PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

COTTESWOLD NATURALISTS' CLUB

VOLUME II.

GLOUCESTER :

PRINTED BY N. PERRINS,
WK8TGA.TB STREET .

1860.

CONTENTS OF VOL. JI.

Pa-
President's Annual Address for 1854 .. .. .. 1 10

On Hand Bricks from the Island of Herm. By W. V._

GUISE, Esq. .. 11 14

Notes on British Ferns. By Professor BUCKMAN .. .. 14 1(5

A description of some new species of Echinodermata from the

Lias and Oolites. By THOMAS WRIGHT, Esq., M.D., (with

figures) .. .. .. .. 17 48

Upon a new species of Alpheres discovered upon the Coast of

Herm. By W. V. GUISB, Esq., F.L.S., F.G.S. . . 49 54

President's Address, 1856 . . . . . . . . i vi

Notes on the Natural History of the County of Gloucester. By

Professor BUCKMAN . . . . . vi viii

On Fossil Echinodermata from the Island of Malta (with figures).

By THOMAS WRIGHT, Esq., M.D., F.G.S., F.R.S.E. .. 55 117
On Perna Quadrata. By JOHN LYCBTT, Esq. ., ..118 120

On a new genus of Fossil Cidaridae, with a synopsis of the

species included therein. By THOMAS WRIGHT, Esq., M.D. 121 127
On some new species of Hemipedina from the Oolites. By

THOMAS WRIGHT, M.D., F.R.S.E., F.G.S. .. .. 128 130

Note on the Subgenus Limea, Bronn. By JONH LYCETT, Esq. 131

Remarks on the Inferior Oolite and Lias in parts of

Northamptonshire compared with the same formations in

Gloucestershire. By the Rev. P. B. BBODIE, M.A., F.G.S. 132 134
Notes on the Genus Quenstedtia. By JOHN LYCBTT, Esq. .. 135 137
President's Address, 1856 . . . . . . . . i v

Inundations in Ancient Corinium. By Professor BUCKMAN . . v rii
Annual Address, 1857. By Professor BUCKMAN .. .. i xli

Brief Notes on Cirencester High Cross (with plate). By

CHARLES POOLEY, Esq. . . . . . . xii xir

List of Birds seen in Siddington, Gloucestershire. By EDWARD

BOWLY, Esq. . . . . . . . . xiv xvi

President's Address, 1858 . . . . . . i vii

Notes on Bisley Cross (with plate) ; also a Communication on

Friar Bacon. By CHARLES POOLEY, Esq. . . . . viii x

Notice of some Rare Bats from the neighbourhood of Gloucester

and Cheltenham. By W. V. GUISE, Esq., F.L.S., F.G.S. xi xii
Remarks on the Lias of Barrow, in Leicestershire, compared

with the Lower Part of that formation in Gloucestershire,

Worcestershire, and Warwickshire. By the Rev, P. B.

BRODIB .. .. .. .. .. 139 141

On the Sands intermediate the Inferior Oolite and Lias of the

Cotteswold Hills compared with a similar deposit upon the

Coast of Yorkshire. By JOHN LYCETT, Esq. .. .. 142 149

On 1 lie discovery of Cnicus Tuberosus at Avebury, Wilts. By

Professor BUCKMAN, F.L.8., &c. .. .. .. 150 152

Note on the presence of the Fossil Genus Isodonta, Buv in the

English Jurassic Rocks. By JOHN LYOETT, Esq. . . 153 154

On some sections of the Upper Lias recently exposed at

Nailsworth, Gloucestershire. By JOHN LYCETT, Esq. . . 155 103
President's Address, 1859 .. .. .. .. 165 169

Notes on the Inferior Oolite Beds in the neighbourhood of

Bath. By W. V. GUISE, Esq., F.L.S, F.G.S. .. 170 175

President's Address, 1860 .. .. .. .. 176 197

On Rhynchonella Acuta and its affinities. By JOHN JONES , . 1 8

An Address to the Cotteswold Club, delivered on January the

31s/, 1854,

By T. BARWICK LLOYD BAKER, ESQ., President.

Eight Summers, my friends, I think I may say of enjoyment,
and we will hope of improvement, to all of us, have now passed
over our Cotteswold Club, and again at our Winter Meeting it is
my task to lay before you a slight reminiscence of what we, as a
club, have seen and done in the last two years.

Such a retrospect is usually made annually ; but a circumstance
occurred last year which, alas, threw us out of our usual course.
I need not call on those comparatively few who stood, in July,
1846, on Birdlip hill, around Sir Thomas Tancred, who had called
us together, and at his suggestion formed the plan of those plea-
sant rambles which, under his guidance, have given us for now
nearly eight years some of the most satisfactory and enjovable
days we have spent — I need not, I say, call on those few, but I
appeal to all who have since joined our gatherings, and have seen
how his love of science and his constant good nature and attention
to all have, up to last year held our club together — to say whether
the loss of such a man was not sufficient to throw us out of our
usual course, and excuse any breach of our regular routine.

True, he did not leave us without finding a successor. True,
that that successor has supplied the place right well — and truly
grateful are we to him for the zeal and kindness and attention he
has shewn to us, yet I think that even Professor Buckman will be
one of the first to join us in regretting the absence of Sir Thomas
Tancred.

But let us lose no time in vain regrets, as we have much to do.
On February the 10th it had been arranged that the Club should
meet at Bristol. Many of us came down on the previous evening,
and greatly enjoyed some hours spent at the house of Mr. King,
the celebrated optician, in seeibg a most interesting collection of
Diatomaceao and Desmideee, prepared by Thwaites, and beautifully
shewn by one of the finest and most complete microscopes ever
made for the reception of Boss's object glasses. The interest of
these, and of many other curious instruments — among them the
then new stereoscope — was much heightened by the kindness and
the happy explanations of Mr. King himself, and it was late ere
we returned to our inn.

The next day, after breakfast, we proceeded, under Mr. King's
guidance, to a most curious old house, now a bookseller's, but
formerly the residence of that princely merchant of Bristol,
Canynge, the re-founder of that architectural gem of the old city,
the church of St. Mary de Eedcliffe, where we afterwards saw his
tomb. The back part of the present shop was formerly a Chapel,
or Oratory, and remains if unimproved, at least unspoiled ; the
floor, and a gallery half way up the walls appear untouched since

2

Canynge's day, as does the very small room behind it, which was
probably the ordinary abode of the great merchant.

Thence we went to the Cathedral with its fine Norman Chapter
room, the Mayor's Chapel with its encaustic tiles and gorgeous
blazonries, and the newly decorated Merchants' Hall, and then
spent an enjoyable hour or two — all too short, in the Park Street
Institution.

Being here joined by several other Members of the Club,
amongst whom, one of the principal was, alas, our deeply lamented
friend Strickland, who brought with him his friend Mr. W.
Saunders, a geologist of repute, and well acquainted with the coun-
try, we agreed, though our winter meetings are usually confined
to the house — yet, as the day was fine, that we would .explore
the Gorge of the Avon, through whose magnificent cliffs of
mountain limestone the river has apparently forced its way,
presenting a series of geological phenomena, scarcely equalled for
interest and grandeur. The varied arrangement of geological
beds in this immediate vicinity, independently of the physical
changes and contortions to wnich they have been subjected,
renders the examination of the geology of the district highly
instructive. Here we see the Mountain Limestone and Mill-
stone Grit, at high angles of inclination, bringing up the Coal
Measures, which are succeeded by the New lied Sandstone series
and the Lias ; and, at a distance of three or four miles, Dundry
Hill presents its out-lying mass of inferior oolite. The latter
indeed we did not reach, but returned from a longer ramble than
our winter meeting usually permits, well satisfied though we
made no greater discoveries to science than a Conularia in situ at
the base of one of the cliffs quarried for road stone, which, so far
as any then present knew, had never before been observed in that
formation. If, however, we had done nothing to instruct or
enlighten the learned of the land, it was something not to be
despised, if we had in any degree enlightened ourselves by leading
our own minds to thoughts connected with the great truths of
nature. At least so thought simplehearted naturalists like —
Strickland.

After dinner Mr. Jones produced his drawings of the hierogly-
phics on the mummy presented by E. Hopkinson, Esq. to the
Literary and Scientific Society at Gloucester. But Mr. Jones
found that he had it not all to himself, for Mr. D. W. Nash, an
active member of the Syro-Egyptian Society, having come to dine
with us, a discussion on the interpretation of the heiroglyphs
ensued ; which had the effect of shewing to those ignorant of the
matter, like myself, how very nearly two men who have separately
studied even so abstruse a science as that of Egyptian hieroglyphs,
may bring their interpretations to the same point.

On Tuesday, May 4, 1852, the Club met at Cheltenham, and,
after breakfasting at the Lamb, proceeded, under the excellent
guidance of Dr. Wright, for Southam, whence, ascending the hill
to the Rising Sun, we turned to the right over the down of Cleeve

3

Cloud, stopping a few minutes to look at one of the finest views
in the upper part of the vale of Gloucester — wanting, indeed, the
variety afforded by the broad estuary of the Severn, as seen from
the hills nearer Bristol ; but shewing most grandly the beauties
of the upper part of the vale, with the Malveru and Abberley
hills on the one side and Bredon on the other.

After a walk over the down, we reached the quarries above
Postlip, but I fear that our Geologists found but little encourage-
ment from a most unfossiliferous bed of freestone ; while at
Postlip itself we should have much more enjoyed the sight of a
fine old mansion, (though now somewhat dilapidated and used as
a farm house,) had we not been previously somewhat saddened by
the sight of a once beautiful though small chapel, converted into
a cow-shed. All the information we could get, was that " It
hadn't been used as a chapel for twenty years, and, for aught
they could tell, not for fifty." Thrice the latter period would
probably have been nearer the mark.

Here we called a council of war, and agreed to form sections.
The one party continuing their geological examination of Cleeve
Hill, on the summit of which they lighted on a somewhat peculiar
bed of sand, while others walked on to Sudeley Castle, where,
though from the absence of the kind and hospitable owner we
were prevented from seeing the interior of the house, the exterior
well repaid our walk.

After dinner was read, — alas, in Mr. Buckman's absence, — his
interesting notice of a new sepiostarium, obtained from the Lias
Clays, at Cheltenham, remarkable as being so nearly allied to the
true sepias of our present seas : thus differing widely from the
Belemno-sepias, or Belemnites, which are so abundant in the
Lias. The present individual possessed a very perfect ink bag,
which, with its tube, measuring about four inches, was full of the
fossilized pigment, mineral sepia, from which drawings, illustra-
tive of the specimen, had been made by Professor Buckman.

On the 22ud of June, we met at Fairford, in a great measure
for the purpose of examining that most interesting collection of
the corals found in that neighbourhood, by Miss Slatter, whose
researches may yet throw a new light on the stratigraphical dis-
tribution of the rocks around Fairford. But the subject of corals
is one which is wont to give rise to such long though highly
interesting discussions, that, as we have plenty of work for this
evening, the corals shall be left to their rest.

We next went to the church, whoso magnificent windows of
painted glass were most ably illustrated and explained by Mr. J.
D. Thomas Niblet, whose long study of the subject makes us wish
much that we had a more fully published account of the church
from his pen and pencil. So thoroughly, indeed, is he " at home"
here, that at one period the only direction by which a letter could
find him was— J. D. Thos. Niblet, Esq., West Window, Fairford
Church.

The site of the Fairford Saxon graves, situated about one mile

A2

from the town, wns our next point ; but, as the investigations
under Mr. Wylie have long been discontinued, there was but
little visible evidence of those resting places of about one hundred
bodies of our Saxon forefathers, whose remains, corporeal and
ornamental, furnished Mr. Wylie with such curious evidence of
the manners and customs, arts and manufactures, of the ancient
Saxon race, as he has given us in his interesting volume, entitled
Saxon Graves. A few beads, from a cottager, furnished us with a
souvenir of the Saxon ; some of pottery inlaid with strips of glass
or enamel, others of amber. We know not whether this gum was
supposed to possess any extraordinary charm, but it appears to
have been much cherished by the Saxons, and the number of
beads of this description found at Pairford would fill two or three
pint measures.

On August 3rd we met in Gloucester and took the rail to
Chepstow ; a more scientific party may have occasionally met to-
gether, but not often a party more thoroughly disposed to enjoy
an exquisite day amongst exquisite scenery. We started from
Chepstow on a coach under the guidance of my excellent trooper,
Jem Dobbs, of the White Hart, who drove us to within a short
distance of the summit of the WindclifFe, whence we saw at our
feet such meanderings of the Wye, that a cannon-ball would cross
the river four times in its course to Chepstow Castle ; while, if we
raised the eye above the rock and wood;of the opposite bank, it met
the full range of the Cotteswold hills in the distance. Descend-
ing to the Moss Cottage, where we again found our vehicle, which
descent was performed by some via the path with steps leading
from the right of the summit, (where by the way we found the
Asplenium trichomaiics, growing in unusual luxuriance and
beauty), and by others, more adventurous, who determined to find
or make a way to the left, (by that extraordinary providence which
the Musselman believes to attach to certain classes none were
killed : Jem Dobbs still points out the scar of rock which one
came down) — by right or left all finally arrived at the bottom and
proceeded to Tintern.

I will not attempt to give any ideas of my own of this exquisite
Abbey, but, as I in right of my office as President, claim the right
of plagiarizing to any extent from the ideas of any of our mem-
bers, a privilege of which I avail myself largely, often without
acknowledging it, I will read Professor Buckman's ideas of it as
slightly better than any I could give of my own.

An examination of its details must leave the following impres-
sions upon a thoughtful mind :—

1st, The great economy of materials, every part being nicely
adjusted to the work it had to do.

2nd, The complete absence of constructive ornament, its carv-
ings are merely for the ornamentation of some useful and necessary
part of the structure, and in no instance is anything unnecessa-
rily obtruded so as to display ornament. -

3rd, The ornamentation has been so nicely balanced, that the

whole structure strikes one as perfection ; presenting an unity of
purpose which precludes the idea of what the Artist calls spotti-
ness.

4th, The work has been executed with such exactitude and
freedom of hand as seen in the capitals and bases of columns, in
the window mullions, and the bosses of the groined roof, as at
once must give us a lofty idea of the mechanical skill and the deep
heartfelt emotions with which the artificer, no less than the de-
signer of a sacred pile, were both actuated in past times.

The neighbourhood of Tintern is exceedingly rich in native
plants ; amongst which the Campanula latifolia, Hypericum andro-
sffimum, H. montanum, and Euphorbia platyphylla are remark-
able. The geology of the Wye is of great interest, in the masses
of old red sandstone conglomerate, standing out boldly on the
banks of the stream, supporting the superincumbent mountain
limestone.

[Returning to Chepstow Castle, we spent an hour among its
picturesque ruins, (observing, amongst other plants, that death-
like parasite the Orobanche hedera, or Ivy broomrape, growing
from the roots of the Ivy,) and then returned to the White Hart,
after examining and admiring the beautiful mechanical con-
struction, though in no degree whatever admiring the picturesque
beauty of that singularly hideous contrivance, the new railroad
tubular bridge.

On the 14th of September we met at Gloucester, and proceeded
in my break, which has gradually become dignified by the name
of the Club Omnibus, to Huntley. Here we divided, and while
some ascended May Hill, and enjoyed the glorious view we had
before seen and attempted to describe, others strolled through
the Silurian quarries of Longhope.

But, alas, there was a cloud on this meeting, which not the
view from May Hill, nor the interest of the Longhope quarries
could brighten. We were here to take leave of him who had first
called us together, who first suggested the idea of the Club,
and by his constant attention had hitherto held us together, and
endeared himself personally to every member.

We will say no more than to be thankful for two things.
First, that we have had several letters from him, speaking with
delight of his new home, where we will sincerely wish him every
happiness ; and secondly, for ourselves, that his place is filled by a
successor in every way so desirable as Professor Buckman.

Our Winter Meeting took place on January 31st, just twelve
months ago, at the house of your unworthy President, and glad
indeed would the said President be to think that the day at
Hardwicke afforded nearly aa much pleasure to the members as
their visit gave him.

We took a short walk, spite of wet and dirt, to the Reformatory
School, which has since then obtained an amount of public noto-
riety little anticipated ; in which, by the way, I have managed
somehow, unintentionally, to obtain for my own name the credit

due to that of Mr. Bengougli, as effectually as I am in the habit
of stating Mr. Jones's or Mr. Buckman's ideas in an address, and
passing them off as my own.

As I am, by the way, addressing a Club composed principally
of Gloucestershire men, I may perhaps be pardoned if I indulge
in a little quiet county boasting ; as it is not, I think, foreign to
the purpose of our Club to notice the deeds of good men of our
county. Hence we find that fifty years ago the gaols throughout
the world were in a state that nowadays we cannot read of without
much pain. I do not speak of the temperature being three de-
grees too hot or too cold, or the gruel too thick or too thin, but
I speak of the days when sprigs of rue were laid round the prison-
er in the dock ; a custom still continued in many places for
custom's sake, but then used in the hope of preventing those in
court from catching the gaol fever, which arose from the filth,
starvation, and misery, to which the prisoners were exposed, nay,
on one occasion, chroDicled as the Black Assizes, at Oxford, in
1577 : Baker's Chronicle, informs us that " all who were present
died within forty hours : the Lord Chief Baron, the Sheriff, and
about three hundred more."

Howard, to whose name be all honour, drew public attention to
the dreadful state of the matter, but it was reserved for a Glou-
cestershire Magistrate, Sir G. O. Paul, to invent a system which
should remedy the evil. This system was first carried out in
Gloucester gaol ; thence it was taken to America, and, they said,
greatly improved upon. It was tried in all parts of the world and
improved upon everywhere, till at last, after fifty years considera-
tion of the subject by all the world, after it had been improved
upon till it was greatly altered from the original plan, the last
great crowning improvement has been, to bring it back to nearly
what Sir G. Paul first made it.

This, Gentlemen, I hold to be a triumph gained for Gloucester-
shire, by our excellent old Chairman, worthy of the notice of a
Club who take an interest in all matters connected with the
county. And perhaps it may be not without interest to remark
that we do not appear to be retrograding, but that, as by Sir G.
Paul's labours, who followed out the triumphs of Howard, Glou-
cestershire was the first county that possessed a good gaol, so by
the energy of Mr. Bengough, who has followed out the system of
poor Captain Brenton, Gloucestershire is the first county that has
made adequate provision for the cure of its juvenile offenders.

Forgive me, Gentlemen, if I have said too much on this point,
but the kindness with which you have frequently allowed me to
digress has perhaps spoiled me.

From the School we walked over Acklow (or rather, I suspect,
Oakleigh,) hill, to the lias quarry of Elmore, where the insect
limestone was said to be opened to large extent ; but, if I remem-
ber right it was in the south western pit where Mr. Brodie found
the true bed.

Our dinner was marked by two circumstances— -First, the

alarming announcement that, instead of our usual subscription of
from one shilling to three and sixpence a year, a call was now to
be made, amounting to fifteen shillings. "When, however, it was
remembered that we had paid no subscription the previous winter,
we were somewhat pacified. When we thought of Dr. Wright's
most valuable papers, which he had read, and the exquisite speci-
mens he had produced to us of the Pteroceras Wrightii, and the
Echinoderms, of which copies were promised us, we were recon-
ciled ; but it was not till the work was actually produced, on May
3rd, and we were able to estimate the credit accruing to our Club
from the production of a work so valuable in its letter-press, and
so beautifully illustrated, as Dr. Wright's care has rendered it,
that we were quite happy.

The second, and more important, as well as more agreeable
feature of the day was, that amongst our visitors was the Eev P.
Symonds, of Pendock, a member of the Woolhope Naturalists'
Club, and President of that newly established at Malvern ; both
clubs, we believe we may venture to say, formed on our model.
If nothing had been seen or done on this day further than to
make arrangements for the meeting of our Club, which took place
on the 7th of June, and which laid the foundation, we trust, for
many future annual meetings — that alone would have been suffi-
cient to mark the day in the annals of our Club.

On May the 2nd, the Club commenced its summer rambles for
1853, at Gloucester, whence we proceeded by steamer down the
canal to Sharpness. The weather certainly did not favour us, but
it gave us a proof that the interest in the study of nature is not
so dependent upon mere weather as many might suppose. It
poured the whole day ! We went in the cabin of the steamer all
the way to Sharpness — we sat in the kitchen of the cottage
nearly all the time we were there — and we returned in the cabin
of the steamer. Yet interesting discussions filled up the greater
part of the time ; and particularly Mr. Buckman having crept out
into the garden for a few minutes, under an umbrella, had col-
lected a number of varieties of the common Primrose, which
afforded us, from simple elements, and in simple language, a
lecture such as Professor Buckman can give, revealing in a simple
form some of the great truths of the physiology of the vegetable
kingdom.

On the 7th of June was our great field day, on which we were
to appear, I may say, in the very respectable position of fathers
and grandfathers to the Clubs of Woolhope and Malvern. And
well did the day turn out, to realize our best hopes, though, alas,
a sad shadow is now thrown on our remembrance of it.

We of the Cotswold Club met at Gloucester, and, after break-
fast, proceeded in the Club Omnibus to near Eastnor, where
alighting and walking to the Valley of the White-leaved Oak, —
(alas, the name is merely traditionary, no white-leaved oak now
existing) — we met Mr. Symonds and many members of the
Malvern Club, and Mr. Lewis, the President, with a considerable

number of the Woolhopo Club. Proceeding along the ridge of
of that most interesting line, known as the Malvern Range, for
some distance under the guidance of our lamented friend Strick-
land, it will long live in the recollection of those who enjoyed it,
that he proposed a half hour's halt on one of the peaks, and,
while we lay on the greensward around him, gave us such a brief
but comprehensive lecture as few save Strickland could give,
on the vast and extraordinary disruptions which, as far as human
proof could shew, had caused the features of the exquisite land-
scape now spread at our feet : shewing how and at what period
that wondrous cliff on which we stood was reared, which though
now, from the washing away of its apex, stands but a few hundred
feet in height, must at one time, in all probability have towered
two miles in height above the Worcestershire vale, now stretched
at our feet ; while the latter, probably in those days and long
after, was a broad arm of the sea, separating England from Wales.

Deeply as we lament our loss of such a man, endeared to most
of us as a friend, as much as admired by all as one of the most
eminent naturalists of the day, I cannot but for my own part re-
joice that the last recollection we have of him was one so truly
characteristic.

Proceeding through Lord Somers's Park, where we examined
some of the Silurian beds, to the inn at Eastnor, (not having
time, alas, to make a digression even to see the mistletoe in the
oak, a short distance from the end of the ridgeway drive), we
reached the inn, and dined, to the number of sixty members of
the three Clubs ; the principal feature of the evening being, I think,
the appointment of a committee who undertook to draw up for us
a Flora of Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, and Herefordshire.
We trust that this may not be lost sight of. A most interesting
paper on fishes of his county, was read by Mr. Whateley, and one
by Mr. Lees, on the Malvern flora, and one by Mr. JDavies, of
Tewkesbury, on the natural history of the swallow.

On July 16, we again attempted the visit to Sharpness, the
pleasure of which, if not altogether lost, had been sadly diminished
by the rain ; and this time we were more successful. After
breakfasting at the Spread Eagle, at Gloucester, we embarked in
the Wave steamer, which took us down the canal to Erampton
bridge ; from whence we walked accross to Eretherne Cliff, and
returning to the canal proceeded by steamer again to near Pur-
ton Cliff, where the Lias and Silurian Strata appear in close
proximity. Erom hence we walked by the grand works of the
Basin at the mouth of the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal to
Sharpness Point, a small pleasure ground of Lord Eitzhardinge's,
which juts out boldly into the Severn, affording an exquisite view
of the lower part of the estuary down to Bristol and Chepstow.

On August 16, we made a new experiment in our Club, and,
emboldened by our previous success, we ventured to invite a large
party of Ladies to our meeting at Cirencester. Alas ! the weather
was less propitious than our fair guests. The latter came in con-

9

siderable numbers, but the rain poured down without ceasing.
Delightful walks through the Park had been proposed, but were
clearly out of the question. Never mind. If people are blessed
with good humour, and a determination to make the best of
circumstances, they are not easily defeated. We went to the
Church, where the kind Hector, Mr. Powell, occupied us well and
profitably in shewing and explaining to us the highly interesting
features of the building, which he has partially restored with
excellent taste.

"We then put ourselves under the guidance of Professor Buck-
man, to see the pavements discovered in the town, which he has
so ably illustrated in his " Corinium" and which we trust will
ere long be placed in a building now in actual course of erection,
under the care of Lord Bathurst, (who, I am sure, will forgive the
impatience with which the work is looked upon,) which will add a
feature of so great interest to the town.

After seeing these, however, a couple of hours still remained to
dinner, and the rain continued. We went to the Museum.
Perhaps we may be forgiven if we say that the room had not the
appearance of light and gaiety most captivating to Ladies.
Nevertheless, Dr. Wright, who understands his subject so truly
as to be never at a loss, taking his subject from a small collection
of echinoderms, but branching from thence into the general
principles of fossil zoology, gave us an off-hand but most interest-
ing lecture, which, with a reply by Mr. Buckman, allowed us
scant time to return to prepare for dinner.

After dinner the time was spent very agreeably, by examining
a large variety of drawings and specimens, and listening to a
very interesting discussion on the habits of the Hedge-hog.

On Sept. 20, the Club met to breakfast at Painswick House,
by the invitation of our hospitable member, Wm. Henry Hyett,
Esq. Mr. Gyde exhibited after breakfast a most perfect camera,
for taking photographs, I think in less than five seconds. We
then walked through the gardens to a beautiful collection of
Ferns, which were nourishing as they are rarely seen to do in a
newly planted collection, and returning to the house examined
the stained woods for the successful preparation of which Mr.
Hyett has long been celebrated, together with some trunks of
trees, now in the progress of absorption. The process is inte-
resting, independently of the staining of the wood, as presenting
several new and curious features in vegetable physiology.

One party then went to examine the Quarries near the Horse-
pools, while the remainder walked over Painswick Beacon, passing
the spot on which it is recorded that the unhappy Charles stood
with his sons, watching his army retiring from Gloucester, till
the eldest being tired, begged him to go home, and the monarch
made the sad but memorable reply, " My Sons, we have no home
to go to !"

Leaving the grand encampment which crowns the summit,
we proceeded to Pinknash Park, the seat of James Ackers, Esq.

10

where, in seeing his very curious and beautiful mansion, eating
his excellent luncheon, and seeing his magnificent Hereford
cattle, scarce time or appetite were left for the dinner at Pains-
wick.

Forgive me, Gentlemen, that I have detained you so long, but
as you have, alas, been shewn in the pecuniary affairs of the
Club, when we miss the payment of one year the next is likely
to fall heavy, so not having bored vou with an address this day
twelvemonth, you must now grumble as little as you can at a
heavier infliction this year. If, however, I have not spared you, I
think you will forgive a record of Meetings which, I may venture
to say, have occasioned so much enjoyment as those of the
Cotteswold Club.

11

On Hand-bricks, from the Island of Herm,
By W. V. GUISE, ESQ., F.G.S.

In the course of a ramble amoogst the Channel Islands, last
summer, iny attention was attracted by the unusual abundance of
those " cairns" of stones, known by the name of" Cromlech*"
which, in the little Islet of Herm, in particular, meet the eye
everywhere, in the vallies as well as upon the eminences, and
which, to the least poetical observer, lead the mind back to periods
of dim and remote antiquity, when it might well seem that the
vast Cyclopean masses around were

" Rear'd by the hands of giants,

In god-like days of old."

The exploring pick of the patient antiquary, however, speedily
dispels these imaginings, and dreams of white-robed priests, and
altars streaming with the blood of human victims, vanish before
the cold realities of Truth, and the supposed temple, or altar,
turns out, in every case which has been satisfactorily investigated,
to be a place of burial, a vault or catacomb, which has, in most
instances, been not merely the sepulchral chamber of an indivi-
dual, but has been evidently used for the purpose of interment of
many successive generations.

A vast proportion of those now visible (for many have been
destroyed and all vestiges of them removed during the last
century) have been explored by that able and indefatigable anti-
quary, Mr. C. F. Lukis, of Guernsey, whose papers, scattered
through the earlier volumes of the Archaeological Journal, have
thrown so much light upon this obscure subject. In his Museum
I first observed the baked clay clumps, or " Hand-bricks," as he
calls them, which I have the pleasure of laying upon the table this
evening ; and during a short visit afterwards to the Islands of
Herm I had an opportunity of investigating an almost inexhaus-
tible hoard of the same singular objects, stored up in a manner
and to an extent which would appear to defy the ingenuity of the
moat speculative mind to account for.

The site of this deposit in the Islands of Herm, is a sea-cliff of
sand, about 40 feet in height, resting upon solid rock, the spurs
of which projecting below, prevent the encroachments of the sea.
The sole outward indication of the buried hoard is to be found in
the appearance upon the surface of the cliff of extraordinary
quantities of limpet shells, scattered in profusion over the sand,
and which, taking their presence as a standard of measurement,
would seem to manifest an extension of the deposit to the distance
of nearly a quarter of a mile. It was the presence of these shells
in such unusual abundance which first drew the attention to the
spot of an intelligent fisherman, who had been employed by Mr.
Lukis, in assisting him in his researches, who, connecting these
shells with those found in such remarkable profusion in the

12

cromlechs which he had seen opened, was led to make excavations
•which resulted in the discovery of the vast storehouse of curious
ohjects similar to those now before us.

