinting whitewash.

Reverting to the limestone beds of the district, the lower veins are
locally called "blue stone," the middle "red stone," and the top vein the
"white head," which is largely used as a flux in the smelting furnaces.
The researches of Mr. R. Gibbs, of Mitcheldean, have enabled him to
furnish me with the following list of fossils discovered by himself in
the Forest limestone formation:--

_Zoophyta_