The soft and yielding nature of the sandy cliff offers but little
resistance to the pick and spade, and at the distance of little more
than three feet from the surface, are found the baked clay clumps,
to which have been given the name of " Hand-bricks," because, as
will at once be observable upon inspection, they have been formed
by simply moulding in the grasp a handful of kneaded clay, and
then stamping the ends upon flat boards or stones, in which state
they have been fired ; and their surface still bears the imprint of
the cuticle and fingers which were employed in their manufacture.
They are found, not lying indiscriminately, but packed together
with evident order, care, and arrangement, lying transversely over
and across one another, and, at intervals, as if to support the
weight and pressure, are placed a sort of rude flat bricks, shaped
as if formed without a regular mould, but merely pressed together
with boards ; the length I was not able to ascertain, having failed
in procuring a perfect example, but probably 14 or 16 inches.
Associated with these is a great abundance of broken pottery,
both baked and unbaked, mostly coarse and of the rudest manu-
facture, but here and there portions occur which bear marks of
the wheel, and of more careful elaboration. I have unfortunately
lost the only specimen illustrative of this fact which I possessed,
but it was apparently sun-dried, and of finer clay than any of the
examples now before us. Limpet shells innumerable are profusely
distributed throughout the deposit, which, from age, have parted
with their animal matter, and adhere more or less to the tongue.
The accompanying stone* was disinterred at the same time ; to
which I draw attention, as it will be seen, upon examination, that
it is not in its normal condition, but bears marks, in its bevelled
edge and smooth surface, of having been subjected to friction, and
made use of probably as a muller, in the manufacture of the clay
for the accompanying pottery.

The old fisherman who was my guide attributed the fabrication
of the " Hand-bricks" to the Druids, who, like other representa-
tives of unknown powers, are occasionally made responsible for
facts which cannot be referred to any known origin. Amongst
ourselves, Julius Caesar and " Old Scratch" divide the honour of
similar ascriptions. Mr. Lukis, however, informs me that the
period to which they may most probably be referred is the
feomano-British or Gaulish, but that this point is doubtful and
requires further elucidation.

It seems possible, indeed, looking to the isolated situation of
these islands, that their inhabitants may have remained in a rude
and barbarous condition, and have retained their primitive habits,
uses, and customs, for a considerable period after the tribes in-

* The Stone here referred to, together with specimens of the Hand-bricks
and Pottery, were laid upon the table at the time this paper was read, and are
now deposited in the Museum of the Royal Agricultural College, at Cirencester.

13

habiting the neighbouring continent may have been converted to
a more civilized mode of life. Thus it may not be impossible that
the ancient processes of manufacture, together with religious rites
and modes of interment, may have come down to a much later
date than even the Roman occupation of the adjoining continent.
We see instances in point now, amongst the barbarous tribes of
the Polynesian Islands, who, in spite of steam navigation, and
continual intercourse with more civilized nations, still cling to
their axes of jade and arrows tipt with bone ; and I have read,
that, within the last century, Pagan rites were celebrated upon
the Isle de Batz, and other islands upon the northern coast of
Brittany.

The purpose served by these "Hand-bricks" would seem to be
explained in some measure by their association with the broken
pottery, which goes to substantiate the supposition that they
were in some way used in the process of its manufacture, possibly
as a sort of rude furnace, which would have afforded a means of
economising wood, which is, and always must have been, scarce
upon those rocky islets.

Mr. Lukis informs me that similar substances, that is " Hand-
bricks" and " Pottery," have been found associated in Lincoln-
shire and in Romney Marsh — in the former place, it is said in
company with Roman fictile vessels. In Herm, he states, that
one fragment of true Samian ware was discovered in 1841. All
this would seem to point to the Romano-British period, were it
not that these same " Hand-bricks" have been found within more
than one cromlech, associated only with stone implements of the
rudest description. One such is mentioned by Mr. Lukis in his
second paper on the Primaeval Antiquities of the Channel Islands,
in the 1st vol. of the Archaeological Journal. The cromlech re-
ferred to was opened by him on the plain of L'Ancresse, in the
northern part of Guernsey, in which he states, "He found many
pieces of clay, of a peculiar form, from three to six inches in
length, made by rolling a piece of clay in the hand, and striking
each end against a board, and still bearing the mark of the inside
of the fingers and impression of the skin of the maker." " With
these," he adds, " were found no vestiges of any metal," "and the
many rude stone implements found with them made it evident
there were none then in use."

Hence arise doubts which can only be solved by further investi-
gation ; and when last I heard from Mr. Lukis, he informed me
that he was about shortly to undertake the exploration of a
hitherto undisturbed cromlech, in the hopes of finding further
evidences to elucidate this intricate subject.

In conclusion, I have only to state that I am mainly indebted
to Mr. Lukis, and to his published Papers, for any information
I may have been able to lay before you this evening, which, under
ordinary circumstances, I should hardly have ventured to attempt ;
but, as we number amongst us many who are interested in
Archieological pursuits, I trust that the novel and peculiar nature

14

of the substances which form the subject of my communication
this evening, may be held in some measure to justify me in
bringing under your notice a matter, which, though not included
within the range of Natural History, yet possesses in itself claims
upon the attention and sympathy of the enquiring mind, which
can hardly fail to meet with due appreciation amongst the Mem-
bers of the Cotteswold Club.

w. v. Q.

Notes on British Ferns.

By JAMES BUCKMAN, F.G.S., F.L.S., Professor of Geology
and Botany, in the Royal Agricultural College.

A slight acquaintance with plants will shew us that while there
are very many that ornament the earth with those showy or curi-
ous parts which we term flowers, there are others which do not
flower, or at least in the same way, and the differences of these
two groups may be summed up in the following manner :

1st, Flowering Plants. Bearing leaves whose modifications form
other leaves which are called "floral envelopes" (Calyx and Corolla);
further change makes (Stamens and Pistils) the latter of which
contains the germ and produces seed by its maturation.

2nd, Non-Flowering Plants, in which is no Calyx or Corolla,
and whose sexual organs, if they possess them, are concealed.

In the first or higher class of plants detached cells are produced
by the Stamen, and known as Pollen ; the contents of the Pollen
cell are received into a reservoir of the germ, now full of a saccharine
formative fluid, upon which they live arid propagate new cells, which
become united into different shapes, and covered with varied en-
velopes, and so compounded they separate from the parent plant,
and in this state are called seeds, the plumule of which consists of
young leaves. Seeds, therefore, may be viewed as separable buds,
protected in various ways, and wrapped up in the most convenient
form.

In the Non-flowering plants there are also separable cells deve-
loped, but here they are not sown in a sugary pabulum like pollen,
but, when separated from the plant, they appear to have the power
of reproducing other cells, each of which, in the lower tribes,
becomes an independent plant, whilst in the higher the cells do
not separate, but make up organs by aggregation, until a distinct
organ is set apart for the production of the separable cell, which,

15

in these, is the seed. Hence the reproduction, as shewn in the
two great divisions of plants, may be thus summed up :

In Flowering Plants.
A separable cell is formed. "Pollen,"
which is sown in the Pistil, and pro-
duces the embryo of a plant, " Seed,"
corresponding with the higher orders
of animal life, in which the egg is
hatched in the parent.

In Non-Flowering Plant*.
A separable cell becomes the future
Plant, without mediate gestation —
warmth, moisture, and surrounding
media — thus analogous to the produc-
tion of animals from eggs.

Now it is to the non-flowering plants that the Ferns helong, and
inasmuch as they have leafy appendages, whilst the Fungi have
not ; we hence form two groups of non-flowering plants, or,

ACOTTLEDONS.

a. Plants without leaves, sometimes forming a kind of crust or
Thallus (Thallogen*) — Fungi, Lichens, &c.

b. Plants with leaves, whose parts modify to produce spores,
seed, (Acrogens) — Mosses and Ferns.

Native Ferns present the following parts : —

A root, more or less fibrous, sometimes springing from an
underground stem, Rhizome ; this is the true stem of the plant,
the which, growing upright, constitutes the tree fern of the tropics.

Leaves (Fronds of the Botanist), consisting of a leaf-stem
(Stipes), which sending out fibres right and left, covered by ex-
pansions of the bark, constitutes the green leaf-matter. The
frond may be entire as in the Hartstongue, simply winged as in
the common Polypody and Hard Fern, or doubly winged as in the
Lady Fern ; the first divisions being termed pinna, the smaller
ones pinnulce.

Fronds of Ferns are distinguished from the leaves of flowering
plants, 1st, by an involute method of growth, the young leaf being
rolled over like a shepherd's crook or pastoral staff.

In the compound fronds aestivation proceeds as follows: — The
frond gradually unfolds lengthwise. Then the pinnae unroll. The
pinnulae follow, and the more or less divided leaf is exposed to
view.

2nd, The ramifications of its woody fibre, forming " leaf veins"
are always in a bifurcate or fork-veined form.

Seeds are the result of the gradual separation of a cell destined
for reproduction, and which are thus produced : — 1st, The Capsule,
which, in some examples, as the Shield Fern, consists of a mem-
branous case having a row of cells involuted around it, forming a
spring to liberate the sporules. Or the pinnulae are metamor-
phosed into seed cases, as in the Eoyal Fern. Bunches of the
former are called Sori — the cases of the latter Theca.

The number of seeds produced on a single Fern may be esti-
mated by the following calculation, arrived at from an examination
of the Aspidium Filix Mas, Male or Shield Fern.

16

A capsule contains 20 cells, sporules. A son consists of 40
capsules. Each pinnulro has 6 sori. There are 22 pinnulsB to each
pinnro. There are 40 pinna* to each frond. There are 8 fronds
to each root.

Hence 20 X 40 X 6 X 22 X 40 x 8 = 33,792,000.

The necessity for the production of so many seeds is explained
when we consiaer that ferns cannot grow everywhere ; hence the
casualties to which they are liable are amply provided for.

The clusters of capsules, in most instances, begin forming be-
neath the epidermis, and attach to the nervures on the under side
of the frond, the epidermis remaining as a protective covering
until the seeds are ripe, when it dries up. The form and disposi-
tion of this membrane, which is analogous to the Calyx, differs in
different genera and species ; it is called an Involucre or Indusium.

In as far as British Ferns are concerned, we may divide them
into genera, depending upon the presence or absence, the disposi-
tion, and form of the parts heretofore described. The species
being dependent, for the most part, upon the form of the divisions
of the frond.

TJie following is a List of the Genera of the 'British Ferns.

1. Sori nude. That is, not ( \'
covered by an Indusium. \ l

2. Sori, covered by an Indu-
sium.

4. Aspidium.

5. Cystopteris.

6. Asplenium.

7. Scolopendrium.

8. Pteris.

9. Cryptogramma.

10. Bleclmwm.

11. Adiantuni.

3. Thecae (Seed vessels) Open C 12. Trichomenes.

cases at the edges of the \ 13. Hymenophyllum.
leaves.

ThecsB, closed capsules, split- ( 14. BotrycJiium.
ting by a pore. < 15. Osmunda.

Opliioylossum.

( 14.
< 15.
^16.

Edwin Baily, Printer, Cirenccster.

VolZ.PU.

1 a,_i CidarisEclwarclijn
2.a,-c , Bouohardii

3 a^c. Heiniciiar:^ /IUROV

4 a-^r., P&cbn^Bauwri

17

Contributions to the Paleontology of Gloucestershire : — A descrip-
tion, with Figures, of some new Species of Echinodermata from
the Lias and Oolites. By THOMAS WRIGHT, M.D. &c., Pro-
fessor of the Natural Sciences in the Cheltenham Grammar
School.

READ 4xn MAY 1852.

Cidaris Edwardsiit Wright. PI. I. fig. 1, a-f.

Test crushed, the form therefore unknown. Ambulacral areas
narrow, with two rows of small perforated tubercles, and
smaller perforated ones interspersed amongst them ; interam-
bulacral areas about four times the width of the ambulacral,
having two rows of large tubercles with confluent areolas ; the
primary spines long, with a compound structure ; the secondary
spines short with blunt apices, the surfaces of both sculptured
with delicate longitudinal lines ; mouth armed with powerful
jaws, each with three prominent tricarinated ridges. Upper
part of the test and ovarial disc unknown.

Description. — It is much to be regretted that no other speci-
men of this noble Urchin but the one before us has been ob-
tained from the Lias of Gloucestershire, and as the specimen
exhibits only the lower half of the test, many points of its ana-
tomy remain unknown; enough of its structure, however, is
shown to enable us to point out some important affinities and
differences in this rare species.

The narrow ambulacral areas are provided with two rows of
small perforated tubercles, amongst which smaller tubercles are
irregularly scattered; these tubercles all support short stout
spines with a minutely sculptured surface, and which are abun-
dantly preserved in situ on the specimen. The wide poriferous
avenues are occupied with large oblong pedal pores with very
thin partition-walls between them, a circumstance which forms
a good diagnostic character between C. Edwardsii and C. Fowlerit
which it very much resembles in many points of structure, the
pores in C. Fowleri being small and separated by thick partition-
walls. The interambulacral areas are four times the width of
the ambulacral, and are occupied by two rows of large tubercles
set closely together in a vertical direction, so that the areolas
above and below are quite confluent throughout.

VOL. II. C

18 Dr . T. Wright on new Species of Echinodermata

The imperfect condition of the shell prevents us from ascer-
taining the precise number of these tubercles there were in each
row, but judging from the number (eight) contained in an im-
perfect column, we suppose there could not have been less than
from twelve to fourteen ; they increase gradually in size from
the mouth upwards, and are of a moderate magnitude when
compared with the shell they adorn. The areolas are small and
not prominent, and the tubercles are deeply perforated. The
space between the two rows of tubercles is wide and filled with
close-set miliary tubercles, most of which are raised on eleva-
tions, and have their summits perforated; these all support
small spines, which are well preserved in situ in our specimen.

The spines are of two kinds — those articulated with the large
tubercles (the primaries), and those articulated with the small tu-
bercles (the secondaries). The primary spines exhibit a peculiar
structure : the head is large, increasing gradually in diameter
from the articulating cavity to the circular band ; the rim of the
acetabulum is coarsely and deeply crenulated, and the raised band
is prominent, narrow, and finely milled ; the neck tapers gradually
from the band to the point where it joins the stem, which has the
same structure as the head, and its surface is delicately sculp-
tured with fine longitudinal lines ; the stem is united to the
neck by an oblique harmonia suture. The structure of this part
of the spine differs from that of the head and neck; in the
spines denuded of their external layer, it has a horny semi-
transparent appearance ; in those in which this layer is pre-
sent the surface is sculptured with longitudinal lines of micro-
scopic delicacy, and there are numerous small processes, having
their points directed forwards, arranged with some regularity in
rows. The stem is circular or slightly compressed; but as
none of the spines are complete, a part having been broken
off, we are unable to ascertain their length. The secondary
spines are very uniform in size and structure, and are abun-
dantly preserved in situ ; they measure from /pths to ^ths of
an inch in length and are round, and have their surface orna-
mented with fine longitudinal lines. The mouth is armed with
a powerful dental apparatus : three of the jaws are very promi-
nent ; the external surface of each is strengthened by three pro-
minent ridges ; the teeth are large, but are fractured. As the
under surface of the test only is shown, we are unable to describe
the ovarial disc and the dorsal surface thereof.

Affinities and differences. — This Urchin belongs to the same
group as C. Fowler i and C. maxima, Goldf. It resembles the
former in the form and structure of both areas, and in the gra-
dual development of the primary tubercles from the mouth
upwards. It is distinguished from that species, however, by the

from the Lias and Oolites. 19

greater size and uniform perforation of the miliary tubercles, but
above all by the form and structure of the primary spines.
Having ascertained that our conjecture * relative to the spines
of C. Fowleri is correct, from having seen a specimen recently
found with some spines attached to it, we can speak positively
upon this point.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — Found by Mr. G. E.
Gavey, C.E., in the upper shale beds of the Lower Lias at
Mickleton Tunnel near Chipping Campden. It was associated
with Pentacrinus Goldfussii, Wright, Ophioderma Gaveyi, Wright,
Uraster Gaveyi, Forbes, and Ammonites planicosta, Sow.

History. — Isolated plates of this species have been found in
beds of the same geological horizon in other localities of the
county of Gloucester, but the specimen before us is the only
one from which the anatomy of the Urchin could be made out.
We dedicate this species to Prof. Milne-Edwards, of the Museum
of Natural History at the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, as a tribute
of gratitude for the pleasure and profit derived from the study of
his admirable monograph on British Fossil Corals.

Cidaris Bouchardii, Wright. PI. I. fig. 2, a-c.

Test circular, depressed ; ambulacral areas narrow and flexuous ;
interambulacral areas with two rows of primary tubercles, 5-6
in each row ; the areolas of the small mammillary eminences
deeply excavated, and surrounded by an elevated ridge, on
which a distinct circle of granules for each areolar space is

Dimensions of the largest specimen. Height £Jths of an inch,
transverse diameter 1 inch and /^ths.

Dimensions of a moderate-sized specimen. Height J^ths of
an inch, transverse diameter 1 inch and ^jths.

Description. — It was for some time doubted whether the young
forms of this Urchin were not the C. elegans, Goldf., but a com-
parison of several individuals of our fossil with a typical spe-
cimen of Goldfuss's species, kindly sent us by our friend Dr.
Roemer of Bonn, which he had identified with the original
C. elegans in the Bonn Museum now under his care, has con-
vinced us of their distinctness. The test of our Urchin is
circular and much depressed from the great flattening of both
poles ; the ambulacral areas are narrow and slightly flexuous,
and have two rows of small marginal granules set nearly op-
posite to each other throughout the areas. The poriferous
avenues are much depressed, and the pairs of pedal pores are

* Annals of Nat. Hist. Oct. 1851.

c 2

20 Dr. T. Wright on new Species of Echinodermata

disposed in a single tile. The intcrambulacral areas are about
five times the width of the ambulacral, and have two rows of
primary tubercles of moderate size, with from five to six in each
row. The mammillary eminences on which the tubercles are
supported are surrounded by areolas deeply excavated out of the
substance of the test plates ; the margin bounding the areolas is
raised into a ridge on which a distinct row of close-set granules is
disposed, so that each tubercle is thereby separated from its fellow;
the elevation of the marginal ridges produces a zigzag depression
down the centre of the areas, which is covered with a small
close-set granulation. The mouth-opening is small and circular,
and lies in a slight depression ; the apical disc is absent in all
the specimens that have yet been found. The crenulations on
the mammae are small, but distinct, and the tubercles are of
moderate size and not deeply perforated.

Affinities and differences. — This Urchin has many affinities with
C. coronata, Goldf., and C.propinqua, Miinst., and has been cata-
logued as the former by some authors ; it is therefore important
that we should point out the diagnostic characters by which it is
distinguished from them. In both these corallian forms the am-
bulacral areas have four rows of granules, whilst in C. Bouchardii
there are only two rows. From C. propinqua and C. coronata
it is further distinguished by having more rows of primary
tubercles in the interambulacral areas, in having the areolas
smaller and more deeply sunk, the tubercles proportionately
smaller, and the marginal circle of granules smaller and set
closer together. With C. marginata, Goldf., it has some affinity
in the excavated style of its areolar spaces, but it is distinguished
from this beautiful form in having the tubercles smaller and
more numerous. In C. marginata the ambulacral areas moreover
are broader and more prominent, and they support four rows of
small granules, whilst in C. Bouchardii there are only two. With
C. elegans, Goldf., it has no resemblancewhatever; it belongs there-
fore to a different group of Cidarites than these foreign corallian
forms. From C. Fowleri, nobis, it is distinguished by having
narrower and more deeply concealed poriferous avenues, fewer
primary tubercles in the interambulacral areas, and deeper exca-
vated areolar spaces with a more elevated marginal rim around
them : these characters serve to distinguish C. Fowleri from
C. Bouchardii at a glance, and the same diagnostic traits separate
it from C. Edwardsii, nobis.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — We have found this spe-
cies in the Pea-grit of the Inferior Oolite of Crickley, Leck-
hampton, and Birdlip Hills, Gloucestershire, but have never met
with any traces of it in the Upper Ragstone beds so rich in
Urchin forms. Some separate plates collected from the Bradford

from the Lias and Oolitet. 21

clay near the Tctbury Road Station, Great Western Railway,
closely resemble this form ; but as no entire specimen, that we are
aware of, has been found, it is impossible to state whether it has
a wider range in the higher beds of the lower division of the
Oolites or not.

We dedicate this species to our friend M. Bouchard Chantereaux
of Boulogne, to whom we are indebted for some beautiful and
rare specimens of Echinoderms and other fossils from the rocka
of the Boulonnais, most kindly contributed by him to aid us in
the composition of these memoirs.

Hemicidaris minor, Agassiz. PL I. fig. 3, a-c.

SYN. Hemicidaris minor, Agassiz, Catalogus Systematicus, p. 9 ;

Agassiz and Desor's Catalogue raisonne des Echinides, Annales

des Sci. Nat. torn. vi. p. 339.
Acrosalenia rarispina, M'Coy, Ann. of Nat. Hist. 2nd Series, vol. ii.

p. 411.

Test hemispherical above, flat at the base; ambulacral areas
slightly flexuous, not prominent, with six large tubercles at
their base, and four rows of small unequal-sized granules in
the middle, diminishing to two rows in the upper part of the
areas ; interambulacral areas three times the width of the am-
bulacral, with three primary tubercles on the upper surface
and three smaller ones at the base ; the wide intertubercular
spaces are covered with small distinct nearly equal-sized gra-
nules, which form complete circles around the margins of the
areolas of the primary tubercles ; the apical disc is of mode-
rate size, and its ovarial plates are covered with a delicate gra-
nulation ; base flat, mouth-opening large and decagonal ;
pores arranged in the avenues in a single file throughout.

Height /Gths of an inch, transverse diameter ?%ths of an inch.

Description. — This beautiful little Urchin was first discovered
in the etage Bathonien of Langrune, Calvados, the true equiva-
lent of the Great Oolite of English geologists ; it was entered
in M. Agassiz's ( Catalogus Systematicus* ' as Hemicidaris minor ,
from specimens sent to him by M. Michelin ; it afterwards found
a place in the ' Catalogue raisonne des Echinides ' of Agassiz and
Desor, accompanied with this remark : " Se distingue entre tous
les Hemicidaris par les tubercules tres espaces, dont il n'y a que
deux ou trois dans une rangee. — Terrain Jurassique de France.—
Michelin." Professor M'Coy, in his paper " On some new Me-
sozoic Radiataf," afterwards described this Urchin under the

* Catalogus Systematicus Ectyporum Echinoderm. FOM. Mus. Neoco-
mensis, 1840.

t Annals of Natural Ilistorv, 2nd Series, vol. ii. p. 411

22 Dr. T. Wright on new Species of Echinodermata

name Acrosalenia rariajtiiia, giving the Great Oolite of Minchin-
hamptou for its locality. As that gentleman has kindly favoured
us \\ith pen-and-ink sketches of the species described as new in
that paper, we have no difficulty in deciding on the identity of
his specimen. Moreover we have ascertained the collection from
whence it originally came. The error committed by this learned
author in the genus must have arisen from the disc in his spe-
cimen having been covered with "adhering siliceous matrix,"
and from his having overlooked the very remarkable character
pointed out by Agassiz, " les tubercules tres espaces." We have
been fortunate to receive a typical specimen of the original spe-
cies from the Great Oolite of Langrune, through the kindness
of our friend Professor Deslongchamps ; we have compared the
French Urchin with specimens obtained from the same locality
as that from whence Prof. M'Coy's was collected, and there is not
a shadow of a doubt about their perfect identity. We have
figured in detail this beautiful and singular form, to prevent the
possibility of mistakes occurring about it in future.

This pretty little Hemicidaris is very distinct from all others of
the group to which it belongs : the test is nearly hemispherical,
and the few primary tubercles stand prominently at great di-
stances apart from the surface of the test. The narrow ambulacral
areas are slightly flexuous above, and have from four to six large
perforated tubercles at their base only, the sides and upper part
of the areas having first four, and then two rows of small imper-
forate granules upon their surface about equal in size to the gra-
nulation which covers other parts of the test. The poriferous
avenues are depressed, and the pedal pores are disposed in pairs
throughout. The interambulacral areas depart considerably from
the typical structure of this portion of the test in other Echinida3 ;
they are three times the width of the ambulacra, and have at
their base three large primary tubercles, two on one side and one
on the other, with a smaller tubercle above the single large one ;
on the sides and upper part of the areas there are only three
primary tubercles, two on one side and one on the other, making
only three pairs of primary tubercles in the interambulacral areas,
those of the base being closely set together, and those on the
sides at great distances apart ; the tubercles are large and hemi-
spherical and only slightly perforated ; the mammillary eminences
which support them are small and ring-like with faintly marked
crenulations, and the areolas are rather wide and only slightly
grooved, so that the tubercles project prominently and abruptly
from the surface of the test. The margin of the areolas is en-
circled by a row of granules rather larger than those which cover
the rest of the intertubercular surface of the plates ; here the
granules arc close-set and disposed without much regularity.

T01Z. FIJI.

Prmtoi WKull

1 a,_cl, Aoroaalenia, crinifera.

2 a_e, Dut<irma, D,stvid.-

3 s^-di, . Moorei

4 a-_e. PolycyplauB

. luclr elites

from the Lias and Oolites. 23

The apical disc is of moderate size and slightly prominent; the
five ovarial plates are laru'- and of a heptagonal form, the ocular
plates are small and heart-shaped, and the surface of both is
covered with a close-set delicate granulation ; the anal opening
is nearly central and circular ; the base is flat ; the mouth-
opening is large and widely decagonal from the great span of
the ambulacral arches, and the comparative smallness of those
of the interambulacra. The spines are as yet unknown.

Affinities and differences. — This remarkable little Urchin is so
entirely different from its congeners, that it is impossible to
mistake it for any other of the group to which it belongs. The
presence of tubercles at the base of the ambulacral areas only,
and of granules on the sides of these spaces, associate it with
H. diademata, but the small number of the primary tubercles on
the interambulacra, added to the great distance at which they are
placed apart, serve to distinguish it from the young of that spe-
cies ; in fact, these characters alone are perfectly diagnostic of
H. minor among all other forms of Hemicidaris.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — It was first found in the
" Grand Oolite " of Laugrune, Calvados, from whence the beau-
tiful specimen before us was obtained, and kindly sent by Pro-
fessor Deslongchamps of Caen. We take the present opportunity
of recording our grateful acknowledgements to that eminent na-
turalist for his kindness and courtesy, not only in contributing
specimens to our cabinet for comparison and reference, but
likewise for communicating many rare species of oolitic Echi-
nidse which served as the types of several of M. Agassiz's spe-
cies, and which specimens have been of much service in clear-
ing up doubts as to the identity of some other English forms.
H. minor was collected in this country by W. Walton, Esq., from
the Great Oolite of Hampton near Bath.

History. — First named by M. Agassiz from specimens in
M. Michelin's cabinet ; afterwards described as Acrosalenia ran-
spina by Prof. M'Coy from specimens in the Cambridge Museum,
which came from Mr. Walton's series collected near Bath ; it has
never yet been found either by Mr. Lycett or ourselves in the
Great Oolite of Minchinhampton.

Acrosalenia crinifera, Wright. PL II. fig. 1, a-d.

SYN. Echinus minutus, Buckman, Geology of Cheltenham, 2nd ed.

p. 95.
Cidarites criniferus, Quenstedt, Handbuch der Petrefactenkunde,

tab. 49. fig. 32. p. 574.

Test circular, depressed; ambulacral areas narrow, \\ith t \\orows
of microscopic tubercles placed at some distance apart on cadi

24 Dr. T. Wright on new Species of Echinodermata

side of the areas, those of the right side alternating with those
of the left ; interambulacral areas with two rows of primary
tubercles, 9-10 in each row, so disposed that the test appears
to possess only ten rows of primary tubercles nearly equidistant
from each other ; spines long, numerous and hair-like.

Height jj^jths of an inch, transverse diameter ^ths of an inch.

Description. — This singular little Urchin has been long known
to collectors, and has been often a puzzle to them, for although
a few specimens have been collected in a tolerable state of pre-
servation, still for the most part the test is much injured by
pyrites ; under the most favourable circumstances, it requires a
good lens and much patient study to make out the details of its
structure. It was first found in the black shales of the lower
Lias near this town, and recently, with its hair-like spines at-
tached to the test, from the same bed near Gloucester, when ex-
cavating the new docks of that city ; it was there associated with
Ammonites oxynotusy Quenst. It is difficult to say whether this
tiny Urchin is a Hemicidaris or an Acrosalenia, and the absence
of the apical disc leaves the question unsolved; we incline to the
opinion that it is an Acrosalenia from the structure of the am-
bulacral areas, the shape, length and development of the spines
when compared with the diameter of the test, the spines being
more than four times the diameter of the latter ; be this however
as it may, it is neither an Echinus nor a Cidaris, as previous
authors have supposed. The ambulacral areas are narrow, with
two rows of small marginal tubercles not much larger than the
common granulation of the test ; these tubercles are placed in
each row at some distance apart, and the tubercles of the one
side alternate with those of the opposite side ; between these rows
of tubercles the surface of the plates is adorned with a delicate
granulation, which is arranged into a zigzag line ; the tubercles
are very uniform in size and distribution throughout the areas,
and do not increase at the base thereof, as is the case in the ge-
nus Hemicidaris. The interambulacral areas are wide, and have
two rows of primary tubercles, from 9-10 in each row; their
mammillary eminences have well-defined areolas, the summits of
the mammae are deeply crenulated, and the tubercles are small
and widely perforated ; the areolas are confluent above and be-
low ; between the two rows of tubercles an elevated band extends
from the mouth to the apical disc, composed of from 4-6 rows
of unequal-sized granules. When viewed at the equator with
the naked eye, this Urchin appears to possess only ten rows of
tubercles placed nearly equidistant from each other ; but when
examined with an inch object-glass under the microscope its
true structure is disclosed, — the narrowness of the ambulacral

from the Lias and Oolites. 25

areas, the closeness and smallness of their rows of tubercles, the
granular band down the centre of the interambulacra, find the
unequal size of its component tubercles, alike contribute to make
the deception almost complete.

The most remarkable parts of the structure of this tiny fossil
are the spines, which in some crushed specimens are preserved
in situ ; they are long, delicate and hair-like, and have large
articular heads ; these spines look like so many bristles laid down
in all directions upon some slabs of the Lias shales ; in a crushed
test of four-tenths of an inch in diameter the spines measured an
inch and a half in length.

Affinities and differences. — The only Cidarites for which A. cri-
nifera is likely to be mistaken are Diadema Moorei and Pedina
Etheridgii ; from the former it is easily distinguished by the nar-
rowness of the ambulacral areas and the smallness of the tubercles
thereof; from the latter it differs in the comparative smallness of
its ambulacral areas, and above all in having the mammillary
eminences of its tubercles deeply crenulated, a character which is
absent in all the Pedinas we know ; at present we know of no
other Urchin in the Lias for which it can be mistaken.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — A. crinifera has been
found only in the lower shales of the lower Lias near Lans-
downe, Cheltenham, and in the same stratum near Gloucester j it
is associated with Turrilites Valdani, D'Orbig., and Ammonites
oxynotus, Quenstedt. It has been collected by Prof. Quenstedt
in the lowest schist of the " Posidonienschiefer von Pliensbach
bei Boll " in Wiirtemberg. We have before us now two slabs
of this curious bed ; one surface of the slab is covered over with
the long hair-like spines strewed about in all directions, with
here and there the crushed test of one of these Urchins with its
spines attached and in situ.

History. — Described by Mr. Buckman under the name Echinus
minutus, but previously noticed by M. Quenstedt in his work
on the Flcetzgebirge of Wiirtemberg ; it has been recently figured
by him in his ' Handbuch der Petrefactenkunde/ under the name
Cidarites criniferus.

Diadema Davidsoni, Wright. PL II. fig. 2, a-e.

Test depressed, circular; tubercles elevated upon prominent
mammillary eminences ; pores in a single file throughout ; a
few small secondary tubercles in the interambulacra ; the pri-
mary ambulacral tubercles nearly as large as those of the
interambulacra.

Height /fiths of an inch, transverse diameter 1 inch and /Oths.
Description. — This beautiful Urchin has a regular circular

26 Dr. T. Wright on new Species of Echinodermata

not at all inclined to the pentagonal form of many of its
oolitic congeners. The ambulacral areas are three-fourths the
width of the interambulacral areas, and are nearly of a uniform
width throughout, tapering slightly and gracefully inwards to-
wards their superior third; the contraction assumes the form
of a gentle curve slightly inclined towards the centre. The
double row of tubercles gradually increases in size from the
mouth to the equator, where three pairs are about the same size ;
from this point upwards they gradually decrease, and terminate
in two pairs of minute rudimentary tubercles at the disc. A
single row of granules, arranged in a zigzag form, separates the
primary tubercles from each other, a larger granule marking each
of the angles. There is no granulation or other sculpture be-
tween the mammillary eminences of the tubercles and the pori-
riferous avenues. There are from twelve to thirteen pairs of
tubercles in each area. The interambulacral areas are nearly
y^oths of an inch in width, and ^th wider than the ambulacral
areas; they retain their width uniformly throughout, and are
occupied by two rows of primary tubercles, nine to ten in a row,
the mammillary eminences of which are large and prominent,
and separated from each other by two rows of small granules
which extend only a short distance beyond the equator; the
remaining space between their termination and the disc being
destitute of sculpture, where likewise the areas are slightly de-
pressed ; and a single row of granules rises on the external side
of the tubercles, with here and there a secondary tubercle towards
the basal portion of the test.

The poriferous avenues are very narrow : the pedal pores are
arranged in a single file, only three or four additional pairs being
introduced in the increased spaces around the circumference of
the mouth. The tubercles of both areas are of moderate size, but
exceedingly prominent, in consequence of being elevated upon
large mammillary eminences, the apices of which are deeply cre-
nulated. The tubercles of the ambulacral areas at the equator
are not much less than those of the interambulacral areas, but
upon the upper surface of the test they become much smaller
and more numerous,

The mouth is decagonal and of moderate size : the arches over
the bases of the ambulacral areas are about one-third greater in
span than those across the interambulacra. The disc is absent
in all the specimens, four in number, that we have seen.

Affinities and differences. — This species resembles Cidarites
(Diadema) mamillanus, Roemer, in the prominence of the tuber-
cles and depression of the test; but Roemer's figure* is so indi-

* Die Versteinerungen des Norddeutschen Oolithen Gebirges, pi. 2.

from the Lias and Oolites. 27

stinct and devoid of details, that it is impossible to institute a
strict comparison between our Urchin and the one figured by
him. The difference between D. Davidsoni and D. subangulare
is so marked that it is impossible to mistake them — the penta-
gonal outline, large tubercles, wide granulated space between
the primary tubercles of both areas, with the pores arranged in
double files on the upper surface of the test, form a group of
characters which distinguish D. subangulare from our Urchin.
From D. pseudodiadema it is distinguished by the tubercles in
D. Davidsoni of the ambulacral equalling in size those of the
interambulacral areas, whilst in that species they are unequal.
The rudimentary condition of the secondary tubercles in our
species forms a striking contrast to the size they attain in
D. pseudodiadema. The naked condition of the central parts of
the interambulacral areas connects it with D. subnudum, Ag., of
the Chalk, and the neatness of its outline allies it with other cre-
taceous forms.

Locality and sir atigraphical .range. — We have collected this
species in the clays of the Coral rag near Calne, Wilts ; it is a
very rare Urchin, as we only know four specimens of it.

We dedicate this species to our friend Thomas Davidson, Esq.,
whose learned monographs on the Brachiopoda have earned him
the gratitude of all palaeontologists. We take this opportunity
likewise of recording our deep obligations to Mr. Davidson for
many friendly acts of assistance given during the preparation of
these memoirs, by which we have been enabled to compare a con-
siderable number of foreign Echinidse with those of our own
island, and thereby have been enabled to obtain a better know-
ledge of the affinities existing among the Echinoderms of the
European Oolitic fauna.

Diadema Moorei, Wright. PL II. fig. 3, a-d.

Test circular, depressed ; ambulacral tubercles smaller than those
of the interambulacral areas ; plates of the test covered with a
small wide-set prominent granulation ; mouth large and deca-
gonal ; anal opening large ; apical disc of moderate size.

Height /(jths of an inch, transverse diameter £gths of an inch.

Description. — There is much difficulty in distinguishing some
of the smaller Diadeinas from each other, inasmuch as the young
condition of many of the larger species so closely resembles the
adult state of others, that it is only after one obtains a number
of individuals of different species in their various phases of
growth, that the naturalist feels himself upon sure ground when
he endeavours to distinguish the affinities and differences that
exist among them.

28 Dr. T. Wright on new Species of Echinodcrmata

After a diligent search for Urchins in the Lias of Glouces-
tershire, we have succeeded in collecting only a very few examples
of this group from these rocks. In addition to those found here,
our friend Mr. Moore of llminster kindly presented us with a few
specimens which he collected from the Upper Lias near llminster,
and from these collective materials the species under consider-
ation was discovered. Diadema Moorei has a circular outline
slightly inclining to a pentagonal contour ; it is much depressed
at the upper surface and is flattened at the base. The ambu-
lacral areas are very narrow, being less than one-third the width
of the interambulacral ; their margins are occupied by two rows
of tubercles about eight in each row, which, at the base and up to
the equator, are nearly as large as those of the interambulacra ;
but from that region to the apex of the area they rapidly dimi-
nish in size, and are here very disproportionate in magnitude to
them ; a zigzag line of single granulation separates the two rows
of tubercles from each other. The interambulacral areas are
wide and well developed, and have two rows of tubercles, from
8—9 in each row, which occupy the centre of the plates ; the
areolas of the tubercles on the upper surface are surrounded with
a circle of granules which separates them from each other, but
those of the base are confluent above and below. The inter-
tubercular surface at the base of the test has a number of gra-
nules scattered over it, whilst on the upper surface, the plates are
destitute of any other ornament beyond the faint circles that
surround the tubercles. The pedal pores are arranged in pairs
in a single file ; the avenues are, however, rather flexuous be-
low; the basal tubercles of both areas are nearly alike in size,
but on the dorsal surface those of the ambulacra dwindle into
large granules, whilst those of the interambulacra maintain their
size up to the last pair, which are small near the margin of the
disc. The mouth-opening is large, and its margin is divided
into ten nearly equal-sized lobes. The apical disc is partly pre-
served in the specimen here figured ; it consists of five large ovarial
plates of a heptagonal form ; two of the sides unite with the in-
terambulacral plates, two with the ocular, two with the adjoin-
ing ovarials, and the single surface contributes to form the
boundary of the anal opening, which is of moderate size ; the
five ocular plates are small and heart-shaped, their apex is di-
rected towards the anal opening, and their base to the area ; the
madreporiform tubercle is slightly elevated on the single ovarial
plate, and the surface of the discal plates is almost destitute of
sculpture or granulation.

Affinities and differences.— D. Moorei resembles D. depressum,
Ag., in the depression of its upper surface and the flatness of its
base, likewise in having the tubercles of both areas of nearly a

from the Lias and Oolites. 29

uniform size around the base ; but it is readily distinguished
from D. depressum by the number and greater development of the
tubercles of the ambulacra, which maintain their size throughout ;
whilst in D. Moorei the ambulacral tubercles are fewer in num-
ber and rudimentaiy in size in all the upper part of the areas.
The contour of the test moreover does not assume the penta-
gonal outline of D. depressum, nor has the upper surface of the
interambulacral areas the median depression seen on the test of
the latter. The mouth-opening is larger, and the decagonal
lobes are more equal in size in D. Moorei than in D. depressum.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — We have collected D.
Moorei in the Upper Lias of Gloucestershire. Mr. Moore found
it in the same stratum near Ilminster with Ammonites communis
and A. serpentinus. Professor Deslongchamps has communicated
a specimen of this Urchin which he found in the Lias superieure
of May, Calvados, associated with Leptana Davidsoni and The-
cidea Bouchardii and several other species.

We dedicate this species to Mr. Moore, of Ilminster, whose
assiduous researches have brought to light so many interesting
forms from the Upper Liassic beds of Somersetshire.

Genus PEDINA, Agassiz.

As this genus was incorrectly defined in our memoir on the
Cidaridse, it having been there stated that the mammillary emi-
nences were " crenulated like those of Diadema" we take this
opportunity of correcting the error, and giving a definition more
in accordance with our present knowledge.

Test thin, circular, more or less depressed ; primary tubercles
small and perforated ; mammillary eminences with smooth ring-
like summits without crenulations ; pores in general disposed in
triple oblique pairs ; mouth small and slightly decagonal, mar-
gin not much notched ; ovarial disc small and not prominent ;
ambulacral areas with one, two, or more rows of small tuber-
cles ; interambulacral areas sometimes with two rows only, some-
times with two rows and additional secondary rows of tubercles
more or less complete.

This genus is extinct, and is found in the oolitic cretaceous
rocks.

Pedina Bakeri, Wright. PI. I. fig. 4, a-c.

Test circular, depressed ; ambulacral areas narrow, with one row
of small tubercles disposed in a slightly zigzag line down the
centre of the areas ; interambulacral areas broad, with two rows
of primary tubercles raised on prominent mammillary emi-

30 Dr. T. Wright on new Species of Echinodermata

nences in the centre of the plates; the margins of the
areolas surrounded with circles of small granules ; no second-
ary tubercles.

Height /yths of an inch, transverse diameter £$ths of an inch.

Description. — This Pedina presents a different form from its
other congeners : the test is circular and depressed ; the ambu-
lacral areas are narrow, about one-third the width of the inter-
ambulacra ; the usual double row of tubercles in this region is
reduced to one row, the tubercles of which are disposed alter-
nately on the right and left sides of the areas, thereby forming
a single zigzag line down the centre thereof; the tubercles at
the equator and on the upper surface are small, but there are
two or three of a larger size at the base of the areas ; a few gra-
nules form imperfect crescents round their narrow areolas. The
interambulacral areas are nearly three times the width of the
ambulacra ; they are adorned with five pairs of primary tuber-
cles of nearly a uniform size throughout, which are raised on
prominent mammillary eminences, the summits of which are
smooth, ring-like and without crenulations ; circles of small gra-
nules bound the areolar spaces ; there are no secondary tubercles,
nor any sculpture upon the intertubercular surface of the plates,
so that down the centre of the areas there is a smooth valley
between the primary tubercles. The apical disc is well preserved
in our specimen ; the ovarial plates are of an irregular octagonal
form and of moderate size, they are covered with a few granules
scattered irregularly over their surface ; the ocular plates are of
a rhomboidal form and have large eye-holes. The base of the
specimen is covered up with hard rock, so that it is impossible
to expose the mouth-opening without endangering the specimen.

Affinities and differences. — The Pedina have been so imper-
fectly described by M. Agassiz in his ' Descriptions des Echi-
nodermes fossiles de la Suisse/ that there is much difficulty in
making out the species figured and described in that monograph.
When it is recollected how limited were the materials at Agassiz's
command when he published that valuable contribution to
Palaeontology, and how delicate the test of this genus is, we can
readily understand how so many different forms of the same
Urchin came to be described and named as distinct species.
After a careful examination of many specimens, we confess that
Pedina aspera, rotata, ornata and sublavis, Agass., appear to us
to be so many different forms of one and the same species. We
have before us likewise the original type specimen of P. granu-
losa, Ag., which has been kindly communicated by Professor Des-
longchamps. An examination of that Urchin has convinced us

from the Lias and Oolites. 31

that it is only a larger individual of P. aspera, as we find it in
the Inferior Oolite, and is identical with the fossil which we
have described as P. rotata. On a further examination of this
specimen, M. Agassiz, it would appear, had arrived at a similar
conclusion, for on the ticket which accompanies it is the follow-
ing remark in his handwriting : — " Pedina granulosa, Ag. C'est
sous ce nom que cette espece est citee dans mon catalogue; ce-
pendant il se pourrait qu'elle ne fut qu'une variete un peu enflee
de mon P. aspera" This species was collected by Prof. Deslong-
champs from the Great Oolite of Ranville. We have likewise
before us a portion of Pedina collected from the Oxford clay of
the Boulonnais by M. Bouchard-Chantereaux, and marked by
that eminent palaeontologist, who kindly sent us the specimen,
" tres rare. J'en ai encore trouve que trois morceaux de cette
espece." It so nearly resembles the Ranville Urchin that we
have no doubt of their identity. By the extreme kindness of M.
Michelin and M. de Loriere, we have before us specimens of
P. Gervillii, Ag., from the Kellovien etage of. Chauffeur, depart-
ment of the Sarthe, which are identical with Pedina aspera or
rotata, collected by us from the upper beds of the Inferior Oolite
of Gloucestershire. In fact the French and English specimens
are so entirely alike, that we should mistake the one for the other
had we not previously marked them. It would appear from these
remarks, that whether we retain the specific name rotata or
aspera for this widely distributed Urchin, we must at least cancel
the other names which have been given to various forms of the
same, as we have now before us well-preserved specimens from the
Inferior Oolite, Gloucestershire, the Great Oolite, Ranville, Cal-
vados, the Oxford clay near Boulogne, Pas de Calais, the Kello-
vien of Chauffeur, Sarthe.

[Since these sheets were sent to press, the Rev. A. W. Gries-
bach has communicated a Pedina, collected by him in the Corn-
brash at Rushden, Northamptonshire; as this fossil is in a
good state of preservation, we have been able to make a careful
comparison of it with a fine P. aspera now before us, and there
can be no doubt of their identity. The discovery of this Urchin
in the Cornbrash is another link in the chain of evidence showing
the wide stratigraphical range of this form in the Oolitic seas.]

P. Bakeri differs so entirely from the forms named in the pre-
ceding remarks, that it is impossible to mistake it for either of
them ; its diagnostic characters consist of the size and small
number of the primary tubercles, the absence of secondary
tubercles, the scanty granulation on the interambulacral areas,
the narrowness of the ambulacra, and the single row of tubercles
thereon. We have only met with the small but tolerably per-
fect specimen of this species figured (PL I. fig. 4, a-c).

32 Dr. T. Wright on new Species of Echinodermata

Locality and stratiyraphical range. — We collected this rare
form of Pedina from the Pea-grit of Crickley Hill, and have seen
fragments of its test in the same bed at Leckhampton, but
never in any other locality.

We dedicate this species to our friend T. Barwick L. Baker,
Esq., of Hardwicke Court, the President of the Cotteswold Natu-
ralists' Club, for the warm interest he takes in the progress of
the Palaeontology of Gloucestershire.

Pedina Etheridgii, Wright. PL I. fig. 5, a-d.

Test circular, depressed ; ambulacral areas with from six to eight
small perforate tubercles at their base, and a double row of
small granules on their upper surface ; the interambulacral
areas with primary tubercles only, the areolas of which are
surrounded with regular circles of granules ; pedal pores not
numerous, arranged in nearly a single file with a slight ele-
vation between the two pores of each pair ; apical disc large ;
ovarial plates leaf-like ; mouth-opening small.

Height 2%ths of an inch, transverse diameter ^gths of an inch.

Description. — This pretty little Urchin has a circular outline
in the young state, which in larger specimens inclines towards a
pentagonal form ; the base is flattened, and the upper surface of
the test is much depressed. The ambulacral areas are narrow,
and have from six to eight small perforated tubercles at their
base, and a double row of from twelve to fourteen minute imper-
forate granules in each row on their upper surface, which in
figure and size resemble those covering the other parts of the
test ; between the pedal pores of each pair is a small elevation ;
these collectively form a prominent moniliform line which ex-
tends from the margin of the disc to the mouth-opening; the
pores are disposed in nearly a single file, and do not form the
triple oblique pairs which we observe in the larger Pedinte. The
interambulacral areas are about twice the width of the ambu-
lacra ; the rows of primary tubercles occupying the centre of the
plates have seven tubercles in each row, they are small in size
and are rendered prominent from being raised upon uncrenu-
lated mammillary eminences, the bases of which are sharply de-
fined and surrounded by complete circles of moderately sized and
regularly arranged granules; the regular disposition of these
granulations gives an air of decoration to this little species not
observed among other congeneric forms ; the entire absence of
secondary tubercles from the areas renders the decoration more
complete. The apical disc is large ; the ovarial plates are widely
rhomboidal, the oculars are small and heart-shaped, and the sur-

from the Lias and Oulitfs. 33

face of both is covered with minute granules nearly as large as
those which adorn the other parts of the test. The madn
form tubercle makes a distinct elevation on the surface of the
single plate, and the anal aperture is transversely oblong ; the
base is flat, the mouth-opening is small, and its margin is divided
into ten nearly equal-sized lobes ; the spines are unknown.

Affinities and differences. — In its general outline and depressed
upper surface, with the pedal pores in nearly a single file, this
little Urchin resembles a Diadema ; from that group however it
is distinguished by the rudimentary condition of the ambulacral
tubercles, and the absence of crenulations from the summits of
the mammillary eminences. It is distinguished from P. Bakeri
by having small primary tubercles set more closely together, and
in having a greater number in each row. From P. aspera it is
known by having the upper surface more depressed, the pedal
pores separated by a moniliform line of granules, and in the
absence of secondary tubercles. It has a strong resemblance at
a first glance to Diadema Moorei, but an examination with the
lens at once discloses the points of difference, which are these : —
the ambulacral areas in Pedina Etheridgii have imperforate gra-
nules on their upper parts, whilst in Diadema Mourei there are
perforated tubercles; the moniliform line between the pedal
pores in P. Etheridgii is absent in D. Moorei-, the mouth-
opening is likewise much smaller in P» Etheridgii than it is in
D. Moorei.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — P. Etheridgii has been
collected from the marlstone of Bredon Hill, Gloucestershire.
Mr. Moore found it in the Upper Lias of Ilminster, and we have
collected several specimens from the Pea-grit (Inferior Oolite)
of Crickley and Leckhampton Hills, but have never seen a
trace of this species in any of the upper beds ; it seems there-
fore to have a limited vertical range between the marlstone and
the basement-beds of the Inferior Oolite, and is one of the few
species which lived in the Liassic and Oolitic seas.

We dedicate this species to our friend Mr. Etheridge, of the
Bristol Museum, who has kindly assisted us in comparing our
specimens with the fine series of Echinoderms under his care,
and has likewise otherwise aided us in the most friendly manner
in working out the subjects of these memoirs.

Genus POLYCYPHUS, Agassiz.

Small Urchins having a subglobular form ; the upper surface
of the test is covered with numerous small imperforate tubercles
of a very uniform size ; the base and basal angle are furnished
with several tubercles of a size disproportionately large when com-
pared with those of the upper surface ; the pedal pores are dis

VOL. II. D

34 Dr. T. Wright on new Species of Echinodermata

posed in a triple oblique series of pairs ; the mouth is large and
pentagonal ; the anal plates form a narrow prominent ring at the
vertex, and the interambulacral areas are in general divided by a
median depression.

Polycyphus nodulostts, Miinster.

SYN. Echinus nwliihistis, Goldfuss, Petrefact. Ger. tab. 40. fig. 16 ;

Agassiz, Cat. Syst. p. 12.
Arbacia nodulosa, Agass. Prodrom.
/Wv •'//*// i/,v noilnln$»s% Agass. & Desor's Cat. raisonne, Ann. Scien.

Nat. tome vi. p. 361.

Test hemispherical; ambulacral areas a little more prominent
than the interambulacral areas ; ambulacra with from four to
five rows, and interambulacra with from twelve to fourteen
rows of small tubercles disposed in nearly parallel lines ; bases
of the ambulacra with twelve,, those of the interambulacra
with sixteen larger tubercles.

Height /yths of an inch, diameter |^ths of an inch.

This pretty little Urchin was first described by Prof. Goldfuss
from specimens named by Count Miinster from the Oolites of
Baireuth ; the hemispherical test exhibits a disposition to assume
a subpentagonal circumference from the greater prominence of
the ambulacral areas ; the surface of the test is divided into
fifteen nearly equal lobes by the ten poriferous avenues, and the
five depressions which divide the interambulacra down their
mesial lines ; these lobular divisions are more defined in young
and small specimens than in large and old ones ; the ambulacral
areas are one half the width of the interambulacral, and have
nine large tubercles at their base, and four or five rows of small
tubercles at their widest part, which gradually diminish to three,
two and one as we approach the apex of the area ; the interam-
bulacral areas are twice the width of the ambulacral, they have
about twenty-four large tubercles at their base, and about twelve
rows of small tubercles at their widest part, which gradually
diminish by the disappearance of the external rows to ten, eight,
six, four and two, as we trace the rows from the equator to the
apex of the areas ; the tubercles on the sides and upper surface
of the test are nearly of a uniform size, they are arranged in
rows, the tubercles are opposite each other and do not alternate
as in some other genera. The interambulacral areas are each di-
vided by a slightly depressed line into two lobes ; these are sepa-
rated from the ambulacral areas by straight narrow poriferous
avenues, so that the test of this beautiful Urchin appears to con-
sist of fifteen nearly equal lobes, those of the ambulacra being
the most prominent and best defined, in consequence of the

from the Lias and Oolites. 35

depth of the poriferous avenues being greater than the sulcus
which divides the interambulacra.

The mouth is large and decagonal, and lies in a concave
depression in the base, surrounded by the larger tubercles
which occupy this region of the test. The ovarial plates are
small, and form a rather prominent ring around the anal open-
ing ; the eye-plates are small, but in some of the foreign indivi-
duals now before me the eye-holes aue very distinct.

Affinities and differences. — This Urchin resembles Arbacia
Forbesii, but may be distinguished from that species by having
the ambulacral areas proportionately wider, the tubercles larger
and opposite to each other, and the poriferous avenues having
the pedal holes in triple oblique pairs ; it belongs moreover to a
newer rock of the Oolitic series.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — We know only one English
specimen of this species, which was found in the Cornbrash by
Mr. Buy near Sutton Benger, Wilts ; on the continent it occurs
in the Baireuthian Jurakalke, where it was found by Count Miin-
ster. It has been collected from the Great Oolite of Langrune
by Prof. Deslongchamps and M. Tesson, and from the Calcaire i\
polypiers at Ranville by M. Michelin. We beg to record to each
of these gentlemen our best thanks for the beautiful series of
type specimens of this Urchin with which they have so liberally
supplied us.

History. — Figured and described for the first time by Gold-
fuss. We are not aware that any detailed description of the spe-
cies has been given before, with the exception of the very brief one
contained in the f Petrefacta Germanise/

Polycyphus Deslongchampsii, Wright. PL II. fig. 4, a-e.

Test hemispherical, circumference circular; ambulacral areas
with two rows of larger and two rows of smaller tubercles ;
interambulacral areas with two rows of larger and several rows
of smaller tubercles ; the small tubercles in both areas often
degenerating into mere granulations; basal tubercles large
and prominent.

Height /jjths of an inch, transverse diameter £§ths of an inch.

Description. — Amongst the many beautiful forms of Urchin
structure, this pretty little species will bear comparison for neat-
ness and symmetry with any of the family to which it belongs.
We found the first specimen about eighteen months ago, and since
then have added an interesting series to our collection. It must
be a rare form, as only two or three specimens have been obtained
besides those collected by ourselves. The ambulacral areas are
one half the width of the interambulacral, and have one row of

D2

36 Dr. T. Wright on new Species of Echinodermata

tubercles on each side of the margins of the area, between these
are several rows of small granulations arranged without much
order ; at the base of the area ten larger tubercles are disposed
in pairs, the tubercles on the right side alternating with those
on the left ; the interambulacral areas are about twice the width
of the ambulacral ; a single row of tubercles occupies the centre
of each of the two columns of plates, and numerous smaller
tubercles degenerating into mere granules cluster around the
base of the large tubercles ; a second row of tubercles extends
upwards from the basal angle towards the equator, where it ter-
minates ; the basal tubercles consisting of about six pair occupy
all the base of the area — they are about the same size as those
of the ambulacra, but are arranged somewhat less regularly.
The median depression in the centre of the intcrambulacra is
very well marked in this species, so that the test has the appear-
ance of being divided into fifteen lobes. The anal plates form a
prominent narrow ring around the oblong anal opening, and the
eye-plates are closely soldered to them ; the eye-holes are very
distinct in most of our specimens. The mouth-opening is of
moderate size, and is slightly decagonal ; the poriferous avenues
lie in considerable depressions of the test, which throws the am-
bulacral areas into prominent relief from the interambulacra.

Affinities and differences. — The marginal rows of tubercles on
the ambulacra, and the central rows of tubercles on the plate
columns of the interambulacral areas serve to distinguish this
species from P. nodulosus. It has a considerable resemblance to
the young forms of JZchinus germinans, but the regularity of the
rows of tubercles on the sides and upper surface of the test,
and the size and arrangement of those at the base afford good
diagnostic characters by which it may be easily distinguished
from that common form ; the same group of characters serves to
distinguish it from Arbacia Forbesii.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — We have only found this
species in the Pea-grit of Crickley Hill ; all the other specimens
that were collected by Mr. Gibbs of the Geological Survey, were
found in the same bed of this locality.

We dedicate this fossil to Professor Deslongchamps of Caen, to
whom palaeontology is indebted for many important contribu-
tions to the Oolitic fauna published in the ' Memoires de la
Societe Linneenne de Normandie/

Nuckolites Woodwardii, Wright, 1852. PI. II. fig. 5, a-e.

Test subquadrate, sides tumid, dorsal surface flatly convex, anal
valley deep, narrow and spear-shaped, extending from the
apical disc to the posterior border ; ambulacral areas narrowly

from the Lias and Oolites. 37

lanceolate; posterior lobes short and truncated; base flat;
antero-interanibulacra and postero-interambulacra slightly
swollen at their base; the single ambulacrum scarcely pro-
duced; mouth-opening pentagonal, situated anteriorly; apical
disc small and nearly central.

Height /frths of an inch, antero-posterior diameter 1 inch and
yffth, transverse diameter 1 inch and T%ths ; the larger speci-
mens are so much deformed by pressure that their proportional
dimensions cannot be accurately given.

Description. — Some individuals of this species were formerly
considered by us to be only varieties of Nuckolites orbicularis,
Phil., but a better knowledge of the structure of this Urchin,
derived from the study of a series which we collected last summer
and have carefully compared with good typical examples of N. or-
bicularis, leaves no doubt about the distinctness of N. Woodwardii
from that Cornbrash form. The test is thin and not often suffi-
ciently well preserved for determining the species; the one which
we have figured is a small but a very perfect specimen, it has a
subquadrate outline and is y\yth of an inch broader than it is in
the antero-posterior diameter ; it is slightly narrower anteriorly
than posteriorly, and (which is more apparent when it rests upon
its dorsal surface) the posterior margin is seen to be broadly
truncated; the sides are tumid, sometimes irregularly so, and
the test is higher across the apices of the postero-lateral ambu-
lacra than at any other point ; the tumidity of the sides produces
a greater flatness of the dorsal surface than we observe in any
other of the small Nucleolites of the Oolitic rocks ; the ambu-
lacral areas are nearly all of the same width, they have a narrow
graceful lanceolate form, from the mouth to about midway
between the margin and the apical disc, they are nearly of equal
width; at this point the pores gradually change their form, and are
slightly separated apart for a short distance, and begin again to
converge as they approach the disc ; the internal row are circular,
the external in the form of oblique slits, the widest part of which
is outwards, the circles are formed by notches in the upper and
under sides of the small ambulacral plates, and the oblique slits
by uncalcified portions of the margins of the same plates ; from
the termination of the petaloid portion of the ambulacral areas
to the mouth, the pores are small and set wider apart, whilst
the diameter of the areas remains about the same; near the
mouth-opening they are again more closely crowded together,
and terminate in arches the convexity of which look towards
that aperture ; the interambulacral areas are of unequal width ;
the anterior pair are the narrowest, the posterior pair are wider
than the anterior, and the single intcranibulacrum is the widest ;

38 Dr. T. Wright on new Species of Echinodermata

the anal valley is a long narrow depression extending from the
apical disc to the margin, it has perpendicular sides and a small
anal opening, the base is flat and only slightly depressed at the
mouth; the anterior and posterior pairs of interambulacra are
moderately convex in this region, and the basal portion of
the single interambulacruin is very slightly produced ; the mouth-
oprning is excentral, nearer the anterior margin, it has a pen-
tagonal form with five rudimentary lobes. The surface of the
test is covered with microscopic tubercles requiring a good lens
to distinguish them ; these bodies are only a little larger at the
base of the test ; the apical disc is small and nearly central, its
elements are so closely soldered together that its general form
can alone be distinguished; the eyeholes are situated at the
apices of the ambulacra, and the ovarial holes further outwards
and between them, whilst the madreporiform tubercle occupies
the centre of the disc ; the test is very thin and often deformed,
its upper surface having sometimes an irregular appearance.
The beauty and regularity of the specimen figured forms an ex-
ception to all the others we possess of this species.

Affinities and differences. — Nucleolites Woodwardii most nearly
resembles N. orbicularis, and is the only one among its Oolitic
congeners for which it could be mistaken. The following cha-
racters are diagnostic of N. Woodwardii. The tumidity of the
sides and flatness of the dorsal surface, both of which are absent
in N. orbicularis. In our species the base is flat and the inter-
ambulacra are slightly produced, whilst in N. orbicularis the base
is concave and the interambulacra are convex and prominent. In
N. Woodwardii the anal valley is narrow, whilst in N. orbicularis
it is wide ; the general outline of our species is subquadrate, that
of the N. orbicularis is circular ; the petaloid arrangement of the
ambulacral areas extends downwards nearer to the margin in N.
orbicularis than in N. Woodwardii ; the narrowness of the anal
valley in our species establishes an affinity between it and Clypeus
altus, M'Coy ; but the flatness of the base and the depression of
the dorsal surface in N. Woodwardii, make a wide distinction be-
t ween it and that species, which has a high convex dorsal surface
and extremely prominent basal interambulacra, with a greatly pro-
duced interambulacrum ; it differs from N. Hugii in having the
anal valley extended from the disc to the posterior margin, whilst
in that species a portion of the test intervenes between the disc
and the valley; the difference between N. Woodwardii and N. scu-
tatus and N. clunicularis is so great, that it is scarcely possible
that N. Woodwardii can be mistaken for either of these forms.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — We have collected this
Urchin from the Great Oolite near Cirencester and at Salperton
Tunnel, Great Western Railway, and from beds of the same age

from the Lias and Oolites. 39

near I'ewsdown, Gloucestershire, and near Burford, Oxon; it has
likewise been found near Minchinhampton : as far as we know,
it appears to be a Great Oolite species.

We dedicate this species to our friend Mr. S. P. Woodward, of
the British Museum, to whose kindness we are much indebted for
the privilricr of comparing our specimens with the magnificent
series of Echinodermata under his care, and which he has ren-
dered so valuable for reference by a systematic classification and
a correct nomenclature.

Nudeolites Michelini, Wright. PL II. fig. 6, a-c.

Test circular or oblong, discoidal and much depressed, posterior
border produced, truncated and slightly deflected in old in-
dividuals ; ambulacral areas narrowly lanceolate ; pedal pores
closely set together, vertex and apical disc nearly central ;
anterior half of the dorsal surface convex, posterior half much
declined from the vertex to the posterior border; anal valley
narrow above, diverging below, extending from the apical disc
to the border ; base flat, slightly concave ; mouth excentral,
margin with five small lobes ; postero-lateral interambulacral
areas slightly tumid at the base.

Height -j%ths of an inch, antero-posterior diameter 3 inches
and 2%ths, transverse diameter 2 inches and T%ths of an inch.

Description. — The outline of this Urchin varies in different
individuals, and it likewise varied at different periods of life in
the same individual ; its most typical form is oblong, convex an-
teriorly, produced and truncated posteriorly, and swollen out in
the region of the postero-lateral interambulacra ; in others the
circumference is nearly circular, and in some it is transversely
oval ; the first form is we think characteristic of adult life, as the
production and truncation of the single interambulacrum were
markedly shown in the only two large specimens of this rare
species which we have seen ; in all the test is very flat, the ante-
rior half is gently and nearly equally convex, the posterior half
is sloping and much declined in the direction of the posterior
border. The ambulacral areas are narrow, the anterior one most
so; the antero-lateral and postero- laterals are about the same
width, they have a lanceolate form, and are composed of very
narrow plates ; about y3(jths of an inch above the margin, the
pores slightly diverge from each other, and continue apart until
they approach the apical disc ; the distance between the rows of
pores in this species is less than in any other Nucleolite of the
same size we know, and forms one of the characters by which it
is distinguished from its congeners ; the ambulacral areas are
likewise slightly elevated above the general surface of the test in

40 Dr. T. Wright on new Species of Echinodermata

all the specimens we have examined ; the interambulacral areas
are of unequal width, the antero-lateral pair are the narrowest,
they are however about nine times the width of the anterior
single ambulacral area ; the postero-lateral pair are f\jths of an
inch wider than the antero-laterals, and the single interam-
bulacrum is about the same width as the latter. The anal valley
extends from the apical disc to the posterior border ; it is very
narrow, with deep perpendicular sides above, which become shal-
low and expanded below ; the postero-lateral interambulacra are
swollen out at the margin; the single interambulacrum is
considerably produced, and its posterior border is broadly trun-
cated and slightly deflected, within which the expanded sides of
the anal valley are excavated. The base is nearly flat, the eleva-
tions are due to the prominence of the postero-lateral interam-
bulacra, and to the deflection of the single interambulacrum.
The mouth is excentral, nearer the anterior margin, and the oral
lobes are small ; the apical disc was of moderate size, judging
from the space it occupied, but it is absent in all our specimens ;
the surface of the test was covered with very minute tubercles,
which in the examples before us are nearly all effaced.

Affinities and differences. — N. Michelini in its oblong form,
truncated posterior margin, and narrow anal valley resembles
N. Solodurinus, but it is readily distinguished from it by the
form, narrowness, and structure of the ambulacral areas ; in
N. Solodurinus they are expanded and petaloid, and in N. Miche-
lini they are narrow and lanceolate ; the pores at no point are
at any great distance apart ; the anal valley in both species ex-
tends from the apical disc to the margin, but it is more expanded
below and deeper above in N. Michelini than in N. Solodu-
rinus. We have before us Clypeus angustiporus, Agass., from
a coarse Oolitic rock (Bradfordien ?) near Metz, collected by
M. Terquem, and kindly sent us by M. de Loriere; from this
species N. Michelini differs in many particulars ; in the French
Urchin the apical disc is excentral, the anal valley is wide above
and not much expanded below, the ambulacral areas are narrow,
and the test gradually declines from the vertex to the anterior
border, which forms a rather acute angle ; the base is undulated,
and the mouth-opening is nearly central ; these characters clearly
distinguish our Urchin from it. N. Michelini differs so widely
from all the various varieties of N. sinuatus with which we are ac-
quainted, that it cannot possibly be mistaken for either of them,
if any care be taken when a comparison is made between them.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — We have collected this
species only from the Freestone beds of the Inferior Oolite of
Wallsquarry and Nailsworth; the specimen figured was cut out
of the centre of a block of building stone ; the oolitic grains are

Yel.i PIUL.

1 a.c Opkio derma, Gaveyi

2 a,, b , Oriesbachii
3. PentAcrirLUrt Ooldfusii

from the Lias and Oolites. 41

imbedded in the plates of the test, and have in some measure
injured the surface.

We dedicate this species to M. Michelin of Paris, the distin-
guished author of the ' Iconographie Zoophytologique/ as a
tribute of gratitude for the valuable collection of Echinodenns
he liberally and generously sent us from his unrivalled cabinet,
to facilitate our studies of these beautiful forms of ancient life.

Nucleolites scutatus, Lamarck.

Since the publication of our memoir on the CASSIDULID^E of
the Oolites *, we have received from Professor Deslongchamps
and M. Tesson a series of type specimens of Nucleolites scutatus
from the Coral Rag of Trouville, Calvados, which we have com-
pared with Nucleolites dimidiatus, Phillips, described in that me-
moir ; from this comparison it is certain, that our Wiltshire and
the Yorkshire Nucleolite, figured by Professor Phillips as N. dimi-
diatuSy is the true N. scutatus of Lamarck. This circumstance
affords another example of the great importance of comparing
all our British Oolitic fossils with those collected from the
Jurassic strata of the continent of Europe, before assigning them
a position in our catalogues of species.

Ophioderma Gaveyi, Wright, 1852. PI. III. fig. 1 a-c.
Diagnosis. — Disc large, upper surface not exposed, under surface
with five pairs of heartshaped plates, above which the five rays
pass ; the median scutal plates of the rays form a ridge in the
centre of each pair of plates ; the mouth-opening is sur-
rounded with five pairs of very prominent toothlike processes ;
the rays are slender and gently tapering; the central scutal
plates on the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the rays are
narrow, those on the ventral surface resemble the bodies of
small vertebrse deprived of their neural elements.

Transverse diameter of the body-disc 1 inch and T%ths, trans-
verse diameter of the rays at their junction with the disc nearly
y^ths of an inch.

Description. — This Sea-star must have been rather abundant
in the Liasic sea ; we have seen many fine specimens of it, and
numerous fragments of others in the locality where it was col-
lected. The body-disc is large and pentagonal, it is composed
underneath of ten thin, delicate triangular plates arranged in
pairs, each pair forming a heartshaped shield, having an elevated
rugose carina down its centre, formed by the 'median clement
of the ventral scutal plates which protrudes between each of the
two plates forming a pair ; the five shields are otherwise smooth
* Annals of Natural Hi*t<>r\. \ol. \\.

42 Dr. T. Wright on new Species of Echinodermata

on their under surface, and were united together in the living
state by a membrane, but in the specimen before us they are
quite separate from each other ; at the apex of each of the ten
triangular plates a sharp tooth like process projects downwards,
which together form an imposing dental circle around the mouth-
opening. The rays are long, slender, and gently tapering ; we
have not been able to measure the absolute length of one, as
those which we have met with were always fractured ; the dorsal
median pieces of the rays are hexagonal and elongated trans-
versely, the ventral median pieces are elongated in the direction
of the length of the ray, and resemble the bodies of small ver-
tebrae which had been deprived of their neural arches ; the mar-
ginal plates are rounded and finely imbricated, their outward
free border is toothed with five or six pectinated processes, which
in the living state supported as many spines; the remains of
these are sometimes seen attached to their supports ; the
lateral scutal plates clasp the rays firmly and securely, and over-
lap the median pieces both above and below.

Affinities and differences. — This elegant Sea-star somewhat
resembles in its general contour Ophioderma Milleri, but it is
distinguished from that marlstone species by having a propor-
tionately larger body-disc, with more slender and more tapering
rays : in the form and structure of the scutal elements of the
rays themselves there is likewise a difference, those in O. Milleri
are of a more elongated and regular form, whilst in O. Gaveyi
they are shorter, more ridgy and vertebrate-like ; the ten trian-
gular ventral discal plates are smaller in O. Milleri than in O.
Gaveyi ; they want likewise, in the figures given by Mr. Charles-
worth in the London Geological Journal, the toothlike spines at
their apices which are so characteristic of our Ophiura.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — This Sea-star was col-
lected by Mr. Gavey from the upper shales of the Lower Lias
at Mickleton Tunnel near Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire,
whilst making the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Rail-
way; and we have found some fragments of a Sea-star much
resembling in structure this species in a Liasic bed of the same
horizon at Hewlitt's Hill near Cheltenham, during the excavation
of the new reservoir of the Water Works Company of that town.

We dedicate this species to our friend Mr. G. E. Gavey, whose
careful and minute investigation of the beds exposed in the sec-
tion which he has so well described*, added to the discovery of
new forms of Radiata and Mollusca in the same, has enriched
our knowledge of the Liasic fauna of Gloucestershire.

* Railway Cuttings at Mickleton Tunnel and Aston Magna, by G. E.
Gavey, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. February 7, 1853.

from the Lias and Oolites. 43

Ophioderma Griesbachii, Wright. PL III. fig. 2 a, b.

Diagnosis. — Body-disc small, upper surface not exposed, under
surface irregularly subpentagonal, formed of five pairs of heart-
shaped plates ; rays long, slender, and awl-shaped, prolonged
beneath into the centre of the body-disc ; inferior surface with
median vertebrate-like elements, and lateral scutal plates in
the form of oblique pyramidal pieces, which clasp the sides of
the rays in an imbricated manner, and support at their ter-
minal points short stout spines ; mouth subpentagonal, sur-
rounded by ten blunt spinous processes, formed by the deve-
lopment of the first lateral scutal plates of the rays, where they
join each other around the mouth.

Diameter of the body-disc ^ths of an inch, length of the rays
from the mouth-margin to their apex ^ths of an inch.

Description. — This beautiful Brittle-star of the Oolitic sea was
discovered by our friend the Rev. A. W. Griesbach, of Wollaston,
and we owe to his kindness and liberality the series of exquisite
specimens before us, by which we have been enabled to complete
the description of this new fossil. The body-disc is small, con-
sisting of five pairs of heart-shaped plates ; the union between the
separate elements of the disc was very intimate, as it is only at
one or two points that a suture is exhibited ; so close is the union,
that in other specimens the body-disc seems to be formed of a
single circular element ; each pair of plates has a heart-shaped
form, and the ray corresponding thereto stands out in bold relief
from the under surface of the disc. In none of the specimens
found is the upper surface of the disc exposed, and we know
not with certainty what kind of ornamentation adorned its
dorsal surface ; at one part, however, where a portion of one
of the plates is weathered, we think we detected with our
inch object-glass under the microscope, a series of small imbri-
cated scales resting on the rock surface; the rays are long,
slender, and gently tapering ; their under surface, the only one
exposed, exhibits, 1st, a central element having an elongated
form, which resembles the body of a fish's vertebrae in miniature ;
2nd, lateral elements more largely developed, consisting of tri-
angular plates of a pyramidal form slightly twisted round, by
which arrangement the apices of the pyramids are made to clasp
each other, and thereby produce a regular imbricated structure ;
the points of the lateral plates support small, short, stout spines,
which are only seen in one of the rays of the three specimens
before us. Where the base of the ray crosses the under surface
of the body-disc it is firmly attached thereto, and as they ap-
proach the centre, each of the lateral plates of the rays becomes
greatly developed, and form by their union five channels, which

44 Dr. T. Wright on new Species of Echinodermata

extend into the mouth ; this opening is in the centre of the disc,
and has a subpcntagonal form ; it is of a moderate size, and is
surrounded by ten stout spines formed by the development of
the first lateral plates, which are much expanded and terminate
at the oral border in short stout spinous processes ; the lateral
plates from the adjoining rays are here united together, so that
two spines from the lateral plates of different rays are closely
approximated, and the five rays are thereby united together
round the mouth-opening like five Gothic arches, so that the
mouth with its channels, formed by these arches, resembles a
miniature starfish in the centre of the disc; the five pairs of
spines may have served as jaws.

Affinities and differences. — Our knowledge of fossil Ophiuridce
is unfortunately so limited, and the details of those forms
known are so meagre, that there is much difficulty in making
a comparison between the extinct genera of this family. In our
description of Ophioderma Gaveyi a diagnosis has been attempted
between it and O. Milleri, Phil., both of these being Liasic spe-
cies. The other forms hitherto published are those figured by
Goldfuss, namely the Ophiura prisca, Miinster, from the Muschel-
kalkof Baireuth; the Ophiura loricata, Goldf., from the Muschel-
kalk of Wiirtemberg ; the Ophiura speciosa and O. carinata,
Miinster, from the Lithographic slates of Solenhofen ; of these
Goldfuss's figures are excellent, and leave nothing to be desired,
as that able natural-history artist Herr Hohe, whose crayon has
added such lasting value to the ' Petrefacta Germanic/ has given
accurate details of structure which prevent the possibility of con-
fusion regarding the identification of the species drawn by him.

The Ophiura Egertoni, Brod. *, found in nodules of micaceous
sandstone at the base of the Inferior Oolite near Charmouth, is
so entirely distinct from our fossil, that to mistake them is im-
possible ; between O. Griesbachii and O. speciosa and O. carinata,
the difference is likewise very great ; O. loricata comes nearer to
our Brittle -star than either of the others, but the great develop-
ment of the lateral plates of the rays, and the clasping and im-
bricated character of the same in O. Griesbachii, forms a struc-
tural character which separates it widely from Goldf uss's species.
If we seek further for resemblances to our Brittle-star, we must
look for them more amongst the beautiful Ophiocoma of our
seas than among any forms we are acquainted with in the fossil
state, but even between it and them the differences are many and
distinct.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — This beautiful fossil was
collected by the Rev. A. W. Griesbach from the Forest marble of

* Geol. Trans. 2nd series, vol. v. pi. 12.

from the Lias and Oolites. 45

Oundle, Northamptonshire, where it is rare. We have dedicated
this species to that gentleman, to whom we are indebted for
much valuable information relative to the stratigraphical distri-
bution of Echinoderms in his county, and likewise for a liberal
contribution of materials to aid us in the completion of these
memoirs.

Pentacrinus Goldfussii, Wright. PL III. fig. 3.

Diagnosis. — Calyx composed of a central pentagonal plate, five
small heart-shaped pieces, and five large triangular basal ele-
ments; rays thick, strong and bifurcated; total number of
their subdivisions unknown ; the five primary rays consist of
two pieces, the basal piece is flat, and has a slightly elevated
portion about the centre of the upper surface, the brachial
piece is strong and triangular, its base resting firmly on the
former ; the sides of the triangle support two arms ; the ten
secondary rays consist of from ten to eleven circular pieces
with smooth unequal undulated surfaces, whereby their thick-
ness is rendered very unequal; the secondary rays support
twenty tertiary rays, which have the same general character
as the secondary rays; the number of pieces entering into the
composition of each is unknown ; from the fragmentary state
of this part of the specimen the number may be estimated at
from fifteen to twenty pieces. The column near the calyx is
composed of thin, deeply divided five-rayed .plates, with well-
marked transverse articular impressions on their surfaces ;
every fourth plate is thicker, broader, and more prominent
than the one above it or below it ; the side arms are numerous,
and composed of thin circular plates : the lower part of the
column is unknown.

Description. — This beautiful Sea Lily is remarkable among its
Liasic congeners for the comparative strength and thickness of
its rays ; the centrum of the calyx is simply a thickened and en-
larged columnar joint to which the upper part of the column is
articulated ; around the apices of the rays of this centrum five
small heart-shaped basal pieces are inserted, the points of which
are directed outwards ; they are very convex externally, project-
ing from the surface of the calyx, and have the appearance of
five mammillary eminences disposed around the union of the
column with the calyx.

The rays are short and robust ; the primary portion consists
of two pieces, a flat basal plate and a triangular brachial plate ;
the basal plate has a slight elevation on its outer and upper
articular surface ; the brachial plate has the form of an equi-
lateral triangle, it is very convex externally, and has its base firmly

46 Dr. T. Wright on new Species of Echinodermata

planted on the flat basal plate, and its sides support the se-
condary rays ; these are ten in number, and consist of from ten to
eleven circular plates, each differing in form and thickness from
the other, their articular surfaces being smooth and undulated
in different directions, the elevations of the one plate always
corresponding to the depressions of the other with which it is
articulated; these inequalities are well seen in the specimen
before us ; from the various angles at which these plates lie in
relation to each other, the ultimate brachial piece of each of the
secondary rays has a triangular form externally, the sides of
which support the tertiary rays ; these, like the secondary rays,
consist of unequal-sized plates with undulated articular surfaces,
which are marked with fine lines that radiate from the centre to
the circumference ; the number of the elements in these ter-
tiary rays cannot be accurately made out in consequence of the
imperfection of this part of the skeleton ; judging however from
the remains of the plates in a part of the slab once occupied by
a tertiary ray, we estimate their number to have been from fifteen
to twenty. The inferior surface of the centre of the calyx ex-
hibits a depression produced by the convexity of the brachial ele-
ments and the prominence of the heart-shaped basal pieces ; into
this depression the summit of the column closely fits. It is
unfortunate that so small a portion of the column of this
Crinoid is preserved, as it is possible that the lower part of the
stem was different from that which is preserved ; the upper part
of the column before us consists of thin star-shaped plates, the
rays of which are deeply divided, and their surfaces are sculptured
with well-marked transverse articular processes ; between every
third plate a thicker and broader plate is introduced ; the side-
arms appear to have been numerous about the upper part of the
column ; they were composed of thin circular plates having un-
dulated surfaces similar to those observed on the secondary and
tertiary rays.

Affinities and differences. — Pentacrinus Goldfussii resembles in
some points P. tuber culatus, Mill. : through the kindness of
Major Austin and Mr.Etheridge we had the privilege of comparing
our fossil with Miller's type specimen in the Bristol Museum, but
the imperfection of that Crinoid makes a rigorous comparison
impossible ; one point of difference which Miller thought specific
of P. tuberculatus he thus describes : " The column differs in its
joints, being thinner, and their having been covered all over with
a more conspicuous muscular coat, which shows itself in nume-
rous minute tubercles the result of its contraction * :" this cha-
racter is certainly absent in our fossil. It is distinguished from

* Miller's Crinoidea, p. 65.

from the Lias and Oolites.

47

P. briarcus, Mill., P. subangularis, Mill., and P. scalaris, Goldf.,
by the absence of lateral branches from the rays, and from all
others of its Liasic congeners with which we are acquainted in
the strength and thickness of the rays themselves.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — This remarkable Sea Lily
was discovered by Mr. 11. E. Gavey, C.E., in the Lower Lias of
Mickleton Tunnel near Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire ; it
is imbedded in shale resting on a hard slab of limestone, and was
associated with the remains of other Radiata.

We dedicate this fine Liasic Crinoid to the memory of the late
Prof. Goldfuss, whose great work, ' Petrefacta Germanise/ has so
much increased our knowledge of the Liasic and Oolitic fauna.

A Tabular View of the Stratigraphical Distribution of the New Species
described in this Memoir.

Genera and Species.

Authority.

|j

* H^

&

!i

!••§

So

«

.-

I!

Ij

Wrieht .

Wright . . .

Acrosalenia crinifera
IJiadcnia Davidsoni ......

Quenstedt
Wright . . .

*

Wright ...

Pcdina Bakeri ......

Wright

Wrieht .

Polvcyphus nodulosus

Deslon^champsii

Wright .

Nuclcolitcs \Voodvvardii

Wright .

Wright .

Wright ...

Wright

Pentacrinus Goldfussii ...

Wright ...

*

48 Dr. T. Wright on neiv Species of Echinodermata.

EXPLANATION OF PLATES I. II. AND III.
PLATE I.

Fig. 1 . Cidaris Edwardsii : a, natural size, and restored to its globular
form ; 6, portion of an ambulacral area magnified, showing the
pi-clal pores and tubi-rck-s ; c, primary tubercle, with its circle of
mval granules, magnified ; d, one of the jaws and its tooth, of the
natural size ; e , secondary spine, natural size and magnified ;
/, primary spines, natural size and magnified.

"Fig. 2. Cidaris Bouchardii : a, b, natural size ; c, primary tubercle and
ambulacral area, magnified.

Fig. 3. Hemicidaris minor : a, natural size ; b, magnified two diameters ;
c, primary tubercle and ambulacral area, magnified.

Fig. 4. Pedina Bakeri: a, natural size; b, magnified one and a half dia-
meter ; c, primary tubercle and ambulacral area, magnified.

Fig. 5. Pedina Etheridgii : a, natural size ; b, upper surface and ovarial
plates, magnified two diameters ; c, under surface and mouth-
opening, magnified two diameters ; d, primary tubercle and ambu-
lacral area, magnified.

PLATE II.

Fig. 1. Acrosalenia crinifera: a, natural size; b, upper surface, magnified
three diameters ; c, under surface, magnified three diameters ;
o?, primary tubercle and lateral granules, magnified.

Fig. 2. Diadema Davidsoni : a, under surface and mouth-opening, natural
size ; b, upper surface and anal opening, natural size ; c, side
view, showing the tubercles of both areas ; d, base of one of the
ambulacral areas, showing the clustering together of the pedal
pores in this region ; e, primary tubercle, ambulacral area, and
pedal pores, magnified.

Fig. 3. Diadema Moorei : a, natural size ; b, upper surface and ovarial disc,
magnified two diameters; c, under surface and mouth-opening,
magnified two diameters ; d, primary tubercle, circle of granules,
and pedal pores, magnified.

Fig. 4. Polycyphus Deslongchampsii : a, natural size; b, upper surface and
ovarial disc, magnified one and a half diameter ; c, outline of the
mouth-opening ; d, genital and ocular plates of the ovarial disc,
magnified ; e, primary tubercle, areal granules, pedal pores, and
ambulacral area enlarged.

Fig. 5. Nucleolites Woodwardli : a, upper surface, of the natural size ;

b, side view, of the natural size ; c, ambulacral area and pedal
pores, magnified two and a half diameters ; d} tubercles and areas,
magnified ; e, mouth-opening and ambulacral area, magnified one
and a half diameter.

Fig. 6. Nucleolites Michelini : a, upper surface, reduced one-third in size ;
by lateral view, reduced one-third in size ; c, a portion of the am-
bulacral area and pedal pores, natural size.

PLATE III.

Fig. 1. Ophioderma Gaveyi : a, disk, with portion of the rays, natural size ;
o, part of the upper side of a ray, enlarged three diameters ;

c, under side, enlarged three diameters.

Fig. 2. Ophioderma Griesbachii : a, natural size ; b, disk and a part of the

rays, enlarged three diameters.
Fig. 3. Pentacrinus Goldfussii : natural size.

49

Upon a new species of " Alpheus " discovered upon the coast of
" Herm" (Channel Islands). By W. V. GUISE, Esq., F.G.S.

READ QTH MAY 1854.

IN the course of an excursion to the Channel Islands, under-
taken last summer with a view to natural -history pursuits, I
spent three days in the little islet of Herm, which, though a
mere rock, scarcely three miles in circumference, is equalled by
few spots of similar extent within the area of the British seas, in
respect of the rich field it offers for the researches of the marine
naturalist.

The Channel Islands, though an appanage of the crown of
Great Britain, are, geographically speaking, rather a part of
France than of England ; and this situation, in a sort of debate-
able ground, may perhaps in some degree account for the fact
of their natural history having been to a certain extent over-
looked by the naturalists of both countries ; though few districts
can be expected to yield a richer harvest to the scientific inves-
tigator, constituting as they do the northern limit to many
Mediterranean forms, which, here found flourishing in full
vigour, and showing no signs of decrepitude, dwarfishness or
decay, suddenly disappear, and find no footing upon our side of
the Channel. This is well known to be the case amongst the
testaceous Mollusca; and there is little reason to doubt, that
researches prosecuted amongst the other kingdoms of nature
would be rewarded by the discovery of many novel and import-
ant facts.

Amongst the Crustacea, to which I propose especially to direct
your attention, it is only necessary to refer to the discovery of
the singular and beautiful " Phyllosoma sarniense" figured and
described by Mr. C. F. Lukis in the 8th volume of ' Lou don's
Magazine of Natural History/ which example, still I believe
unique, has its only analogues in one Mediterranean species, and
in a few others confined to tropical areas.

I propose now to lay before you another Crustacean, which it
has been my good fortune to obtain in a tide-pool at low water
on the islet of Herm, and which, from its immediate recognition
as the " red shrimp " by the fisherman who accompanied me, I
have reason to believe is not of un frequent occurrence. My first
idea was, that I had obtained " Alpheus ruber," itself a great

VOL. II. E

50 Mr. W. V. Guise on a new species of Alpheus.

prize, being a Mediterranean species of the greatest rarity in our
seas ; but upon comparing it carefully with the descriptions of
Milne-Edwards in his e Histoire Naturelle des Crustaces/ I be-
came convinced that I had had the good fortune to obtain an
entirely new species of Alpheus ; and further investigations have
only tended to confirm me in that opinion.

The genus " Alpheus " is thus characterized by Milne-
Edwards:—

Carapace prolonged in form of a hood or vault over the eyes.

Rostrum small, and sometimes wanting.

Superior antenna small ; first articulation short, and armed with-
out with a plate, generally spiniform ; two following joints cy-
lindrical, having two terminal threads, of which the superior
is thicker and shorter than the inferior, and presenting traces
of a division into two filaments towards the end.

Inferior antenna inserted without and below the preceding.

Lamellar palp of moderate size, sometimes small and pointed.

Mandibles provided with a short, broad, palpiform appendage.

External pedipalps more or less slender and elongated, termina-
tion broad and somewhat foliaceous.

Two first pairs of legs didactyle, the first pair strong ; the one
much larger and more robust than the other.

Second pair weak and filiform, having the wrist multi-articulate.

Three last pairs of legs monodactyle and of moderate length.

This genus, says M. Edwards, appears to belong properly to
the seas of warm climates. Some species are found in the
Mediterranean ; but the greater part come from the seas of the
Antilles or from the Indian Ocean.

The genus is divided into those which have, and those which
have not, a spiniform rostrum. It is further subdivided into those
having a spine attached externally to the basal joint of the
external antenna, and those not so furnished.

The example now before us will be found to belong to the
second subdivision of the first division, i. e. to those provided
with a pointed beak, and not having an external spine at the
base of the external antennae.

Under this head three species are described by M. Edwards as
inhabiting the European seas, viz. —

Alpheus ruber, Alpheus Edwardsii, and Alpheus dentipes, which
are characterized as follows : —

Alpheus ruber. " Body very slender ; larger hand provided with
four longitudinal carinse, two on the upper edge, two on the

Mr. W. V. Guise on a new species of Alpheus. 51

external face ; lower margin obtuse ; moveable finger much
shorter than the immoveable one. A spine upon the upper
margin of both arms at some distance from the termina-
tion/'

It will be remarked that nothing is here said concerning the
character of the anterior portion of the carapace; but as this
species is said to be " tres voisine de la precedente " ("Alpheus
brevirostris" a new Holland species), which is characterized as
having the border of the supra-orbital hood rounded and without
spines, it is to be inferred that the like character also applies to
A. ruber.

Alpheus Edwardsii. " Very closely allied to the preceding. Ante-
rior borders of supra-orbital vaults armed with a spine, so that
the front presents three nearly equal teeth. The second joint
of the superior antennae about half as long again as the first.
Lamellar appendage of the external antennae dilated a little
within towards the end, and not passing the footstalk of the
superior antennas. Pedipalps very narrow towards the end,
and extending beyond the footstalk of the superior antennae.
Anterior legs nearly of the same form as in the preceding
species, but more enlarged, and having the pincers more
irregular ; those on one side slender and lengthened/'

Alpheus dentipes. " Closely allied to the preceding : having like-
wise the supra-orbital vaults prolonged into points, but
having the two anterior legs nearly of the same size; the
pincers of the smaller large at the base, but becoming ex-
tremely narrow towards the end; having the third articu-
lation of the second, third and fourth pairs of legs armed
with a pointed tooth externally, at one-third the length of
each."

Upon comparison of my Channel Island individual with the
three species described above, I find the following points of
agreement and difference between them.

It assimilates with A. ruber in having the larger hand fur-
nished with longitudinal carinse on the upper and the outer
surface ;

Differs, in not having the moveable finger shorter than the
immoveable one ; and essentially in the spinous armature to the
supra-orbital hoods.

It assimilates with A. Edwardsii in having the anterior edge
of the supra-orbital hoods armed with short spines ; and in
having the second joint of the superior antennae half as long
again as the first ;

E 2

52 Mr. W. V. Guise on a new species of Alpheus.

Differs, inasmuch as the lamellar appendage is not dilated
towards the end ; in the longitudinal carinse upon the upper and
outer surface of the larger pincers; in the proportions and
form of the anterior feet, and in other minor particulars.

Assimilates with A. dentipes, as with Edwardsiij in the spinous
terminations to the supra-orbital hoods ;

Differs, with respect to the comparative proportion between
the two anterior pairs of legs ; and inasmuch as the three hinder
pairs of legs are not armed externally with a pointed tooth.

Having thus shown in what respects the Alpheus from Herm
assimilates with, and differs from, the three species above re- .
ferred to, it remains to describe its own particular character-
istics, which are as follows : —

The medial line of the carapace prolonged anteriorly into a
short beak : supra-orbital vaults, each furnished at the extremity
with a minute spine : anterior legs unequal ; the larger hand
having upon the upper edge two carinae, one behind the other,
each terminating anteriorly in a small tooth projecting forwards ;
two carinae upon the outer surface of the claw, the lower one
having a short tooth : the moveable finger not shorter than the
immoveable one, flattened laterally, and broad at the point : the
immoveable finger triangular, strong, and forming a kind of
socket into which the opposing finger fits by a tubercle at its
extremity : lesser pincer having a toothed keel upon its upper
edge, equal in length to the others, but thinner, narrower, and
much less robust : second pair of legs didactyle, slender, and
having the wrist many-jointed.

Length 15 lines.

. Colour deep scarlet, except the chela?, which are mottled with
yellow.

From the want of other works of reference, besides those of
M. Edwards and of Professor Bell, I have it not in my power to
ascertain whether the species now under notice has been distin-
guished by later carcinologists ; but I have endeavoured, I think
satisfactorily, to show that it cannot be identified with either of
the European species of Alpheus described by the former distin-
guished naturalist. As regards both the figure and description
of Alpheus ruber in Bell's ' British Crustacea/ they having been
confessedly taken from an imperfect individual, found in the
stomach of a Cod-fish, have so little in common with my Channel
Island example, that, if identical with it, it must be presumed
that all the more marked points of agreement between them had
been digested away in the interior of the fish.

In the 8th volume of f London's Magazine of Natural History/
page 272, is however a notice of a Crustacean by the late Mr.

Mr. W. V. Guise on a new species of Alpheus. 53

Hailstone, which certainly agrees far more nearly with my ex-
ample than do either of those to which I have already referred ;
so nearly indeed, that but little doubt remains upon my mind of
its being identically the same. This species, which Mr. Hail-
stone calls " Hippolyte rubra" and of which a figure is annexed,
is thus described : —

"Superior antennae with two setae, the upper ones fringed
with hair and excavated below. Inferior antennae nearly the
length of the body. Pedipalps with three exserted joints, the
last bluntly pointed, and twice the length of the preceding one,
with two rows of fasciculi of hairs. First pair of legs didactyle,
very large, with the hands much compressed, unequal, the right
being the larger, bristly ; the thigh excavated beneath, and its
inner margin spinulose ; second pair didactyle, very long,
slender ; wrists many-jointed ; other legs terminated by a single
claw and spinulose within; the last pair the most slender.
Thorax with three short spines anteriorly. Tail with five plates,
the middle one blunt at its apex, with four spines arranged in
two lines. Colour deep scarlet, except above the eyes, which are
concealed under the shell, and above them it is transparent and
colourless. The tail is fringed with white hairs, and the legs are
mottled with yellow/'

Upon this, at page 274 (same volume), is a note by Mr. West-
wood, in which, with much skill and critical acumen, he traces
Mr. Hailstone's individual to the group of Alpheada, and refers
it to Cryptophthalmus ruber of Rafmesque, which M. Edwards
identifies with his " Alpheus ruber." Mr. Westwood afterwards,
at page 552, proposed to elevate it into the type of a new genus
by the name of ' Dienecia.'

Mr. Hailstone's description, as quoted above, might almost
stand word for word as applicable to my example, with which it
seems to tally in all important particulars, excepting as regards
size, which, in the case of Mr. Hailstone's Crustacean, is barely
two-thirds that of mine. The figures too attached to Mr. Hail-
stone's notice would serve equally well to illustrate mine, with
the exception of the hairy fringe attached to the setaceous extre-
mities of the superior antennae.

If I am right in my supposition of the identity of my Channel
Island Crustacean with the three individuals described by Mr.
Hailstone as brought up by the trawl-net off Hastings in 1835,
it is evident that the half-digested relics procured by Mr. Cocks
at Falmouth are not the first examples of an Alpheus having
been recorded as an inhabitant of the British seas. Indeed it is
impossible to read Mr. Hailstone's careful and minute description
without feeling convinced that a true Alphean was before him
when he made his drawing and description ; and I may be par-

54 Mr. W. V. Guise on a new species of Alpheus.

doned for expressing my surprise, which I do with great defer-
ence to the high attainments of Professor Bell, that that distin-
guished naturalist, in adopting the " Crangon bispinosus " and
" trispinosiis " of Mr. Hailstone, should have omitted all reference
to a form so very remarkable and so carefully detailed as Mr.
Hailstone's " Hippolyte rubra."

In the belief that my Channel Island Crustacean is a new and
undescribed species, I propose to bestow upon it the name of
Alpheus affinis ; thereby indicating the close relationship which
it bears to the three other European species already referred to.

Fig. I. Alpheus affinis , natural size.

2. Enlarged view of front of carapace, showing supra-orbital vaults,

insertion of antennae, &c.

3. Front of carapace still further enlarged, showing beaked rostrum

and spinous armature of supra-orbital vaults.

4. Enlarged view of larger pincer.

5. Enlarged view of lesser pincer.

6. Tail.

Address read to the Cotswold Naturalists' Club, at their
Winter Meeting, held at the Royal Agricultural College,
February, 1855.

By T. BARWICK LLOYD BAKER, ESQ. of Hardwicke Court,

President.

THE close of another year, my friends, calls upon me, as your
unworthy President, to resign into your hands an office which
your kindness, and not my fitness, has continued me in for many
years, and which I have hitherto accepted because I did not see
clearly how to find a substitute with equal leisure and zeal in the
cause. Now the case is altered, and I would seriously ask you to
look through your list of members, and see if you cannot find one
who, with more youth, activity, and leisure, and with talents really
fitting him to preside over your discussions, has, if we may trust
to appearances, not less— though certainly not more — good will to
the cause than myself. If you can find such a one — and I think
it cannot be difficult to do so — and can prevail upon him to accept
it — I would most gladly give into his hands one half of my office,
namely, that portion of it which appertains to the Presidency —
and retain for myself the other portion, which is better suited to
my talents, namely, that of helping to find conveyances, endea-
vouring to find the way in our rambles, reminding the members —
most unpleasantly — of the flight of time, and — less unpleasantly
— of the approach of the dinner hour.

But, before I resign my office, I must recall to your recollection
the sayings and doings, and, I trust, the enjoyings of the past year.

In the first place I must congratulate the Club on the accession
of some new names, which — though we are anxious to confine
our numbers within certain limits — we cannot but rejoice to see
on our list, namely, Dr. Voelcker and Mr. A. Williams, the Che-
mical and Natural Philosophy Professors of the Royal Agricultural
College ; The Rev. S. Lysons, a name so well known to the Anti-
quarians of England, and particularly of this county ; The Rev.
II. W. Bellairs, the Inspector of Schools for this and several other
counties ; and J. II. Elwes, Esq., our worthy High Sheriff.

Secondly, I must congratulate you, Gentlemen, on the series of
papers which this year have been read at our meetings.

1st, On some Rolled Bricks, from the Channel Islands, by Mr.
Guise.

2nd, On the remains of an Ancient Cross, at Ampney Crucis,
by Mr. C. Pooley.

3rd, On a New Crustacean, from the Channel Islands, by Mr.
Guise.

4th, On the superstitious reverence shewn to Parsley, Elder,
and other plants. By Mr. Jones.

5th, On Mammalian Remains, from the gravel, at Stroud, by
Professor Buckman.

Gth, On some Maltese Echinoderms, by Dr. "Wright.

These papers, Gentlemen, are a most valuable addition to our
Club. The credit which accrues from them to our Society is a
point that I most highly value. Yet still we must remember that

as it introduces a new feature, and in some degree carries the Club
from its original unpretending and economical character, it is
only right and fair that the point should be fully considered and
made the subject of a special vote from the Club, to which I pur-
pose, if you will permit me, to call your attention later in the
evening.

To proceed, then, to recall to your recollection the days we
have enjoyed as Club meetings this year.

On Tuesday, Jan. 31, the Club met, as now, within the hospit-
able halls of the Royal Agricultural College, at Cirencester, which,
not content with being the most valued seat of science during
term time, does not disdain, in the vacation, to give their assist-
ance to the humbler efforts of less regular votaries. After the
election of the officers, some valuable papers were read by Mr. Guise
and Mr. Pooley ; and Mr. Stronge shewed us a curious growth
of a root whose spongy texture had entirely choked a drain at, I
think, a depth of four feet ; the natural history of which was ably
commented upon by Mr. Buckman.

An examination of the College Museum occupied the time till
dinner, after which we had a long discussion on the memorial
Window proposed to be erected to our valued and lamented
member, Hugh E. Strickland ; and the Eevs. H. R. Barker, W.
Synionds, and F. Bayley, and Mr. Jones and Mr. Buckman were
appointed as a committee to select a design.

On Tuesday, May 9, I was prevented by yeomanry duties from
attending ; but I am informed that the Club met at Gloucester,
and after breakfasting at the Spread Eagle, proceeded in a barge
to the Upper Lode, stopping to examine Wainlode Cliff, below
which, the Severn being low, the dredgers succeeded in finding
the following fresh-water shells : —

Ancylus fluviatilis. Paludina vivipara.

Neritaflumatilis. Pisidium amnicum, of an extraor-

Lymnceus stagnalis. dinary large size, and

„ auricularius. Unio tumidus.

At Deerhurst Church the capabilities of the window destined
to receive the glass memorial to our lamented associate, Hugh E.
Strickland, was inspected, and the proposed design exhibited ;
and the members present came to an unanimous decision that the
early Saxon remains of this most interesting church — probably
the oldest of the county — should be faithfully copied and embo-
died in the records of our Club, while they remain in their present
intact and complete state of preservation.

This decision of the Club appears valuable, and well worthy to
be carried out. I know not whether any steps have been yet taken
in it, but if not, I would propose that some of our members —
shall I suggest Mr. Jones and Mr. Buckman should be requested
— if they will kindly undertake it — to make a report to the Club
at a future meeting.

In the course of the day Mr. Buckman pointed out the low
range of hills receding from the west side of the river, and remarked

Ill

that they are capped with sand and shingle, curiously marking
the boundary of the estuarine period of the broader river. The
present stream was observed to have made its way through
alluvial beds, which, at the place of embarkation, are sufficiently
tenacious for the making of bricks, for which purpose it is largely
employed, '["he men at the pits said that they frequently met
with (he bones of large animals, perhaps Elephant, Hippopotamus,
Rhinoceros, and Deer, which were the inhabitants of these isles
long ere Brutus, grandson of ./Eneas — as the unquestionable
authority of Geoffry of Mon mouth informs us— landed on them
and gave them the name of British.

Mr. Guise's and Mr. Jones' papers finished the proceedings of
a good day and a large meeting : many members of the Malvern
Club having joined the party.

Tuesday, June 14, had been fixed for a gathering of the four
Clubs of this part of England, at the Speech-House, in the Forest
of Dean. We breakfasted at Newnham, where we found awaiting
us a specimen of that peculiarly hideous fish the Lophiusp iscatori us
(Wide-gab fishing frog, or Sea devil), caught in the river a few
days before. We then walked over the Bailey, and followed the
line of the Railway to Ciuderford, through most interesting sec-
tions of the Old Red Sandstone, Mountain Limestone, Millstone
Grit, and Coal, all lifted up at high angles of inclination, some-
times as much as 61 degrees.

Hence to Lightmoor Colliery, where, in addition to a noble
steam engine, we were shewn a most ingenious and valuable con-
trivance to obviate the effect of the occasional negligence of the
engineer, by which the truck of minerals just raised from the
mine is occasionally drawn over the pulley, to the great danger
both of machinery and human life. In this machine, when the
i ruck approached too near the pulley it was caught and remained
suspended, while the rope, detached from it at the same moment,
might be carried harmlessly round and round the barrel.

A peculiar blight upon the Forest Oaks, at a distance, was so
observable as to give them quite an October aspect, but we did
not approach sufficiently near to examine them minutely. Mr.
Buckman is disposed to think that it was not a blight, but arose
from the circumstance that the first leaves of the oak buds came
out early, and soon changed to a dark hue, and then to the
autumnal tint. The buds then, in the middle of summer, took a
fresh growth, and you had the varied tints arising from prema-
turely old leaves with an unusually new state of young leaves.
This was very general last summer throughout England. How-
ever this may be, Sir James Campbell, the Ranger of the Forest,
has since told me that he has often seen the same in former years,
both in this and other forests, and the effect on many trees which
he has annually measured, has been that, in the years when thus
affected, they have not grown in size at all.

At the Speech-House, about seventy persons sat down to din-
ner— half being members of the Cotteswold Club and friends —

IV

the remainder being members of the Worcester, Woolhope, and
Malvern Clubs. Mr Jones exhibited a beautiful series of Rhyn-
conella subdecorata, from tlie inferior oolite, a species erected by
Mr. Davidson, from the examples now shewn ; and the Arbacia
Forbesii, a rare Echinodenn, from the Gryphite grit.

Mr. Atkinson, Deputy Gaveller of the Forest, exhibited some
curious plans of the coal and iron mines of the district ; and Mr.
Herbert Mackworth gave us much interesting information on the
fire-damp, and exhibited a variety of apparatus for testing its
presence, observing particularly on the almost necessity which
cxiMs tor a higher state of education and intelligence in those
workmen who have the charge and care of mines.

A member of the Worcestershire Naturalists' Club announced
the interesting discovery in his county, during the past year, of
Carex montana and Potamogeton flabellatus.

On Tuesday, July 11, the Club met at breakfast at Minety
Station, and then broke into two sections — the one to examine
the Railway cuttings, of which the President and Secretary formed
part, and there turning off to Braydon Pond, about a mile from
which, close to the high road, was a curious specimen of one of
the ancient elms of Lydiard Forest. The trunk, about 25 feet in
circumference at six feet from the ground, rose from a tangled
and almost solid mass of roots, which, as near as I could measure
it, was 21 feet long by 15 feet across.

What was seen by the other section, who, under the guidance
of Mr. Bowly and Mr. Taylor, went on an antiquarian expedition
to the Market-place and Abbey of Malmesbury, we know not, as
no report was given us.

I would venture to suggest, as a rule of the Club for the future,
that whenever the Club breaks into sections, some one be ap-
pointed as Secretary for the day with each section, who shall be
requested to draw up a short report of what has been seen for the
next meeting.

On Tuesday, August 8th, we again essayed, in spite of our
failure of weather on the former occasion, to persuade Ladies to
honour us with their company at Cirencester. This time the
weather was most fortunate, and the day was thoroughly enjoyable
and enjoyed. After breakfast we proceeded in flies and other
vehicles through the Park, stopping to look at the noble Cathedral
Firs, and then driving on to the Edgeworth Valley, we rambled
and scrambled through it ; finding, amongst others the following
interesting plants :

Asperula cynanchica. Dipsacus pilosus.

Vicia sylvatica. Orchis ustulata.

Hippocrepis camosa.

On a rocky side of the valley, facing the south-wrest, was found a
pretty natural collection of ferns, consisting of

Poli/podium calcareum. Aspidium filix mas.

„ vulgare Cysteafragilis.

Asplenium tricJiomancs. Scolopendrium vulgare.

„ adiantum nigrum.

Keturning by the old house of Pimbury Park, with its fine
terrace of yew trees, we dined, to the number of 70 in the Wood-
house. Papers — none were forthcoming ; but the toast to the
health of the strangers, was responded to by the Hon. General
Watson Webb, now of New York, but whose ancestors were of
our own county ; and Mr. Buckman gave us some moat interest-
ing and amusing details of his recent American tour.

On September 12th, the Club, contrary to all but irrevocable
decree, accepted the invitation of the Earl Ducie to breakfast and
dine at his hospitable mansion at Tortworth. The day was most
auspicious, and while Lord Ducie most ably acted as Geological
pioneer, led one section through a fine geological country embrac-
ing the trap rocks, Silurian, old red sandstone, and mountain lime-
stone of the neighbourhood, a second section roamed through the
Park, along the walks, round the lake — now being opened out and
restored to order — by the entrenchment, which still bears the
otii i nous name of Bloody Acre ; by the site of the Vineyard, which
flourished at no distant period (though of the flavour of its wine
wo have no accurate record) ; by the Lover's Leap, the pens of
Circassian Deer (Cervus Wallicliii) ; the kitchen gardens, close to
which is a remarkably fine Auracaria ; and then, crossing the road,
to the Court, where the Chestnut, described as " The Old Chest-
nut," in the days of king John, still grows broad and green, a
noble specimen of antiquity ; while near at hand a considerable
variety of Pines, amongst them a remarkably fine Insignis and
Sabineana attest the improvements which latter years have made
in giving variety in colour and form to the landscape.

A fi er dinner, several papers were read, particularly one by Dr.
\V right, on a number of Echinoderms, collected in Malta by our
noble host, and which forms a prominent feature in our forth-
coming number.

And now, Gentlemen, before I release you, I must touch upon
a few other matters relative to the year which has passed since
our last winter meeting.

I cannot but allude to the loss which the cause of science has
sustained in the death of Professor Edward Forbes, of whom it
has justly been said, by Professor Buckman, He will long be re-
membered as a genius ; as a naturalist, who, while he could well
trace distinctive characters, was not a mere species maker: this
his thorough acquaintance with morphological views, and the great
physiological facts connected with both plants and animals, kept
him above and beyond. His mind was that of the great but not
fanciful ^nirraliser. In Natural History, indeed, he was a Philo-
sopher, not a mere collector.

Another point you must allow me to mention, is that of the
new number added, or being added, to our transactions. It is
one of which we may justly be proud, but I must also remind you

VI

that it is one which entails upon us a considerable expense, and
although I for one should be glad to see the expense still farther
increased by an increase of such papers — still, as it was not con-
templated in the original formation of our Club, I think it right
to bring the matter fairly before your consideration.

It appears to me that three courses lie before us. First — to
print all such papers as may be read, even at an additional in-
crease of expense, yet still amounting to but a small sum per
annum if regularly collected. Secondly — to limit ourselves, as
i-iginally intended, to matters connected with the Natural
History of the County. And, Thirdly, to make an arrangement
by which any members might subscribe for any number of copies
they might wish for, and so divide the cost according to the
number of copies ordered. This matter, Gentlemen, I beg to
leave in your hands — reminding you, however, that the unpreci-
drntr-d call of one pound each is made this year — it is in fact for the
transactions of this year and last, as nothing was collected last year.

Though I, however, should be sorry to limit our papers strictly
to county matters, yet I confess I should be glad to see these
more closely followed up. We have as yet no list of Fossils,
Plants, Shells, or Insects, any of which would form a most desir-
able and apppropriate feature in the works of our Club ; while of
our numerous and interesting antiquities, with the exception of
Mr. Pooley's paper of this year, not a word has been said save
the simple record that the Club has visited them, as given in the
address of your most unscientific President. Forgive, Gentlemen,
my calling your attention to this subject. I am, as you all know,
a man of few ideas beyond my county, and though I should be
sorry to see the transactions of the Club strictly limited to the
field of our rambles, yet I cannot but think that we should more
especially fulfill our mission, as a County Club, by devoting more
attention to the Natural History and Antiquities of our own
district.

Notes on the Natural History of the County of Gloucester.
By Professor J. BUCKMAN, F.G.S ., F.L.S., &c.
ON THE OBCHIDACE.E.

The Orchids present such a large assemblage of highly curious
plants, that it seems astonishing so little should be popularly
known about our native examples. It is true that a few species
of exotic Orchids may be met with in the hot houses of the more
wealthy, and these are esteemed on account of the strange forms
which their flowers frequently assume, and the exquisite perfume
some of them exhale. But though it is quite true that these have
had their share of attention, yet who in a country walk at home
ever plucks an Orchis, much less examines its structure, and yet
thev abound everywhere, and offer a showiness of flower, a variety
of colour and structure with, in some species, an odour which

Vll

should make them general favourites. The Primrose, the Cowslip,
the Ilyencintli, und otl.rr of our wild flowers, find their way into
tin' < idcii, but we never yet saw an Orchis in a cottage

pardon or taking part in a rustic nosegay; however, great heaps of
the commoner ones may occasionally be noticed laying prostrate
by a stile or scattered about the country childrens* play-ground,
having been gathered by the little unsophisticated creatures who
have always a deep love for " pretty flowers," which, in as far as
Iho Orchis is concerned, is early destined to be clouded by a
prejudice which, in after life, is so strong as not merely to lead
to indifference, but to a positive superstitious dread of these
beautiful and harmless creations.

This feeling would appear to have been derived from the name,
which country people apply to some of the commoner species,
namely, that of " Bloody Man's Fingers;" no doubt applied on
account of the digitate roots which are white and fleshy, and bear
no distant resemblance to bloodless fingers ; and yet, curiously
enough, this form of root is not common to the commoner species
as the two everywhere met with, the Orchis morio and 0. mascula,
have two rounded tuberous appendages below the surface of the
soil, which contain so much starch as to make the plant by some
be considered as worthy of cultivation.

Little however as these plants have been attended to as objects
of floral culture yet they will be found well worthy of notice in
this respect, to which end field specimens should be marked when
in flower for removal in the autumn, a remark necessary inasmuch
as the usual plan of taking up flowering roots when first observed,
usually results in disappointment in these, as it would be the case
with most plants when in full flower. Of course observation of
the locality, soil, and habit of growth, would conduce greatly to
success.

The following is a list of all the species which I have met with
in our County. These are 18 belonging to 8 genera, being some-
what more than half the genera belonging to the British Flora, as
described by Hooker and Arnott, and nearly half the species, the
numbers being of total British species 38 appertaining to 14
genera.

List of the Orchidacece of Gloucestershire.

1. Epipactis latifolia, Broad-leaved Heleborine. — In the woods in Oakley

Park, Cirencester, Birdlip, and most of the Cotteswold
woods and thickets.

2. „ grandiflora, large white H. — Plentiful in Oakley Park, and

in the north Cotteswold woods, but no where in the
Vale.

3. „ ensifolia, narrow-leaved white H. — A few years since I met

with t\vo specimens of this plant beneath the Rookery
trees of Oakley Park, and not deeming but there
would be others, I at once appropriated these exam-
ples of an exceedingly rare plant to my Herbarium,
but alas, the most diligent search for years has not
again given me sight of a living specimen. It may

Vlll

well serve as a curious subject of enquiry as to how it
came there, and may illustrate how easily a plant
may become extinct in any given locality.

4. Listera ovata, Twayblade. — Common in our woods.

5. „ nidus-avis, Bird's-nest Orchis. — Common under the beeches

in Oakley and other woods. Having taken up speci-
mens of this plant, with their curious bunches of nest-
like roots, I cannot at all agree that it is parasitic, as
is usually supposed.

6. Neottia sjriralis, Ladies' Traces. — The only locality in which I have

met with this plant, in Gloucestershire, is in a grass
field on the south slope of Marl Hill, near Chelten-
ham. This field, from its regular ridges, had evidently
once been in tillage, and yet it seems an isolated
example of a pasture with us containing this plant,
which, at the time of my visit, some 15 years since,
was very abundant in this habitat.

7. Orchis Mono, Green-winged Meadow Orchis. — Too common in pas-

tures, in which its great abundance may betoken
poverty of soil, as it is usual in " cold hungry clays."

8. „ masculdy Early purple Orchis. — Common to rough meadows

and low thickets.

9. Orchis ustulata, Dwarf dark-winged O. — I have met with occasional

examples on Sevenhampton Common, near Chelten-
ham ; at Eyford, near Stow-on-the-Wold ; and on the
slope which descends from Dunsburn into Edgeworth
valley.

10. ,, latifolia, Marsh O. — In damp marshy meadows, frequent.

11. „ maculata. Spotted O. — Common to woods and thickets.

12. „ pyramidalis, Pyramidal O. — In Oakley and other Cotteswold

woods and thickets.

13. Gymnadenia conopsea. Fragrant Gymnadenia. — Occasionally met with

in Oakley, Uley, and other woods and thickets of the
county, well distinguished by its lilac coloured flowers
and fragrant scent.

14. Habenaria bifolia, Butterfly Orchis. — Common in the Cotteswold

woods. This is also a highly fragrant species.

15. „ viridis. Green H. — At Charlton, near Cheltenham, and

Furzen Leaze, near Cirencester.

16. Herminium Monorchis, Green Musk Orchis. — This I have"only met

with in one locality, namely, on the slope of Ravens-
gate Hill, below Linover wood, where it forms a rounded
bay, looking down upon the village of Charlton.

17. Ophrys apifera, Bee Orchis. — This beautiful specimen has been met

with, more or less sparingly, in several habitats. I
have gathered it on.Painswick Hill, on Leckhampton
Hill, and very fine examples in Oakley Park. The
most curious locality in which I have met with it is
on a spoil heap thrown out in making the Thames
and Severn Canal, by the Engine-house near Tetbury
road Station.

18. Ophrys muscifera, Fly O.— In Lineover Wood, Charlton Kings, and

in the woods bounding the north side of Sapperton
Valley, but only sparingly.
Cirencester, 1855.

55

On Fossil Echinoderms from the Island of Malta ; with Notes on
the stratigraphical distribution of the Fossil Organisms in (In-
Maltese beds. By THOMAS WRIGHT, M.D. &c., Professor of
the Natural Sciences in the Cheltenham Grammar School.

READ HTH SEPTEMBER 1854.

A. Notes on the Maltese beds, with the species they contain.

THE Island of Malta is entirely composed of tertiary rocks of
Miocene age, which have been described by Capt. Spratt, R.N.*,
and surveyed and mapped by the Earl Ducie t- Through his
lordship's kindness, we have been enabled to study a complete
suite of Maltese rock specimens, together with an extensive col-
lection of the fossils obtained from them, whilst resident in the
island ; and it is but just that we should state, at the outset of
these remarks, that whatever is valuable in this memoir relating
to the stratigraphical distribution of the Urchins and other
fossils in these beds, is entirely due to the Earl Ducie, who has
most liberally given us all the information he noted on the spot,
relative to the range and distribution of the species. It is to
be distinctly understood, however, that neither the measurement
of the beds, nor the limitation of the range of the fossils in
them, are given as absolute truths, but rather as the nearest
approximation thereto which the present state of our knowledge
permits.

The Maltese islands comprise Malta, Gozo, and Cumino.
Malta is seventeen miles in length by seven in breadth ; Gozo
is nine in length by five in breadth ; and Cumino about two
in length by one in breadth. The direction of their long axis
is S.E. and N.W., which, with the channels, is about twenty-nine
miles in length. All the rocks are sedimentary and marine, having
a vliLcht inclination from N.E. to E.N.E. ; their direction corre-
sponds with that of the Apennines, and with the intermediate

* " On the Geology of the Maltese Islands," with Notes on the Fossils
by Prof. E. Forbes. Procerd. of the Geol. Soc. London, vol. iv. p. 225.

t The Earl Ducie kindly presented a copv of this map to Mr. Good-
enough, book- and map-seller, Strado Reale, Malta, by whom it is now
being published.

VOL. II. P

56

Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

line observed in Sicily from the Val di Noto to Polizzi. Nume-
rous faults traverse the N.W. half of Malta and the S.E. of Gozo,
which have much disturbed the beds, caused the depressions now
forming the north and south channels between Cumino and Malta
and Cumino and Gozo, and left the islet of Cumino an isolated
fragment of the uppermost beds, which attests the former con-
tinuity of the land, before these islands were fractured by subter-
ranean and denuded by aqueous agency. " The mineral deposits,"
says Capt. Spratt, " composing this group, have a thickness of
800 feet visible above the sea ; they lie nearly horizontal, and are
conformable, although there is a great diversity of mineral cha-
racter and condition in the series. None of the deposits are
wholly destitute of organic remains ; but, on the contrary, they
generally contain them in tolerable abundance, and in a good
state of preservation/5 The strata may be divided into five groups,
each of which contains fossils that are special to it, very few of
the species being common to the whole series. These, in a
descending order, are, 1st, the coralline limestone ; 2nd, the yellow
sand-, 3rd, the clay; 4th, the calcareous sandstone; 5th, the
hard cherty limestone.

No. 1. The coralline limestone , consists of a reddish-white
calcareous rock, mostly hard and compact, and sometimes
changed into an indurated calcareous sandstone. It attains a
thickness of 100 feet, but has been much denuded in several
localities. Some isolated portions of this bed, from . being
slightly variegated in colour, were formerly used for certain
durable work, under the name of Gozo marble.

Fossils of No. 1.

MOLLUSCA.

Voluta, cast of a large species.

Haliotis, ditto of a n. sp.

Trochus, ditto.

Spondylus quinquecostatus, Desk.

Ostrea Boblayei, Desk.

Ostrea Virleti, Desk.

Pecten Pandora, Desk.

squamulosus, Desk.

Burdigalensis, Desk.

Area, casts of.
Cytherea, ditto.

BRYOZOA.
Eschara monilifera.
Escharina, n. sp.

CRUSTACEA.

Carapaces and chelae of several
species.

ECHINODERMATA.

Cidaris Miletensis, Forbes.
Echinus Duciei, Wright.
Echinolampas Deshayesii, Desor.
Clypeaster crassicostatus, var. of C.

altus.
Brissus latus, \Vright.

imbricatus, Wright.

oblongus, Forbes, MSS.

Brissopsis Duciei, Wright.
Schizaster eurynotus, Agassiz.
Pericosrnus excentricus, Wright.

Stylastraea.

CORALLIA.

from I In- Inland of Malta. 57

No. 2. The yellow sand, is sometimes slightly indurated, and
has an abundance of greenish-black grains intermixed with it.
In some places it abounds with Foraminifera. Enormous numbers
of Lenticulites complanatus, Defr., the flat side of the shell cor-
responding with the bedding of the rock, occur in some localities,
as in the cliffs of Ramala Bay, Gozo, and in many places in
Malta. Intercalated with these Nummulites are banks of
oysters, the teeth and vertebrae of fishes, especially those of the
great shark, Carcharodon megalodon, with the bones of Cetacea.
The greatest number of Echinoderms are likewise found in this
bed. It varies in thickness from 10 to 40 feet.

Fossils of No. 2.

MAMMALIA, determined by Ostrea navicularis, Desk.

Prof. Owen (Forbes). Pecten cristatus, Bronn.

Delpbinus, more than one species. - squamulosus, Desk.

Manatus? bones apparently of this - Burdigalensis and 3 other sp.

genus. Area, Isocardia, Venus, and Tellina,

in the form of casts.

FISHES, determined by Sir Philip Terebratula ampulla, Brocchi.

G. Egerton (Forbes). - bipartita.
Cerax aduncus, Agass., teeth of. „

Carcharodon megalodon, Agass., do.

Carcharias productus, Agass., do. Cellepora mammillata.

Oxyrhina xiphodon, Agass., do. Ketepora.
- hastilis ? Agass., do. ECHINODERMATA.

- Mantelli? Agass., do. Clypeaster altus et var. C. turritus,
Hemipnstis serra, Agass., do. Leske

— paucidens Agass. - marginatus, Lam*.

With other undetermined Squahdre. _ folium, Agass.

MOLLUSCA. Echinolampas Richardi, Desmovl.

XT ^.'i o j -1. j - Kleinii, Goldf.

Nautilus, 2 .p., undescnbed. somus, Ago*.

Forbe,

Columbella, Oliva, Natica, Turri- FORAMINIFERA.

tella, Turbo, Pleurotoma, Pyrula, Lenticulites complanatus, Defrance.
Phorus, Trochus ; — casts only of

these genera. CORALLIA.

Ostrea Virleti, Desk. Caryophyllia. Fungia.

No. 3. The clay bed, has a dark blue, drab, or a light gray
colour, and is much charged with iron. In it are found crystals
of gypsum, and occasionally nodules of sulphur. It varies in
thickness from 30 to 60 feet. It is the retentive water-bearing
stratum of the islands, and all the water falling upon the upper
beds percolates through them, and bursts out in springs along
their line of junction with the clay. Casts of shells and frag-
ments of bones are very abundant in it ; but Echinoderms are
comparatively rare.

F2

58 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

Fossils of No. 3.

FlSHES. ECHINODERMATA.

Teeth of Myliobatis, Lanma, Car- Spatangus Desmarestii, Goldf.
charias, and Euphyllia, are abun- Pericosmus latus, Agass.
dant.

MOLLUSCA. t CORALLIA.

Megasiphonia zic-zac? (allied to the FunSm ?

London-clay species).
Scalaria, Pleurotoma, Mitra, Cassis,

Rostellaria, Conus, 3 or 4 sp.,

Pecten, Ostrea, Cardita, Lucina.

No. 4. The calcareous sandstone. — "This bed covers the
greater part of the island of Malta. From it nearly all the build-
ing stone is procured, and it is likewise the rock from which the
Maltese vases are cut. The lower beds abound in Echinoderms.
Scutella and Schizaster are not unfrequent; but Hemiaster
Scilla is the most abundant species. These Urchins are often
seen standing out in relief on the beach, the sea having worn
away the surrounding rock. They are very serviceable in afford-
ing a foot-hold on the rocks, which otherwise would be danger-
ous to land upon." (Lord Dude.} This bed is subdivided by
Capt. Spratt into five strata, which he thus describes : —

" D. is a white calcareous sandstone, lying subjacent to the
marl, into which it quickly passes, and is from 20 to 30 feet in
thickness.

" E. is a bed of fine-grained sandstone, 15 to 20 feet thick,
of a reddish-white, and sometimes gray colour. These contain
several species of Foraminifera.

" F. a pale yellow calcareous sandstone, often containing flinty
nodules, from 30 to 50 feet thick. In some parts it is thinly
stratified, and separable into brittle plates of sandstone; but
more generally it assumes a closely bound and unstratified cha-
racter, when it is used for building; but it is very liable to
exfoliate on exposure to the weather.

<e G. Chocolate-coloured nodules, irregular in figure and size,
in calcareous sandstone, with which are mixed casts of shells,
Caryophyllia, and other organisms ; also fishes' teeth, vertebra,
and coprolites are very abundant. All the nodules are of
organic origin ; it is, in fact, a bone-bed of considerable extent,
for it preserves a very uniform character throughout the islands ;
but in Gozo it is more developed, and contains more remains ;
especially in a flat ledge just above the sea-level, under the cliffs
of Fort Chambray, and at Marsa il Forno, on the north-east
coast, where its durability has checked the encroachment of the
sea. Its thickness is estimated at from 2 to 8 feet.

" H . A close-grained, pale yellow sandstone, incapable of being

from the Island of Malta. 59

split along the line of bedding. It is extensively quarried for
building and other purposes, being easily cut with the knife or
saw. Large blocks of it are turned into pillars, vases, balus-
trades, and other architectural ornaments. This stone is exten-
sively used for building in the islands ; and, for the same use,
is largely exported to many parts along the shores of the Medi-
terranean. It attains a thickness of from 40 to 50 feet.

" The stone from which the finely-carved vases are cut, comes
from the lower part of this bed, and is obtained near Naxiar.
The rock in this locality dries whiter, is finer grained, and more
compact than in general." — Spratt.

" It is impossible to distinguish between the beds D, E, P,
in the above grouping, except in cliff-sections." — Earl Dude.

Fossils of No. 4.

REPTILIA. CIRRHIPODA.

Chelonia, sp. Balanus stellaris.

Lepas, sp.

FISHES. CRUSTACEA.

Pycnodus, numerous teeth of this Numerous remains of this class,
genus, with vertebrae and other v

bones of this class. ECHINODERMATA.

Schizaster Parkinsonii, Defrance.

MOLLUSCA. Desori, Wright.

Nautilus, sp. undescribed. Spatangus Hoffmanni, Goldf.

Scalaria Duciei. Scutella subrotunda, Leske.

Conus, Cyprasa, Solarium, Natica, - - striatula, Marcel de Serres.
Phorus, casts only. Brissopsis crescenticus, Wright.

Pecten laticosta. Hemiaster Grateloupi, Desor.

Burdigalensis. Scillae, Wright.

Lucina. Tellina. Cotteaui, Wright.

No. 5. The hard cherty limestone, " is a yellowish- white
cream-coloured limestone, having sometimes semi-crystalline
strata alternating with an oolitic grit or sandstone, apparently
composed of minute fragments of shells and corals. It attains
a considerable thickness, since nearly 400 feet of it in perpen-
dicular depth is visible on the north-west coast of Gozo."
(Spratt.) "This bed forms a high and rocky coast-line on the
south end of Malta, and dipping to the north appears about the
water-line in the neighbourhood of Valetta and Sliema, forming
a barrier to the sea. Probably the softer superincumbent beds
have in course of time been worn away, till the appearance of
this rock arrested any further encroachment. A Scutella inva-
riably marks the junction of this bed with No. 4." (Earl Dude.)
The New Dock is built of this rock, and it is quarried in several
places for building purposes, and it is likewise burned for lime.

60 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Eclmwdcrnis

Fossils of No. 5.

The fossils of this bed are imperfectly known, from being
obtained with much difficulty. Of Mollusca, casts of Solarium,
Conus, Phorus, Natica, Cypraa, Pecten, Lucina, and of the
Cirrhipoda, Balanus, have been recognized in it. Of the Echi-
nodermata, " Scutella subrotunda, Clypcaster, sp., Brissus, sp.,
identical with that of No. 2. Such is also the case with the
Pectens." (Forbes.)

We cannot conclude our brief notice of these Maltese deposits
without alluding to a similar Urchin bed of the same age in
the island of Corsica. Through the kindness of our friend M.
Michelin, the eminent zoophytologist of Paris, we received
some time since a number of Echinidfs from this Corsican
deposit, which we have carefully compared with the fine suite
of Maltese Echinoderms now before us. Many of the species
from Corsica and Malta are identical, although some from both
islands are special to each region. From these data we con-
clude, that the deposits containing the Echinoderms described
in the sequel of this memoir are of the Miocene period, and of
the same age as the tertiaries of the south of France, the north
of Italy, and of Doberg bei Biinde in Westphalia. M. Collomb,
an eminent French geologist, lately visited the Urchin bed near
Bonifacio in Corsica, and has given an account thereof in a
letter addressed to Prof. Constant Prevost ; the following abstract
relating thereto will be read with interest : —

" We shall quit now," says M. Collomb, " the eruptive rocks,
and transport ourselves to the south, at Bonifacio, where we
have remained some days, to go and see the bed of fossil Urchins.
They are found in a fragment of limestone completely enclosed
in the granite. Bonifacio is built upon a high escarpment of
this limestone, formed of horizontal beds having a coarse struc-
ture, full of the fragments of shells, the species of which were
indeterminable. This escarpment is incessantly beaten and
demolished by the action of the wind and the sea. Upon all
this coast the beds overhang, and are worn into caverns by the
inroads of the sea.

" The bed of Urchins is situated at some leagues to the north-
east of Bonifacio, towards the roadstead of Santa-Manza, at the
limit of the granite. The escarpment itself is here granitic,
and the Urchin limestone caps the granite. The bed which
contains the most beautiful specimens is only accessible by
means of a ladder, and their extraction is difficult."

The Calcaire a Oursins is only found in three localities in
Corsica, at Bonifacio, at Aleria, and at Saint -Florent, and

PL IV.

V. H B*i!jr, del eb htk

1 JL_O Cidaris Miletensis,
- 2. a._ f Echinus Duciei ,
3 «L_d EehuaolAjripa-fl Deshajesii, Desor

Prmted by Hullma-neW. i"V7aIto*i.

Forbes

from the Island of Malta. 61

always in small detached b.eds of inconsiderable extent, which
do not extend into the interior of the island. The deposits of
.Bonifacio and Saint-Florent were the only ones visited by M.
Collomb*. The rock is a light-coloured limestone, sometimes
white and soft, or hard and cherty, and contains an abundance
of small quartz pebbles derived from the decomposed granite.

H. Description of the Fossil Maltese Echinoderms.
Cidaris Miletensis, Forbes MSS., n. sp. PI. IV. fig. 1 a-c.

Test oblately spheroidal, much depressed at both poles; am-
bulacral areas undulated, depressed in the centre, with an
elevated marginal row of close-set tubercles on each side of
the areas ; poriferous avenues of the same width as the areas ;
iuterambulacral areas rather prominent, with two rows of
primary tubercles, about six in each row ; mammillary emi-
nences large, each with a circle of boundary granules ; spines
nearly the diameter of the test in length, tapering from the
base to the apex ; mouth-opening very large.

.Dimensions. — Height y^ths of an inch; transverse diameter
If-Q inch.

Description. — This is a very rare Urchin in the Maltese beds.
It has an oblately spheroidal figure, and is much depressed at
both poles ; the ambulacral areas, with the poriferous zones, are
gently undulated ; they measure together /^ihs of an inch in
width ; the areal band is depressed in the middle, and its
elevated margins are covered with two rows of large equal-sized
close-set granules ; internal to these are two rows of much smaller
granules, and down the centre is a depressed furrow : the pori-
ferous avenues lie likewise in depressions, bounded internally by
the marginal granules of the ambulacral areas, and externally by
the encircling granules of the primary tubercles : the inter-
ambulacral areas are 3^ times the width of the ambulacral ; they
form rather prominent convex portions of the test, with from
five to six rows of primary tubercles in each of the two rows of
these areas : the areolas are large and prominent, the summits
are smooth and without crenulations, and the tubercles, which
are proportionately large, and with a very small perforation in
their summit, stand well out from the body : a circle of larger
granules surrounds the base of the mammillary eminences;
these circlets are each complete in the two superior tubercles,
but one series is common to two tubercles in those near the
mouth ; the boundary in all, however, is defined, as none of the

* Bull, de la Soc. Geol. di- France', torn. xi. p. 67 et seq., '2 MTU-.

(tt Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinodcrms

areolar spaces arc confluent : in the centre of the interambulacral
areas is a depressed space, which is filled with small close- set
granules: the mouth-opening is very large, and that for the
apical disc is so likewise : the spines taper gently from the
shoulder to their apex ; they are round, and sculptured with
longitudinal lines ; their absolute length is not determinable, as
neither of those before us are perfect ; they may have attained
the length of the diameter of the test.

Affinities and differences. — We know so few true Cidarites
from the tertiary rocks, that materials for comparison fail us.
The only species we possess is the C. Alabamensis, Morton, from
the tertiaries of the U. States, which has nearly straight am-
bulacra, ten tubercles in each row in the interambulacra, with
wide intertubercular spaces between each pair of rows. The
Maltese Urchin differs essentially from this species, and may be
easily distinguished from it by the concave ambulacral areas, and
the marginal rows of tubercles that define these portions of the
test. It is somewhat remarkable that we should have discovered
so few Cidarites in all the Urchin beds that have been so dili-
gently explored in the tertiary beds of Europe.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — This species has been
found only in bed No. 1, the Gozo marble, where it is rare.

Echinus Duciei, Wright. PI. IV. fig. 2 a-f.

Test circular, much depressed : ambulacral areas more than half
the width of the interambulacral, with two rows of marginal,
nearly equal-sized tubercles throughout, and two other rows
within these, extending from the border to the mouth ; one of
these inner rows ascends a short way above the border : inter-
ambulacral areas with eight rows of tubercles at the border,
diminishing to two rows above the others, disappearing or
becoming of secondary size ; from the border to the mouth,
the eight rows continue of uniform size : the pores are in
triple oblique pairs ; between each pair there is a slight ridge
of the test, which gives a singular zigzag figure to the pori-
ferous avenues : mouth large and decagonal, base flat : apical
disc of moderate size, but not preserved.

Dimensions. — Height Mths of an inch ; transverse diameter
Hi inch.

Description. — This beautiful Urchin has been thought to be
identical with the E. Scilla, Desmoul., and the one figured by
Scilla in pi. 13. fig. 1, pi. 25. fig. 1, and pi. 26. fig. A, B, of
his work * ; but the number of tubercles on each of the plates

* De Corporibus M arinis Lapidescentibus.

from the Island of Malta. 63

in our specimen differs from the Echinus e Messana of that
author, who has figured only one large tubercle on each plate
of that form. From E. Scilla it is certainly distinct, as we
know of no Urchin that is common to the cretaceous and
tertiary rocks. The test is circular, much depressed on the
upper surface and flat below ; the ambulacral areas are almost
Yflths of an inch in width at the border, where we count
four rows of tubercles ; the marginal rows are very uniform in
size and arrangement from the mouth to the disc ; the two in-
ternal rows are smaller, and continue from the border to the
mouth ; one of these extends a short distance on the sides, but
on the upper half of the areas there are only the two marginal
rows : the interambulacral areas are T7<jths of an inch in width
at the border ; there are eight rows of tubercles at this point
and onwards towards the base, they are nearly of the same size ;
but, from the border to the apical disc, the second row, from
the ambulacral areas, alone possesses the size the tubercles have
at the border ; the tubercles in the others diminish in size, and
disappear as the areas become narrower ; above, we find only
two marginal tubercles of the primary size, and internal to
these, a few of secondary magnitude irregularly set : all the
tubercles are raised on mammillary eminences, with areolas
around their bases, and numerous large granules fill up all the
intervening spaces, so that the surface of this Echinus has a
very tuberculated appearance. The poriferous avenues are on a
level with the test ; the pores are arranged in triple oblique
pairs ; between each pair there is a slight elevated ridge ; every
two ridges of each triple oblique pair of holes is connected by
another ridge, which runs at an angle of 45° to them ; by this
arrangement the poriferous avenues exhibit a curious zigzag
character through these little elevations of the test in the line
of the pedal pores. The base is flattened, the mouth-opening
is large and decagonal, and the jaws and teeth are narrow and
much curved inwards ; the apical disc is absent in all the speci-
mens we have examined ; the space for the same is, however, of
moderate size.

Affinities and differences. — This species may be distinguished
from Echinus Serresii, Desmoul., from the Molasse de Provence,
in having larger tubercles, with less granulation at their base,
and the absence of the zigzag ridges between the pairs of pores :
from Echinus dubius, Agass., another tertiary species from the
Molasse of Villeneuve in Provence, it is distinguished by the
more uniform size of its tubercles, the depression of the upper
surface, and the zigzag ridges of the poriferous zones.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — It was collected from bed
No. 1, the Gozo marble, Malta, where it is not uncommon. We

64 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

have dedicated this species to the Earl Ducie, who collected the
beautiful specimens we have figured.

Family CLYPEASTRID.E.

This natural family includes all the Urchins which have a
circular, elliptical, or pentagonal form, with a thick test, the
surface of which is closely covered with small, nearly equal-
sized tubercles sunken in the plates, and surrounded by ring-
like areolas ; these all carry short hair-like spines. The mouth
is large, central and pentagonal, and is armed with five strong
,.. jaws which carry the same number of teeth : the anus is pos-
W terior, and marginal or inframarginal : the interior of the test
is sometimes divided by pillar-like processes of the inner layer
of the plates. The dorsal portions of the ambulacral areas have
a petaloid form, circumscribed by large poriferous zones ; the
basal portions are narrow, rectilineal, or branched. The five
genital plates form a circle around the madreporiform body,
and between these are wedged the five ocular plates. This
family includes the genera Clypeaster, Lamk., Laganum, Klein,
Echinarachnius, Van Phels., Arachnoides, Klein, Scutella, Lamk.,
Dendraster, Agass., Lobophora, Agass., Encope, Agass., Rotula,
Klein, Mellita, Klein, Runa, Agass., Moulinsia, Agass., Scutellina,
Agass., EchinocyamuSy Van Phels., Fibularia, Lamk., Lenita,
Desor.

Genus CLYPEASTER (Lamarck, 1816).

Form oval, inclining to pentagonal, rostrated before, truncated
behind ; upper surface more or less inflated, sometimes campa-
nulate, conical or subconical ; inferior surface flat, always concave
around the mouth, with five straight simple ambulacral furrows
proceeding from the angles of the mouth to the border; the
dorsal portion of the ambulacral largely petaloid, greatly exceed-
ing the interambulacra in size, and forming elegant leaf-like
expansions, in general convex, arched, and prominent ; bounded
on each side by large poriferous zones, the pores of which are
wide apart and united by transverse sulci ; the apical disc formed
of five genital plates at the summits of the interambulacra, with
five ocular plates alternating with them ; in the centre of this
circle is the spongy madreporiform body, of a pentagonal figure :
tubercles uniform in size and very numerous, equally distributed
over the test; summits perforated, and surrounded by very
deep areolas ; mouth symmetrical, central, pentagonal, lodged in
a concave depression in the middle of the base ; auricles composed
of ten distinct auricular processes set in pairs : the jaws form
a pentagonal pyramid, composed of ten separate pieces, trun-
cated at the summit, which is bordered by a subcircular band ;

from l/te /aland of Malta, 65

trrtli live, large, and bent: anus small, round, and iniiainar-
ginal : interior of the test with a number of pillar-like processes
towards the border. All the species of this genus live in the
seas of warm latitudes, or are found fossil in the tertiary rocks
only. We have six living and twelve fossil species.

Clypeaster altus, Leske, sp.

SYN. Echinus e Melita, Scilla, Corp. Mar. pi. 9. figs. 1, 2.
Echinanthus altus, Leske, Klein, Echinoderm. apud Leske, No. 48.

p. 189. pi. 53. fig. 4.

Echinus altus, Gmelin, Linne by Turton, vol. iv. p. 149.
Clypeaster altus, Lamarck, Hist. Nat. des Animaux sans Vertebres,

2nd ed. torn. iii. p. 290 ; Deslongchamps, Encycl. t. ii. p. 199 ;

Defrance, Diet. Sc. Nat. t. ix. p. 449 ; Blainville, Man. d'Actin.

p. 216; Desmoulins, Echinides, no. 7. p. 216; Agassiz and

Desor, Cat. rais., Ann. Sc. Nat. torn. vii. p. 130 ; Sismonda,

Ech. Foss. Nizza, p. 46 ; Ech. Foss. Piem. p. 40 ; Grateloup,

Mem. Foss. Oursiiis de Dax, p. 41.

Test oblong ; anterior border convex ; lateral borders undulated ;
posterior border squarely truncated ; marginal fold more or
less thickened ; dorsal surface elevated into a dome shape ;
vertex nearly central ; ambulacral areas largely petaloid, their
base extending nearly to the margin : base flat ; mouth large
and pentagonal, with a deep sulcus extending from the angles
to the border, and corresponding to the middle suture of the
ambulacral areas : anus small, round, and submarginal :
granulations larger and more prominent at the base than on
the dorsal surface.

Description. — This beautiful Clypeaster has been so long known,
that it seems unnecessary to give any lengthy details of its struc-
ture ; although it may be remarked, however, that we are not
aware that a detailed description of the species exists. It was
first introduced to notice through the figure of Scilla, and the
specimens before us belong to the same type as that given in his
work. Many of the Maltese varieties of this species, however,
are remarkable for their deviation from this typical form ; the
dorsal surface in them rises into a campanulate shape, and
the circumference becomes almost round. These varieties con-
stitute the Clypeaster turritus, Agass., from the Miocene of
Dax, and the Clypeaster Agassizii, Sismonda, from beds of the
same age near Nice. We have before us a similar conical
variety from Malta, belonging to the Museum of the Bristol
Institution ; and others, collected by the Marchioness of Hast-
ings, are in the Jenny n Street Museum.

All the specimens in Earl Ducie's cabinet, with one exception,

66

Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

belong to what we regard as the typical form. This remark-
able exceptional specimen agrees with the brief notice of C.
Tauricus*y Desor: — " Tres grande espece, allongee, pentagonale,
a bord fortement renfle. Zones poriferes tres large k leur ex-
tremite. Tert. du Taurus, ile de Crete." If we are correct in
referring all these varieties to C. altus, it follows that this species
has a wide range of deviation from what we take to be its typical
form ; but these limits of variation are probably not greater in
this than in some other species of Urchins. The following
table shows the relative dimensions of three forms, — the typical,
the conical, and the flattened and tumid varieties : —

Forms.

Length.

Breadth.

Height.

Type specimen

5 inches.

4*r inches

24- inches

5-Ar

5-4r

4 »

Tumid, var b

6T*W

5-s^

2V-

"id »»

The ambulacral areas are largely petaloid, nearly equal in
length and width ; they are rounded, widely open below,
and extend over four-fifths of the dorsal surface in the type
form, over nearly three-fourths in the conical form, and over
almost four-fifths in the tumid varieties ; in all, the areas form
prominent convex elevations of the test, which are bounded
by wide poriferous avenues, composed of two series of simple
pores united by oblique grooves ; the internal series of pores are
round, the external series are elongated transversely in the
direction of the grooves ; the pores at the end of the avenues
are much more so than those of the summit ; the apical disc
is small, and occupies the centre of the dorsal surface, lying in
a slight depression formed by the bending-in of the summits of
the areas ; those of the single area, and the antero-lateral and
postero-lateral areas of the left side, being rather more pro-
minent than those of the right side of the test. The madre-
poriform body occupies the whole surface of the disc, the ocular
and genital plates being quite indistinguishable from the general
structure of the test ; the five genital pores pass obliquely into
the interior, at a short distance from the disc.

The base is flat, and the mouth lies in a very deep depression
in the centre of the under surface ; the opening is pentagonal,
its wide walls being formed by the incurving of the basal por-
tions of the areas ; from each of the angles of the pentagonal
opening, a deep furrow passes outwards towards the margin of
the test, and becomes continuous with the median suture of the

* Cat. raisonne des Echinides, Ann. Sc. Nat. torn. vii. p. 131.

from the Island of Malta. 67

ambulacral areas. The jaws are absent in all the specimens we
have examined. The anus is a small round aperture, situated
near the posterior margin of the base of the test; in some
specimens it is elongated in the transverse diameter, and
measures about /^ths of an inch across. The tubercles are
nearly of the same size on the upper surface, and their summits
are level with the test, so that the areolas which surround them
are excavated out of the superficial layer of the calcareous plates.
The intertubercular surface is ornamented with a microscopic
granulation, disposed in circles around the areolas of the tu-
bercles, and filling up all the intervening spaces. The tubercles
at the base are larger and more closely set together than those
on the dorsal surface ; a row of five or six tubercles is seen on
each of the interfissural bands of the poriferous avenues.

Affinities and differences. — C. altus has many traits in common
with C. rosaceus. In the general outline, in the size, form and
extent of the ambulacral areas, there is much resemblance ; but
the campanulate form of the dorsal surface, the smallness of the
apical disc, and the truncature of the posterior border constitute
differences which may be traced through all the varieties
C. altus assumes. The thickness of the marginal fold, and the
great development of the ambulacral flower, when compared
with the thinness of the border and the limited extent of the
ambulacra, distinguish at a glance C. altus from C. Tarbellianus f
C. marginatuSy and C. scutellatus. The dome-shaped upper
surface of C. umbrella, with its flattened ambulacral areas and
convex prominent interambulacral spaces, its star-like apical
disc and small mouth-opening, widely distinguish this species
from C. altus. The affinity, however, is very near between
C. altus and C. crassicostatus, the principal difference consisting
in the more prominent rib-like prominence of the ambulacral
areas.

Stratigraphical position. — This is the most abundant of all
the Maltese Urchins. It is collected from bed No. 2, the
yellow sand, associated with C. Tarbellianus, Echinolampas
Richardi, and the other Echinoderms enumerated in the palseon-
tological resume given in the introduction to this memoir. The
test is very well preserved in most specimens. Those from the
sand with black particles are in the finest preservation. In this
stratum the Urchins are accompanied with Terebratula ampulla,
Pecten squamulosus, P.Burdigalensis, Ostrea Virleti,O. navicularis,
and masses of Lenticulites complanatus, with Cellepora mammil-
lattty Escharina monilifera, and other Bryozoa.

It has been collected from the Miocene beds of Port-de-Bouc,
Saint-Miniato, Tuscany; Nice, Turin, He de Crete, He de
Capree; Bonifacio, Corsica; Oran. The Maltese specimens are

68 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

contained in the British Museum, Geological Museum, Jermyn
Street, and Bristol Museum ; that from the lie de Capree is in
our cabinet.

History.— First figured by Scilla, in 1670. The list of
synonyms prefixed to this article exhibits the various epochs in
its history. In none of the works we have consulted is any
detailed description of the species given.

Clypeaster marginatus, Lam.

SYN. Scilla, Corp. Mar. tab. 11. fig. inferior.

Clypeaster marginatus, Lam. An. sans Vert. torn. Hi. p. 290, 2nd
ed. ; Deslongchamps, Encycl. Method, t. ii. p. 200 ; Defrance,
Diet. Sc. Nat. t. ix. p. 450 ; Blainville, Man. Act. p. 216 ;
Grateloup, Foss. Ours, p.40; Agassiz and Desor, Cat. raisonne,
t. vii. p. 131 ; Desmoulins, Etudes des Echinides, no. 12. p. 218.

Test large, depressed, subpentagonal ; margin thin, broad, and
expanded ; outline of the border undulated ; ambulacral areas
short, oval, and convex, rising abruptly from the thin border,
and forming a dome-shaped elevation in the centre of the
dorsal surface; base flat; mouth-opening small and penta-
gonal, with five simple sulci extending from the angles
thereof to the margin ; anus small, round, and submarginal.

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 6T7<y inches, breadth
6-^ inches, height at the centre lT8y inch, thickness of the
margin about ^th of an inch.

Description. — This magnificent Urchin was figured by Scilla.
The specimens before us agree very well with his drawing,
although the foreshortening of the dorsal surface does not give a
sufficient elevation to the ambulacral dome. The expansion of
the margin, and thinness thereof, make a marked distinction
between this and other cognate forms. The figures given by
Grateloup of his C. Tarbellianus so exactly resemble the large
specimen before us, belonging to the Bristol Museum, that we
no longer doubt that species being a variety of C. marginatus.
This species, like C. altus, exhibits much deviation from what
may be considered to be its type form. A long and attentive
study of the Echinida has shown us, that such difference of
outline is the rule, and not the exception, in the group ; and
that specific characters must be drawn from organic structure,
and not merely from outline, if we wish our species to have a
permanent place in the register of Nature's forms. The ambu-
lacral areas are gracefully petaloid, rounded at the base and
tapering towards the apex ; they are convex and prominent, and
extend about half-way between the vertex and the border, the
test rising into a dome-shaped elevation in the region of the am-

from the Island of Malta. 69

bulacral areas. From the base of the areas to the circumference
the margin is thin and expanded, and in this respect resembles
a Scutella much more than a Clypeaster. The interambulacra
between the poriferous avenues form convex elevations, which give
a stellate character to the central dome, all the more conspicuous
as it rises abruptly from the thin expanded margin, which is
almost destitute of any elevation. The tubercles are larger on
the basal than on the dorsal surface. In only one of the specimens
before us is the inferior surface exposed. The base is flat. The
pentagonal mouth is much smaller than in C. altus. In a speci-
men before us, measuring 4^ inches in length, the mouth-
opening is /{jths of an inch in diameter ; the oral lobes curve
inwards and form the interspaces thereof. Acute narrow am -
bulacral grooves pass outwards to the circumference.

Affinities and differences. — The thin and broadly expanded
border of C. marginatusy with its short ambulacra, and central
dome rising suddenly from the middle of the test, form a group
of characters which enable us readily to distinguish this species
from its congeners, with one exception, C. Tarbellianus. The
excellent figures of this Urchin, given by Grateloup in his able
Memoir*, we have compared with two forms of C. marginatus
from Malta, and we confess our inability to distinguish the
differences between them and the author's type-figure. Agassiz
and Desor consider them to be the same, and we agree with their
conclusion.

Grateloup observes, in describing C. marginatus, " We ought
not to confound this species with that which I have described
(C. Tarbellianus), with which it has great affinities of form, figure,
and size. Its test has also a summit tres-renfle, convex, and
more elevated than in C. Tarbellianus ; but its border is a little
less evase, and much less tranchant. The ambulacras are equally
shorter, more redresses, and of a more oval and acute form."
We have only to observe, that the characters here cited vary
in different individuals, and at most amount to that limit of
variation which we have already observed is seen in all species
of Urchins, where a number of individuals of the same form are
assembled for comparison.

Stratigraphical range. — This species is found in bed No. 2,
the yellow sand, associated with C. altus and the other forms
enumerated from that stratum ; it has been found likewise in the
Miocene beds of Touraine, Landes, Naros, Bonifacio, Santa
Manza, Corsica ; and Dax.

History. — First figured by Scilla, and afterwards by Leske.
Fine specimens are contained in the Mus. Jermyn Street,

«

* M6n. sur les Ours. Foss. de Dax, p. 40. pi. 1. fig. 5-6.

70 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

British Museum, Bristol Museum, and the Collection of the
Earl Ducie. The specimen in our cabinet is from Santa Manza,
and was sent us by M. Michelin.

Clypeaster folium, Agassiz.
i

SYN. Clypeaster folium, Agassiz andDesor's Cat. rais., Ann. Sc. Nat.
torn. vii. p. 131.

Test subheptagonal, much depressed; borders thin and sharp
like Scutella; the petaloid ambulacra short, open, and ex-
panded below ; acutely lanceolate at the apex ; ambulacral
rosette small, and rising gently from the middle of the dor-
sum ; poriferous zones lie in angular depressions ; apical disc
small, with a central prominent madreporiform tubercle.

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 11 J inch, transverse
diameter l^f inch, height r3<jths of an inch.

Description. — The general outline of this little Urchin, with
the structure of its ambulacral rosette, clearly prove it to be a
Clypeaster, whilst its depressed dorsal surface and thin border
show it to have affinities with Scutella. Its outline is subhep-
tagonal, with the anterior border slightly produced ; the petaloid
ambulacral areas are short and widely expanded below, tapering
and acutely lanceolate above; their apices closely approach at
the vertex, and meet at the circumference of the madreporiform
tubercle ; the poriferous zones lie in angular depressions of the
test, which, added to the convexity of the ambulacra, give a
much greater relief to the petaloidal star than in other congeneric
forms ; the rosette formed by the petaloid portions of the ambu-
lacra is small, being only a little more than one-half the diameter
of the antero-posterior axis. The two rows of pores in the pori-
ferous zones diverge gently from each other from the apex to the
base, and there are from thirty to thirty- six pairs of holes in
each zone. At the junction of the test-plates there are slight
depressions on the surface, corresponding to the sutures between
the same ; the tubercles are small and set rather closely together,
and the intervening granulation is quite microscopic ; the border
is exceedingly thin and entire ; the base is concealed by firmly
adherent matrix, which cannot be removed without fracturing
the test.

Affinities and differences. — C. folium is allied to the young
condition of C. marginatus, but the general flatness of the dorsal
surface, and the absence of the campanulate elevation of the
ambulacra in that species, added to the greater wideness of the
basal opening of the petaloid ambulacral areas, and the more
angular depression in the poriferous zones, afford points of
comparison whereby these two species may be distinguished

from the Island of Malta. 71

from each other : the thinness of the border and flatness of the
dorsal surface are diagnostic characters by which it may be
known from its congeners.

Locality and stratigraphical position. — The only specimen we
know from Malta is that contained in Earl Ducie's collection ;
it was obtained from bed No. 2. We have another specimen
before us, kindly sent by M. Michelin from the Miocene terrain
of Balistro, in the Gulf of Santa Manza, Corsica. Agassiz and
Desor, on the authority of M. Deluc, give the tertiary of Palermo
as the locality of their specimen.

History. — This species is enumerated in the ' Cat. rais.' of
Agassiz and Desor, and staled to be " espece tres plate, k bords
tranchant." A detailed description of this interesting form is
now given for the first time.

• Genus SCUTELLA (Lamarck, 1816).

Form in general suborbicular, extremely depressed, almost
always discoidal, more or less enlarged behind ; border often tren-
chant, disc entire, margin lobed; posterior border truncated; upper
surface slightly convex ; ambulacral flower small, with elegant,
flat, blunt leaves; poriferous zones forming nearly a closed
arch around them at their base ; genital pores four, set around
the spongy madreporiform body; base flat; mouth small,
central, and pentagonal, with five ramose ambulacral furrows,
sometimes branched, passing from the mouth to the border :
tubercles microscopically small and very numerous ; test thick,
interior divided by pillar-like processes : auricles five ; jaws
forming a more or less elevated star composed of five distinct
pieces, each formed by the organic union of two elements ; teeth
five, linear, and horizontal. This genus, as now limited, con-
tains only fossil species, one of which is from the chalk of
Georgia, United States; all the others are from the tertiary
rocks.

Scutella subrotunda, Leske.

SYN. Echinus Melitensis, Scilla, De Corp. Marin. tab. 8. figs, l-.'i.

Echinodiscus subrotundus, Leske apud Klein, tab. 47. fig. 7. p. 206.

Echinus subrotundus, Gmelin, Linne by Turton, vol. iv. p. 152.

Scutella subrotunda, Lamarck, Animaux sans Vert. 2nd ed. torn. iii.
p. 284 ; Defrance, Diet. Sc. Nat. torn, xlviii. p. 230 ; Des-
moulins, Etudes des Echinides, no. 24. p. 232; Grateloup,
Ours. Foss. pi. 1. fig. 1. p. 36 ; Agassiz and Desor' s Cat. rais.,
Ann. Sc. Nat. torn. vii. p. 132.

Test very flat, suborbicular; dorsal surface slightly convt \ ;
ambulacral areas exceeding in length the semi-diameter of the
VOL. n. Q

72 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

disc ; base slightly concave ; mouth central ; anus marginal ;
ambulacra! sulci bifid and branched.

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 2T8^ inches, trans-
verse diameter 3T^ inches, height /^ths of an inch.

Description. — The test of this delicate Urchin is extremely
flat ; it has an irregular suborbicular discoidal form, with a thin
sinuous margin; the dorsal surface is regularly and gently
convex. The ambulacral areas are more than half the length of
the diameter of the test ; they are of an oblong form, lanceolate
above, and more obtuse below. The pores in the avenues are
widely apart ; those in the inner series are round, whilst those
in the external series terminate in slits that extend about half
way across the interporiferous spaces. The apical disc is large,
and the elements thereof are intimately soldered together. The
madreporiform tubercle occupies the centre, and the four genital
pores are pierced at unequal distances around it ; the anterior
pair are smaller and closer together than the posterior pair ; the
five ocular pores are very small. The margin of the disc is very
thin, and has a sinuous outline ; five of the curves thereof cor-
respond to the ambulacral areas, and those appertaining to the
postero-lateral areas are the deepest and best defined ; a small
notch indicates the site of the anal opening. The ventral surface
is slightly concave. The mouth, about two lines in diameter, is
central and subpentagonal ; from the angles thereof, five ambu-
lacral sulci radiate outwards, which soon become bifid, each trunk
becoming dichotomously branched in old individuals. The anal
opening is round, about half the diameter of the mouth, and is
situate near the posterior border. The tubercles are small, and
closely placed together ; they are nearly of a uniform size on the
dorsal surface.

Affinities and differences. — S. subrotunda so closely resembles
S. striatula, S. Fat/jasii, and S. producta, that it requires an at-
tentive study to discover the differences between them. As we
possess single specimens only of these forms, determined and
presented to us by M. Michelin of Paris, we are certain of their
identity with the types they represent. The test is narrower
before, and the ambulacral areas are much smaller in S. striatula
than in S. subrotunda; the ambulacral areas are wider, their
bases and apices are more obtuse, their sides flatter, and their ter-
minations are more truncated, andthe anus further from the border
in S. producta than in S. subrotunda ; the test is more convex on
the dorsal surface, the apical disc is wider, the margin is thicker,
the base flatter, and the anal aperture much further from the
border in S. Faujasii than in S. subrotunda ; the test is more
produced posteriorly, the margin is more sinuous, the ambulacral

from the Island of Malta. 73

areas are more equally lanceolate at the base and apex, the
inner row of pores of the same curve more gracefully outwards,
and the anus is further from the border in S. Brongniartii than
in S. subrotunda. The size and pyriform shape of the ambu-
lacral areas, the absence of sinuosities in the margin, and the
greater convexity of the dorsal surface, distinguish S. Paulensis
from S. subrotunda.

Stratigraphical range and distribution. — This species is not un-
common in the calcareous sandstone bed No. 4, and in the junc-
tion beds of No. 5, the hard cherty limestone, at Malta. It is
found likewise " in the marine calcaire grossier in the environs of
Bordeaux ; at Bazas, Leognan, Gradignan, Douai, in Dauphine ;
in Tourraine; in Anjou; at Montpellier." (Grateloup.)

History. — The table of synonyms shows the phasis of the
history of this species, although other forms have been mistaken
for it : in fact, the species of Scutella approach each other so
closely, that, without an authentic series of specimens for com-
parison, similar mistakes may be made. This Urchin is found
in all the public collections. The specimens before us are from
Malta and Leognan.

Scutella striatulay Marcel de Serres.

SYN. Scutella striatula, Marcel de Serres, Geognosie des Terrains
Tertiaires, p. 156 ; Desmoulins, Etudes des Echinides, no. 25.
p. 234 ; Agassiz, Monogr. des Scutelles, tab. 18. fig. 1-5. p. 81 ;
Agassiz and Desor's Cat. raison., Ann. Sc. Nat. tom.vii. p. 134.

Scutella subrotundtty Grateloup, Mem. Ours. Foss. tab. 1. fig. 1. p. 36.

Test very flat, suborbicular ; dorsal surface very slightly convex ;
ambulacral areas small, short and narrow, less than the semi-
diameter of the disc ; base nearly flat ; mouth central ; anus
marginal ; ambulacral sulci bifid.

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 2j7^ inches, trans-
verse diameter 2T9^ inches, height /^ths of an inch.

Desnnption. — This Urchin so nearly resembles S. subrotunda,
that it may be doubted whether it is entitled to rank as a distinct
species, or ought rather to be considered as a variety of that
form. The two specimens before us are from localities widely apart
from each other. One is from the Miocene terrains of Terre-
Negre, near Bordeaux, the other from the calcareous sandstone
of Malta. Still the similarity exhibited by these specimens, and
the persistence of those characters which have been considered
as specific, incline us to think that S. striatula may be distinct
from S. subrotunda. The ambulacral rosette is small ; the areas
are short, narrow and lanceolate, and are less than the semi-
diameter of the test ; the apical disc is small ; the madreporitnriM

o2

74 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

tubercle is prominent and central ; the granulations are almost
microscopic ; the base is flat ; the mouth is small and central,
and the anus marginal ; the ambulacral sulci are bifid ; the
margin of the test is thin, and the sinuosities well marked. Let
the student compare these characters with the detailed description
of S. subrotunda given in the preceding article.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — It was collected from bed
No. 4, the calcareous sandstone at Malta, where it is not common.
Our French specimen is from the middle tertiaries of Terre-
Negre.

Genus ECHINOLAMPAS (Gray, 1835).

Test of an elongated or subdiscoidal form ; petaloid portion
of the ambulacral areas large, generally elevated into convex
leaves, contracted towards the base, where they cease to rise
above the level of the test ; inferior surface concave towards the
mouth, which is median, symmetrical, pentagonal, and sur-
rounded by five lobes ; basal portions of the ambulacra with five
short poriferous zones around the mouth ; anus transversely
oblong and inframarginal ; apical disc small and excentral, five
genital and five ocular plates placed around the madreporiform
body ; tubercles small, uniform and numerous, sunk in the test,
and surrounded by ring-like areolas. Three species are living
in the seas of warm latitudes ; the others are fossil, mostly in
the tertiary rocks. A few are found in the upper stages of the
cretaceous series.

Echinolampas Kleinii, Goldf.

SYN. Clypeaster Kleinii, Goldfuss, Petrefact. Germanise, tab. 42.

fig. 5. p. 133.
Echinolampas Kleinii, Desmoulins, Etudes des Echinides, p. 346.

no. 14; Agassiz and Desor, Cat. raisonne, Ann. Sc. Nat.

torn. vii. p. 166.

Test ovato-orbicular in the outline, with the posterior border
slightly produced ; dorsal surface convex, posterior half more
elevated than the anterior; ambulacral areas unequal, usually
on a level with the general surface, but sometimes more
convex and prominent than the rest of the test ; apical disc
excentral and anterior ; base concave ; mouth excentral and
anterior; anus inframarginal; both mouth and anus trans-
versely oblong.

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 2^ inches, trans-
verse diameter 2|g inches, height l/^ inch.

Description. — This Urchin has been well figured by Goldfuss,
and is a very characteristic fossil of the Miocene tertiary beds

from the Island of Malta. 75

of Westphalia, where it appears to be common. The specimen
before us is the only one we know from Malta. The circum-
ference is nearly ovato-orbicular, slightly inclining to an obsolete
pentagon, with the posterior border most produced. The dorsal
surface is highly convex, the posterior half being much more so
than the anterior. The ambulacral areas are unequal, as regards
l( -Mirth, width and development; the single anterior area is the
shortest and narrowest, the antero- laterals are next in size, and
the postero-laterals are the most fully developed ; they have all
a lanceolate form, with blunt apices. The surface of the areas
is on a level with that of the interambulacra, in the specimen
before us; but in some of the Westphalian Urchins the ambu-
lacra! areas form convex projections on the surface of the test.
The poriferous avenues, extending down more than two-thirds of
the dorsal surface, are well marked in our specimen, and lie in
depressions of the test ; they consist of two series of pores ; the
internal holes are round, the external run into oblique slits that
have a direction upwards and inwards ; the pores on the right
and left sides of the areas do not always correspond in length ;
thus, the anterior pores in the antero-lateral areas are often only
half as long as those on the posterior side of the same areas,
and we see a similar inequality, although not to the same
extent, in those of the single ambulacrum. The anterior and
posterior pair of the interambulacral areas are much alike in
form and development ; but the single interambulacrum is
different, it forms a more convex eminence than the others
above, and is produced into a slight caudal appendage behind.
The apical disc is small and excentral, situated nearer the an-
terior border. The madreporiform body occupies the centre,
around which the four genital holes are pierced. The base is
concave ; the mouth is nearer the anterior border, is transversely
oblong, and surrounded by five lobes, formed by the termination
of the interambulacra ; the posterior single lobe is the largest ;
the anterior pair are next it in size, and the lobes of the postero-
lateral areas are the smallest and most contracted. Between
the five oral lobes, the poriferous terminations of the ambulacral
areas form petaloidal depressions, which are perforated with
numerous holes ; these run out and form lines which indicate
the basal boundaries of the areas. The anus is transversely
oval, y^jths of an inch in its long diameter, is more convex on
its anterior than its posterior border, and is situated close to the
margin; it is rather larger than the mouth-opening. The
tubercles are small, uniform in size, and closely set together on
the dorsal surface, and longer and more widely apart on the base.
Affinities and differences. — The great convexity of the dorsal

76 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

surface, the greater elevation of the posterior than the anterior
half thereof, the inflated ridge-like eminence formed by the
single interambulacrum, and the well-defined character of the pori-
ferous avenues, form a group of characters by which E. Kleinii
is distinguished from its congeners. It has many points of
resemblance in common with E. ovalis ; but the greater length
of the ambulacral areas in this species makes a marked distinc-
tion between them ; moreover, in E. Kleinii the base is concave,
whilst in E. ovalis it is convex; the latter form is likewise
flatter and more oval, and its apical disc more excentral than in
E. Kleinii.

Stratif/raphical position. — Collected at Malta, from bed No. 2,
where it is very rare. It is found, according to Goldfuss, in the
Miocene beds at Biinde, Osnabruck, Astrapp, and Merminghiifen,
in Westphalia.

History. — Admirably figured and well described by Goldfuss.
The only Maltese specimen we have seen of this species is that
collected by the Earl Ducie, which is in his lordship's museum.

Echinolampas Deshayesii, Desor, sp. PL IV. fig. 3 a-d.

SYN. Echinolampas Hayesiana, Agassiz and Desor, Cat. raisonne,
Ann. Sc. Nat. torn. vii. p. 166.

Test oval, depressed ; ambulacral areas narrow ; the poriferous

zones contracted, without apparent connecting transverse sulci ;

apical disc small and nearly central ; base convex ; mouth

and anus large.

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 2T1TT inches, trans-
verse diameter lT9n inch, height ^ths of an inch.

Description. — The form, size and structure of the ambulacral
areas afford the best guide to a knowledge of the numerous species
of this group. The Urchin before us has an oblong form, de-
pressed at the dorsal surface, convex at the base, and slightly
produced posteriorly. The ambulacral areas are narrow at their
widest part ; they are about one-sixth the width of the postero-
lateral interambulacra at the border. The poriferous zones are
narrow, and extend rather more than half-way down the dorsal
surface ; the pairs of pores are placed closely together, and the slit
or sulcus, which in general unites the inner and outer series
of pores together, is absent in this species, or at all events is not
apparent in the individuals before us ; the holes of both rows are
nearly of the same size. The interambulacral areas are wide ;
the antero-lateral are the narrowest ; the single interambulacrum
is slightly produced in the region of the anal opening. The
apical disc is small, and situated near the centre of the test,

from the Island of Malta. 77

rather nearer the anterior than the posterior border. The disc
consists of a central madreporiform spongy body, around which
the genital and ocular plates are arranged in a circle; their
sutural lines of union, however, are concealed, and can only be
seen in weathered specimens. The base is convex ; the mouth
is very large, and lies in a deep depression opposite the vertex ;
it is surrounded with five oral lobes of small size, with inter-
vening petaloidal depressions, perforated with holes in pairs.
The interambuiacrum is slightly produced posteriorly. The
anus is a large transversely oblong opening, situated near the
margin. The border of the test is rather obtuse. The tubercles
are of uniform size on the dorsum, and are larger and less
numerous than in E. Kleinii.

Affinities and differences. — This species resembles much E.
scutiformis, but is distinguished from it by the greater narrowness
of the ambulacral areas, and the absence of the transverse slits
or sulci by which the pairs of pores in these avenues are in
general united. The tubercles are more abundant on the dorsal
surface in E. Deshayesii, and the dorsal surface is not so much
elevated in that species as it is in E. scutiformis.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — This species was col-
lected from bed No. 2, the yellow sand, at Malta. Desor gives
the " Tert. moyen. d'Oran (Algerie) et de Carthagene (Cata-
logue) " as his localities ; and we have received from M. Michelin
of Paris a specimen from the Miocene terrain of Balistro, Cor-
sica, which has enabled us to identify the Maltese Urchin, and
make out the preceding description, the first given of this pretty
form.

Echinolampas Richardi, Desmarest.

SYN. Scutum ovatum Issyaviense, Klein, Echinodermatum, tab. 20.

fig. a, 4, §77. p.29(?).
Clypeaster Richardiy Desm. Diet. Sc. Nat. t. liv. tab. 5. p. 12, spec.

ined. in litt. ; Grateloup, Mem. Echin. Foss. tab. 1. fig. 8 a, b,

p. 44.
Echinolampas Richardit Desmoulins, Etudes sur les Echinides, p. 34 2.

no. 4.
Echinolampas Laurillardit Agassiz and Desor, Ann. Sc. Nat. t. vii.

p. 165. — Scilla, Corp. Mar. tab. 1 1, top figure, showing the base

only.

Test oblong, produced posteriorly, rounded before, flattened
laterally, caudate posteriorly ; dorsal surface convex, elevated ;
base concave ; mouth central ; anus inframarginal, lodged in
a caudal process of the interambuiacrum ; ambulacral areas
narrow, with contracted poriferous zones.
Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 1^ inch, transverse

diameter lff% inch, height ££ths of an inch.

78 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

Description. — The specimen before us is so much injured on
the dorsal surface, that we are unable to give a detailed descrip-
tion of this species, which appears to be not uncommon at Malta.
The ambulacral areas are narrow; the pores lie in contracted
zones, and the pairs are unconnected by sulci ; the avenues ex-
tend more than half-way down the sides of the test ; the dorsal
surface is elevated and convex, rounded before, and sloping gra-
dually from the vertex to the posterior border ; the apical disc
is very excentrical, and placed near the anterior border ; the cir-
cumference of the test is of an irregular oblong figure, round
before, flattened on the sides, and produced behind : the base is
undulated by the elevations of the interambulacra and the de-
pressions of the ambulacral areas ; the single interambulacrum
is prolonged backwards, and is truncated at the sides and at the
posterior border, which gives it a caudate form. The mouth
is nearly central, and is sunk in a deep depression; it is
transversely oblong, and is surrounded by five oral lobes,
having five petaloidal depressions of the ambulacral areas, with
three pairs of pores in each petal between them; the anus is
larger than the mouth-opening, and is situated at the inframar-
ginal border of the caudate process of the interambulacrum ; it
has a transversely oblong form, and is more convex before than
behind. The Urchin figured by Grateloup is much larger than
the Maltese specimens that have come under our notice ; but
the central mouth-opening and the form of the interambulacrum
induce us to think that it is only a gigantic variety of E. Richardi,
and not E. Kleinii, as supposed by Desmoulins. The identity of
this species with Klein's Scutum ovatum Issyaviense may or may
not be correct, as the figures of fossils in that work are not in
every case to be depended on.

Affinities and differences. — E. Richardi has some resemblance
to E. Kleinii, but the narrow ambulacral areas, the flattened
sides, and produced caudate interambulacrum in E. Richardi
afford points of distinction by which these allied forms may be
readily distinguished from each other. In E. Kleinii the base is
more concave, the mouth nearer the anterior border, and with
larger oral lobes than in E. Richardi, The dorsal surface presents
other points of difference : in E. Kleinii the posterior half of the
test is the most elevated, whilst in E. Richardi it slopes rather
abruptly downwards from the vertex to the truncated posterior
border.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — It was collected from bed
No. 2, at Malta; the specimen before us is the only one in
Earl Ducie's cabinet. The Geological Museum in Jermyn Street
possesses an interesting series of this form, which are all from
the same island. Grateloup found the large variety at Dax, in

from the Island of Malta. 79

the " faluns bleus de Narrosse," and adds that it is found like-
wise at Paris, Montpellier ?, Bordeaux, and the Vicentin : Des-
rnoulins adds St.Paul-trois-Ch&teaux (Drome) as another locality.

Genus CONOCLYPUS (Agassiz, 1839).

Test thick, hemispherical or oval, and always much elevated ;
ambulacral areas above long, wide, converging at the summit, a
little contracted below ; mouth median, symmetrical, pentagonal,
and surrounded by five large lobes ; base flat, basal portion of
the ambulacra with poriferous zones around the mouth-opening ;
anus inframarginal, sometimes transversely oblong. The spe-
cies are all fossil, and belong mostly to the tertiary rocks : one
is found in the Maestricht chalk. This genus is nearly allied to
Echinolampas. The character upon which M. Agassiz relied as
diagnostic between Conoclypus and that genus, the direction of
the anus, which is stated* to be elongated in the antero-posterior
diameter in Conoclypus, and in the transverse diameter in Echi-
nolampas, does not hold good in all the species.

Conoclypus plagiosomus, Agassiz.

SYN. Conocyplus playiosomus, Agassiz and Desor, Cat. rais., Ann.
Sc. Nat. 3rd series, torn. vii. p. 168.

Test thick, large, highly convex ; border acute ; outline round,
inclining to oblong, being slightly compressed on the sides ;
ambulacral areas narrow, even with the interambulacra ; pori-
ferous zones very narrow ; the inner and outer pores nearly
equal in size, and extending through three-fourths of the
areas; base concave; mouth nearly central, with large oral
lobes ; anus large, transversely oblong and inframarginal.

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 6 inches, transverse
diameter 5j% inches, height 3 inches.

Description. — This noble Urchin has been mistaken for C.
conoideus, Lamk., as in form, size, and some of its general cha-
racters it resembles that type species ; but the eye of the prac-
tised zoophytologist detects, in the structure and narrowness of
the poriferous zones, an organic character sufficient to enable
him to separate it from that species. The general outline of the
base is round, inclining to oval from the gentle compression of
the sides thereof; the dorsal surface is much elevated and highly
convex, and the vertex is situated in front of the centre of the
dome ; the ambulacral areas are nearly one-fourth the width of
the iuterambulacral areas at the border, and are level with them ;
they are nearly of a uniform width throughout, becoming lan-

* Ann. Sc. Nat. torn. vii. p. 1'

80 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

ceolate at their upper fifth : the poriferous avenues are very nar-
row, and extend three-fourths of the distance between the apex
and the border : the pores in the avenues are only about one line
apart, and are united by short slits directed obliquely upwards
and inwards at nearly equal spaces apart from the base to the
apex ; the pores in the outer and inner series in each zone are
about the same size throughout : the narrowness of the poriferous
avenues forms a very important character in this species, by
which it is distinguished from an allied form, C. conoideus. The
interambulacra are of a triangular form ; the antero-lateral are the
smallest, and the postero-lateral and single interambulacrum of
about the same size are the largest : the apical disc is small, and
situated nearer the anterior than the posterior border, which
occasions a slight difference between the angle of inclination of
the anterior and posterior sides of the test : the centre of the
disc is occupied by a prominent button-like spongy madrepo-
riform body, around which the genital and ocular plates are
arranged, but their lines of suture can only be distinguished in
weathered specimens, or by removing the superficial layer of the
plates. The entire surface of both areas is covered with tuber-
cles, very much alike both as regards size, form, and irregularity
of arrangement ; the only parts exempt from tubercles are the
interporiferous septas of the avenues : the base is concave : the
mouth is situated in the centre of the disc, and is surrounded
by five large prominent lobes : the ambulacra form petaloid
depressions between the oral lobes, in which a number of pores
are clustered together in pairs. The anus is a large, transversely
oblong opening, placed immediately beneath the posterior mar-
gin ; from it to the mouth an elevated ridge of the test runs : the
single interambulacrum is slightly produced posteriorly where
the anus teminates : the tubercles are larger, and placed at
greater intervals apart on the base than on the dorsal surface :
the marginal fold of the test forms an acute angle, and on the
border thereof the tubercles are clustered closer together in
greater numbers, with smaller interspaces between them, than in
any other part of the skeleton.

Affinities and differences. — This species very much resembles
in form and size C. conoideus, but it is readily distinguished from
it by the following characters : the ambulacral areas are smaller,
the poriferous zones are narrower, and the outer and inner pores
of each pair are nearly of the same size, whilst the septas between
the pores are thicker; the dorsal surface is not so much ele-
vated, the base is concave, the anus is large and transversely
oblong, and the mouth possesses very prominent oral lobes.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — This Urchin was collected
at Malta, from bed No. 2. The tine specimen before us belongs

from the Island of Malta. 81

to the Bristol Institution ; we possess one, through the kindness
of M. Michelin, from the celebrated Urchin bed of Balistro (Cor-
sica) ; it is found likewise in the " Molasse du Cap Couronne pres
Martigues." (Michelin.}

Family SPATANOID^E.

The general outline of the Urchins of this family is oval, ob-
long or cordiform, and they satisfactorily exhibit the bilateral
symmetry of the Echinida. The mouth is anterior, bilabiate,
and edentulous. The anal opening is posterior and supramar-
ginul, and is closed by a complicated series of small plates. The
apices of the ambulacral areas are united at the summit of the
test. The anterior single ambulacrum has a different structure
from the antero- and postero-lateral pairs, and is in general lodged
in a depression of the test, which extends to the anterior border
forming the anteal sulcus; the test is extremely thin, and is
covered with small tubercles which support hair-like spines;
besides these there are some larger crenulated and perforated
tubercles which support large spines. There are two or four genital
pores which are sometimes placed close together, but are in other
genera apart. The eye-plates are five in number, and are placed
at the apices of the ambulacra in a pentagonal form around the
genital plates. We observe on the surface of the test of some Spa-
tangida, certain delicate lines called fascioles, having a smoother
appearance than the tubercular surface of the test ; they are fur-
rows which are strewed with microscopic tubercles destined to
carry very delicate spines, which, when seen under the micro-
scope, appear to have the same structure as the Pedicellaria. The
fascioles have a different disposition in each genus, and afford a
good character in giving definitions of the same ; when the
fasciole surrounds the ambulacral petals like an undulating
groove, as in Hemiaster, Schizaster, &c., it is said to be a peri-
petal ; when it surrounds the single ambulacrum, as in Amphi-
detus, it is internal ; when it extends along the sides, as in Schi-
zaster, it is lateral ; when it surrounds the circumference of the
test, as in Pericosmus, it is marginal ; when it is limited to the
base of the anal opening, it is subanaL We find sometimes in
the same genus more fascioles than one ; thus the subanal and
peripetal are frequently associated together.

Genus SPATANGUS (Klein, 1734).

Urchins, in general large with a thin test, a convex dorsal sur-
face, and the antero-lateral and postero-lateral ambulacral areas
composed of larger petals than in other Spatangida. The ante-

82 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

rior ambulacrum is lodged in a deep anteal sulcus ; the upper
part of the anterior border of the antero-laterals is obliterated
towards the summit.

Numerous very large crenulated and perforated tubercles are
scattered over the surface of the ambulacral plates. They have
a deeply grooved subanal fasciole ; only four genital pores, the
anterior pair more closely approached than the posterior pair.

Five perforated ocular plates, arranged in the form of a pen-
tagon, around the genital pores. A tube or hollow cone at the
internal part of the single interambulacrum. A large vertical
plate passing into a cone arises from the internal surface of the
test upon the left side of the mouth, and is directed obliquely
upwards and backwards.

The species are living or fossil in the tertiary rocks.

Spatangus Hoffmanni, Goldfuss.

SYN. Spatangus Hoffmanni, Goldf. Petrefacta, Band i. p. 1 52. tab. 4 7.

fig. 3 a, 6, c\ Desmoulins, Etudes sur les Echiriides, p. 398. no. 35 ;

Grateloup, Mem. Echinid. Foss. tab. 1. fig. 8. p. 73 ; Agassiz

and Desor, Ann. Sc. Nat. torn. viii. p. 7.
Echinus (petrefactus), Scilla, Corp. Mar. pi. 10. fig. 1.

Test convex, depressed anteriorly, elevated and carinated
posteriorly ; antero- lateral and postero-lateral interambulacra
with numerous large, perforated and crenulated tubercles,
surrounded by deep sunken areolas ; base convex, the postero-
lateral areas with large tubercles ; interambulacrum forming
a tumid projection at the base ; mouth and anus large ; mar-
ginal fold acute ; the pores in the zones large, disposed in
wide-set pairs.

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 2T^ inches, trans-
verse diameter 2 inches ; height anteriorly y^ths of an inch,
height posteriorly ^Jths of an inch.

Description. — The characters of this form of Spatangus are so
prominent and well defined, that one is astonished that between the
time of Scilla, who first figured it, and that of Goldfuss, who first
described it, no zoophytologist should have become its historian.
The dorsal surface of the test is broad, convex, and depressed
anteriorly, and narrow, elevated, and carinated posteriorly ; the
ambulacral areas are well defined, the single ambulacrum with
its rudimentary pores is lodged in a wide but shallow anteal
sulcus, and there is a flattened plateau between the sulcus and
the apical disc ; in this region the obsolete pores are clearly
seen : the antero-lateral ambulacral areas extend outwards at an
angle of 24° from a transverse lino drawn through the apical

from the Island of Malta. 83

disc* : the posterior poriferous zone extends two-thirds of the
distance between the disc and the border; the anterior zone
commences much farther from the disc above, but extends as far
as the posterior zone below; thus in the specimen before us,
there are fourteen pairs of pores in the posterior, and only nine
in the anterior zone : the postero-lateral ambulacral areas ex-
tend backwards, and towards their termination they curve grace-
fully outwards ; the angle they form at the transverse line at the
disc is 62°, and there are twenty pairs of pores in each of the
zones. Each of the interambulacral areas presents peculiar
characters ; the antero-lateral pair are the smallest, and the pos-
tero-lateral are the largest; they are both remarkable for the
tubercles they support on their dorsal surface ; in the anterior pair
there are nine, and in the posterior pair there are fourteen of these
tubercles on each side of the test, which are sculptured out of
the substance of the plates ; as they do not project beyond the
general surface of the shell, each tubercle is seated on a cylinder,
which is surrounded by a deep, wide depression : as these perfo-
rations are not arranged with much regularity, the test has the
appearance of having been bored by some marine mollusk.
The tubercles themselves, in proportion to the size of the sup-
porting cylinder and encircling entrenchment, are small and per-
forated; the single interambulacrum is narrow and elongated,
and rises in the mesial line into a prominent elevated ridge ; the
posterior border is obliquely truncated downwards and inwards,
in the upper part of this space the large anal opening is situated ;
below, the interambulacrum forms another prominence marked by
two concave depressions on each side thereof, from which a wide,
gently sloping central space occupies the middle of the ventral sur-
face, having the large transversely-oblong mouth-opening with its
projecting posterior lip occupying the anterior third of the base ;
on the sides of this sloping central space the basal portions of
the postero-lateral interambulacra are thickly studded with
large slanting perforated tubercles, arranged with much regu-
larity in this region, and a few smaller tubercles are scattered
over the basal portion of the antero-lateral pair ; the crescentic
depressions below the anus have each a group of perforated
tubercles, and between them and the smooth central concave
portion of the base is the subanal fascicle, which forms a trans-
verse band in the middle, and a crescent on each side, the upper

* It may be as well to state, that we have adopted this mode of mea-
suring the amount of divergence of the antero-lateral and postero-lateral
areas rather than the vague expressions formerly in use. The angle is
measured from a transverse line which cuts the longitudinal axis at right
angles at the apical disc ; we have found the degree of divergence to be
very uniform in each species.

84 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Kchinoderms

cornua of which approaches the anal opening ; below the fascicle
there is another group of small perforated tubercles and a
copious granulation ; the crescentic depressions, subanal fascicle,
and this group form together a triangle, the base of which lies
before the anus, and its apex points towards the mouth ; around
this opening five pair of short poriferous zones indicate the
termination of the ambulacral areas.

Affinities and differences. — The form of the ambulacral areas,
the shortness of the anterior poriferous zone, and the size and
depth of the areolar spaces around the cylinders of the large
tubercles, together with the carinated elevation in the middle of
the interambulacrum, form a group of organic characters which
sufficiently distinguish this species from its congeners. In Spa-
tangus Desmarestii, which is found with S. Hoffmanni in the
same beds in Westphalia, the size of the test, the absence of very
deep areolas on the dorsal surface, the equal length of the pori-
ferous zones of the anterior ambulacra, and the much smaller
tubercles at the base, easily enable us to distinguish it from
S. Hoffmanni.

Stratigraphical range and localities. — It is found at Malta in
bed No. 4, the calcareous sandstone, and in Westphalia ; it has
been collected from the Miocene at Doberg near Biinde, and at
Astrapp near Osnabruck.

Spatangus De Koninckii, Wright, n. sp.

Test cordate, depressed before, elevated behind by the develop-
ment of dorsal and basal median carinse on the single inter-
ambulacrum ; ambulacral areas short and broadly petaloid;
anteal sulcus slight; depression of the single ambulacrum
inconsiderable ; several large tubercles between the petaloidal
ambulacra; posterior border obliquely truncated downwards
and forwards ; anal opening large and circular ; basal tubercles
of moderate size ; basal portions of the postero-lateral ambu-
lacra form two smooth tracks destitute of tubercles between
the posterior border and the mouth.

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter \-fV) inch ; transverse
diameter ly4^ inch ; height at the interambulacrum ^£ths of an
inch.

Description. — An imperfect specimen of this Urchin was at
first mistaken for a small variety of Spatangus Desmarestii,
Goldf., and entered under that name in the list of fossils from
bed No. 2. Having lately obtained a better specimen of this
form, we are now enabled to give a description of it, which will
be found to differ in many essential points from that species, to
which it was at first referred. The test is regularly cordate,

from the Island of Malta. 85

slightly flattened at the cheeks, bulging out at the sides, and
from thence tapering abruptly towards the posterior border,
where it is truncated obliquely downwards and forwards; the
anterior part of the test is flattened and depressed, and the pos-
terior portion much elevated, from the circumstance of the single
interambulacrum forming two prominent ridges, one on the
dorsal, and the other on the basal surface, which gives increased
depth to the test, tilts it up, and forms an inclined plane of the
dorsal surface. The petaloidal ambulacra are short, broad and
leaf-like ; the anterior pair are slightly flexed forwards and form
an angle of about 15° ; their anterior poriferous zone is nearly
as complete as the posterior zone, which contain respectively
sixteen and eighteen pairs of pores ; the posterior pair form two
oval leaflets, the bases and apices of which are nearly equally
curved, and closed with pores, having about eighteen pairs of
pores in each zone ; they describe an angle of about 60°. The
single anterior ambulacrum makes a very slight depression on
the upper part of the anterior region, and the anteal sulcus
formed by it is inconsiderable when compared with other con-
generic forms ; the anterior and lateral pairs of interambulacra
carry a few large crenulated and perforated tubercles on the
upper part of their dorsal surface ; on the anterior pair there are
from seven to eight, and on the posterior pair from four to five
of these tubercles, which are neither so large nor yet have such
deep areolas as their homologues in S. Hoffmanni. The single
posterior interambulacrum is narrow, but greatly developed in
the vertical diameter ; above, a blunt prominent ridge commences
near the apical disc and extends to the posterior border ; below,
another ridge commences a short distance from the truncated
portion of the border, and extends to the centre of the mouth ;
the base is slightly convex from side to side, besides being
raised in the middle of its posterior part by the ridge just
alluded to. The tubercles on the basal portions of the anterior
and posterior interambulacra are not very large, but are disposed
with great regularity ; those on the ridge-like prominence of the
single interambulacrum are arranged in lines which radiate in
all directions from a point ; those on the pairs gradually decrease
in size from the mouth to the border ; between these two groups
of tubercles there is on each side a smooth track, corresponding
with the course of the postero-lateral ambulacra from the border
to the mouth : the anus is large and circular, and occupies the
upper part of the posterior border ; the subanal fasciole is de-
nuded ; the mouth is likewise large and transversely oval, and is
situated near the anteal sulcus. The apical disc is excentral,
being situated about the anterior part of the middle third of the
test ; it is small, and is perforated with four genital holes. The

86 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

superficial layer of the calcareous plates, which carries all the
fine sculpture of the test, is almost entirely denuded from the
dorsal surface ; one or two fragments alone remain to show that
the tuberculation was minute and close-set.

Affinities and differences. — This species is distinguished from
S. Hoffmanni by the excessive elevation of the posterior part of
the test ; by the shorter, wider and more oval form of the peta-
loid ambulacra ; by the poriferous zones of the anterior pair
being more complete ; by the large dorsal tubercles being smaller
and fewer in number ; by having a less impressed anteal sulcus ;
a convex base, with smaller tubercles ; a ridge-like projection,
with a regular tuberculation of the basal portion of the inter-
ambulacrum, with smooth naked ambulacral tracks on each side
thereof. From S. Desmarestii it is distinguished by its short,
broad, petaloidal ambulacra, which are long and attenuated in
S. Desmarestii ; by the greater size, number and regularity of
the large dorsal tubercles, which are few, small and scattered in
S. Desmarestii', the posterior region is not at all elevated in S.
Desmarestii, and the anus is transversely oblong, whilst in S.
De Koninckii the posterior part is much elevated, and the anal
opening is round.

S. Desmarestii has a few groups of large tubercles on the
upper part of the single interambulacrum, which are entirely
absent both in S. Hoffmanni and S. De Koninckii. The basal
region is so much covered up with matrix in the specimen of S.
Desmarestii before us, that we cannot institute a comparison
between this portion of its test and that of S. De Koninckii.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — The two or three speci-
mens we have seen in the Earl Ducie's cabinet were collected
from the clay bed No. 2 at Malta ; they have all a deep ferru-
ginous colour, and are not well preserved. We dedicate this
species to our friend Dr. De Koninck of Liege, the learned
author of several memoirs on the paleontology of the carbo-
niferous rocks of Belgium.

Genus BRISSUS (Klein, 1734).

Form oval; the ambulacral summit excentral, and situated
near the anterior border ; the antero- and postero-lateral ambu-
lacral areas straight, and lodged in shallow depressions of the
test ; the anterior pair are nearly transverse, the posterior pair
deviating slightly from the longitudinal direction. The single
ambulacrum very simple in structure ; no anteal sulcus ; the
peripetal fasciole very sinuous ; mouth large, labiate, and near
the anterior border ; anal opening large, situated in the middle
of the posterior surface ; the subanal fasciole approximated close

:.

-. . i
•

c-

iMk

&m&

m

la._c 3nssus J;- !

2, a._c Brissirs oblcm^us,

3. a. _ e oc/uzaster • Parkinsoni, Defraaace

PrmtedoyHulbnajjeid aWalton

Wright

from the Island of Malta. 87

to the anus. Four genital pores, the anterior pair smaller and
nearer each other than the posterior pair. The madreporiform
tubercle situated between the posterior genital openings ; five
perforated ocular plates placed before the genital pores and alter-
nating with them. This genus contains a greater number of
living than of fossil species ; the existing forms are limited to
the seas of warm latitudes ; the fossil species are found only in
the tertiary rocks.

Brissus latus (Wright, n. sp.). PI. V. fig. 1 a-c.

Test convex and much depressed above ; transverse and antero-
posterior diameters nearly equal ; ambulacral areas of nearly
equal length ; the single ambulacrum lodged in a deep anteal
sulcus ; antero-lateral pair curved gently forwards ; peripetal
fasciole very zigzag and angular ; apical disc y^ths of an inch
before the centre of the disc ; base slightly convex ; sternal
process of the single interambulacrum raised before the anus,
having a central elevated ridge and numerous large tubercles
arranged in regular order on its surface ; subanal fasciole
enclosing a space 1T7^ inch in diameter; anus situated in an
oblique truncation below the margin ; mouth y^ths of an inch
from the anterior border; the large tubercles of moderate
size.

Dimensions. — Antero- posterior diameter 4^ inches, transverse
diameter 3-f$ inches ; height at the vertex 1 inch.

Description. — This Brissus is readily recognized by its broad
and depressed dorsal surface ; the ambulacral areas form deep
depressions in the test ; the single ambulacral area lies in an in-
considerable valley on the dorsal surface, but forms rather a deep
anteal sulcus ; the antero-lateral pair curve gently outwards and
forwards, forming an angle of 21°, with the transverse line at
right angles with the longitudinal axis of the test ; the postero-
lateral pair are directed obliquely backwards at an angle of 55° ;
both pairs lie in rather deep valleys, and the poriferous zones
contain from twenty-eight to thirty pairs of pores in each avenue.
The peripetal fasciole (1 a) makes an angular zigzag track, closely
embracing the apices of the ambulacral areas. In the space which
it bounds on the fore part of the shell, having for its base the
antero-lateral areas, and its apex the anteal sulcus of the single
ambulacrum, a number of large perforated tubercles set on cre-
nulated eminences are arranged in groups (Ic), the arrolas of tlu <r
tubercles are surrounded by small granules, and amongst them
smaller tubercles are interposed ; a few large tubercles occupy
the angles between the apices of the antero-lateral and postero-
lateral pairs, and likewise in the angle formed between the pos-

VOL. II. H

88 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinodcrms

tero-laterals themselves ; the rest of the dorsal surface is covered
with small tubercles closely set together ; each tubercle is perfo-
rated and raised on a crenulated eminence (1 c), and surrounded by
a smooth depressed areola; the base is slightly convex; the sternal
portion of the single interarnbulacrum is rather prominent be-
hind, but slopes gently towards the mouth ; it has an elevated
ridge in the centre, and is covered with tubercles of a larger size
than those of the upper surface, and which are arranged in re-
gular rows. The subanal fascicle is of considerable extent, it
forms a semicircle which passes across the most prominent part
of the base, and sends its cornua upwards at a considerable
distance from the anus ; the basal portions of the pairs of the
interambulacral areas are covered with tubercles similar to those
on the sternal part ; a naked track corresponding to the postero-
lateral areas separates these tuberculated portions of the base.
The mouth is situated near the anterior border, it is widest in
the transverse diameter, and has a thick projecting under lip ;
the terminations of the ambulacral areas surround the mouth,
and form poriferous zones around that opening : the anus is
situated beneath the margin in an oblique truncation of the
posterior border; the opening is much crushed in our specimen, so
that its form is not discernible. The apical dis'c (1 b) is placed near
the centre of the back, about y%ths of an inch before that point :
the madreporiforrn tubercle is small and pyriform, and is situated
behind the four genital pores : the margin of the shell is thin
and acute.

Affinities and differences. — The breadth of the test and the de-
pression of the dorsal surface thereof, with the curve forwards
in the ambulacral areas, and the depth of the anteal sulcus, form
a group of characters by which Brissus latus is readily distin-
guished from its congeners. Out of the seven fossil species,
registered but not described in Agassiz and Desor's Catalogue,
two only are figured, and for this reason we are unable to make
a comparison with them.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — Only one specimen of this
species, in the EarlDucie's cabinet, was collected from bed No. 1,
the Gozo marble, at Malta, so that we conclude the species is
rare, as it is not contained in cither of the other collections of
Maltese Urchins examined by us. The Jermyn Street Museum
contains a specimen, which is supposed to be identical with this
form.

Brissus imbricatus (Wright, n. sp.).

Test oblong, much depressed ; no anteal sulcus ; peripetal fasciole
narrow, lodged in a groove ; rest of the dorsal surface frac-
tured ; base convex ; mouth large, and situated near the ante-

from the Island of Malta. 89

rior border ; sternal portion of the interambulacruin with a
regular ornamentation. The subanal fascicle very near the
anus is heart-shaped and narrow ; it encloses rows of tubercles
which are arranged in radii in regular order; before the
fasciole the test forms a projection, and from the summit
thereof, rows of tubercles arranged in straight lines extend
towards the mouth, increasing in size as they approach that
opening ; the basal portions of the other interambulacral
areas are covered with scale-like imbricated plates, each car-
rying an oval eminence with a crenulated summit, and a
tubercle placed at the anterior side of the oval eminence;
these tubercles are all regularly arranged in rows which have
a direction forwards and outwards : the postero-lateral ambu-
lacra form a naked space, which separates the imbricated basal
portions of the pairs of interambulacra from the ornamented
sternal portion of the single one. The anus is large and
situated at the posterior border ; both this opening and the
mouth are much injured.

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 3-j^ inches, transverse
diameter 3 inches, height r8nths of an inch,

Description. — The detailed diagnosis given of this species con-
tains nearly all that we can describe of this Rrissus, for, with the
exception of a small portion of its anterior part preserving a por-
tion of the peripetal fasciole, all the rest is absent ; the regu-
larity in the arrangement of the tubercles at the base constitutes
a characteristic feature of this form, and the imbricated style of
the basal plates, resembling the tegumentary membrane of a
placoid fish, gives value to the specific name.

Affinities and differences. — The order and symmetry of the de-
coration of the sternal portion of the interambulacrum, the
heart-shaped subanal fasciole, with its broad baud of microscopic
granules, and the leaf-like tuberculated expansion which extends
from the apex of the fasciole, are very characteristic of this spe-
cies ; if to these we add the imbricated style of the plates occu- .
pying the sides of the base, and the oblique \vay the tubercles
are set on their oblong bases, we have an assemblage of organic
characters by which B. imbricatus may be readily distinguished
from its congeners. The form of the test, the size of the
tubercles, the symmetry of the subanal rosette, formed by radii
of tubercles, and encircled by a broad fasciole, readily separate
it from B. latus, with which it is associated in the same stratum.

Locality and stratiijnijiltical position. — This species was col-
lected from bed No. 1, the Gozo marble, at Malta : it is the pro-
perty of the Bristol Institution.

H2

90 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

Brissus oblongus (Forbes MSS., n. sp.). PI. V. fig. 2 a-c.

Test oblong, depressed before, elevated behind; dorsal surface
convex ; anterior border rounded, with a slight anteal sulcus ;
antero-Iateral ambulacral areas slightly bent forwards, and
nearly forming right angles with the longitudinal axis ; pos-
tero-lateral ambulacra make an angle of 68°; the anterior are
shorter than the posterior pair ; posterior border produced and
truncated : anus large, oval, and placed high up : base convex,
sternal portion prominent, greatest width across the base of
the postero-lateral ambulacra.

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 2T\j inch, transverse
diameter 1^ inch, height ly1^ inch.

Description. — This small Brissus has an oblong form, and is
rounded before and truncated behind ; the anterior half of the
test is more depressed than the posterior half ; the single inter-
ambulacrum rises into a ridge-like eminence on the back, and the
sternal portion thereof is much inflated at the base, so that the
greatest height of the test is in this region. The antero-Iateral am-
bulacra (2 a) are shorter than the posterior pair, and are extended
across the test nearly at right angles to the longitudinal axis ; the
postero-lateral ambulacra are longer than the anterior, and form
angles of 68° ; the petaloid portions of both areas are depressed ;
the anterior pair have eighteen pairs of pores, the posterior pair
have twenty-four pairs of pores in their poriferous zones : the
single ambulacrum is not lodged in a rudimentary anteal sulcus,
and is nearly on a level with the contour of the test, the front
and cheeks of which are convex, with four groups of larger tuber-
cles in this region ; the sides slope obliquely downwards to the
border, which is obtuse : the single interambulacrum is raised
into a ridge above, and produced into a blunted caudal process, ob-
liquely truncated behind: the base (2 b) is convex, chiefly from the
arched form which the sternal portion of the interambulacrum
assumes : the mouth is large, near the anterior third of the base :
the anus is of an elliptical form, and occupies more than the
upper half of the truncated portion of the posterior border. The
peripetal fasciole (2 a) closely embraces the ambulacral pairs, and
makes three angles in passing over the anterior interambulacra ;
the subanal fasciole (2 b) describes a heart-shaped outline, its base
is near the anus, and its apex touches the prominent point of the
sternum ; the space thereby circumscribed is filled with tubercles
having a definite arrangement. The apical disc is small, with
four genital pores, the posterior pair being much larger than the
anterior pair; the tubercles (2c) on the anterior interambulacra are
much the largest, those on the rest of the back are small and
very uniform in size, whilst those on the sternum and the sides

'PI. VI.

& ~Wa.ltor> .

• Br 2 a sop sis Uu "Wright.

psiiS ores centi GITS, Wrighi,
D e e or i , • ^Kt

from the Island of Malta. 91

of the base are intermediate in size ; the basal tracts of the am-
bulacral areas are destitute of tubercles; as they approach the
mouth they are again perforated with a single row of holes ;
those of the antero-laterals extend as far as the border, whilst
the single and posterior pair have only two or three pairs of their
plates perforated.

Genus BRISSOPSIS (Agassiz, 1840).

Form elongated, subcylindrical ; ambulacral areas straight,
short, and wide, converging near the summit of the test ; peri-
petal fascicle flexuous, closely surrounding the ambulacral areas;
two or four genital pores, the posterior larger than the anterior
pair; five ocular plates disposed nearly equally apart in a penta-
gonal form around the genital openings; subanal fasciole wide, and
situate at a considerable distance below the anal opening ; single
ambulacrum lodged in an anteal sulcus ; the basal portions of the
ambulacra are wide and naked ; the tubercles are very uniform
in size, and are crenulated and perforated. Three living species ;
the rest are fossil in the tertiary rocks.

Brissopsis Duciei (Wright, n. sp.). PL VI. fig. 1 a-e.

Test oblong, depressed anteriorly, elevated posteriorly ; apical
disc central ; ambulacral areas forming concave depressions ;
single ambulacrum the longest and widest ; antcro-lateral pair
straight, angle of inclination 34°; postero-lateral shorter, angle
of inclination 55° ; peripetal fasciole broad and undulating ;
anus oval, large, situated high on the border ; base concealed ;
dorsal tubercles small, nearly of a uniform size, except on the
sides and the anterior part, where they are larger.
Dimensions. — Large specimen. Antero- posterior diameter
3^ inches, transverse diameter 3T2^ inches : height cannot be
accurately measured.

Small specimen. Antero-posterior diameter ly9^ inch, trans-
verse diameter 1^£ inch; height over the middle of the single
ambulacrum y^ths of an inch, at the highest point of the dorsal
region ly1^ inch.

Description. — This beautiful Urchin is one of the most typical
forms of the group to which it naturally belongs. The test is
oblong and inclined, from the height of the anterior third being
less by y^ths of an inch than the posterior third ; the ambu-
lacral areas are all well developed, and arranged in the form of a
St. Andrew's cross; as the apical disc is situated near the centre
of the body, the regularity of their arrangement forms a con-
spicuous character of this species. The anterior ambulacrum (1 a)
is concave, and makes an inconsiderable anteal sulcus; there is a

92 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

single row of pores, flanked by a row of tubercles on each side,
with a space between tilled by a microscopic granulation; it is
abruptly bounded below by the fasciole, and terminates at the
disc in a blunt lancet-shaped apex. The antero-lateral ambulacra
in the large specimen are f^ths of an inch longer than the pos-
terior pair, and form an angle of 37° with the transverse line
through the disc ; they are round at the base and blunted at the
apex, and the anterior side is more rounded off than the pos-
terior for the reception of the apex of the ambulacrum ; in the
anterior zone there are twenty, and in the posterior zone twenty-
four pairs of holes. The postero-lateral pair describe an angle of
55°; both pairs form concave valleys; the pores in the zones are
of the same size, and are pierced so wide apart (1 c) that the pores
of each pair are nearly as distant from each other as the width of
the space which separates the two avenues ; in the anterior am-
bulacral avenues there are twenty in the anterior and twenty-four
in the posterior zone; in the posterior pair the numbers are
twenty-two before and eighteen behind. The peripetal fasciole (1 e)
has an unequal width in different parts of its track ; it is narrow
where it passes over elevations of the test, or is bent into angles,
and becomes wider in other parts of its course. The apical disc
(1 «) is small, heart-shaped and central ; the two anterior genital
holes are smaller and placed closer together than the posterior
pair ; the five eye-holes as usual are situated at the summit of
the ambulacral apices : the madreporiform tubercle occupies the
surface of the posterior triangular genital plate. The anus is a
large oblong opening, situated in the upper half of the posterior
border, at the distance of /^ths of an inch from the fasciole in
the small individual. The base in both specimens is concealed ;
the tubercles (Id) are small, crenulated and perforated, and nearly
of the same size ; a few larger ones occupy the sides of the an-
terior ambulacral sulcus ; the sides of the ambulacral areas and
as much of their basal portions as is exposed are destitute of
tubercles.

Affinities and differences. — Brissopsis Ducici is readily distin-
guished from the other forms of this genus met with in the
Maltese beds, by the full development of its ambulacral areas,
their straightness, width and depth. The double crescent formed
by the ambulacral areas in B. crescenticus is a sufficient character
by which it may at a glance be distinguished from B. Duciei.

Locality and stratigraphical position. — This species was col-
lected from bed No. 1, the Gozo marble, at Malta, where it is rare ;
the two specimens before us are the only ones we have seen.
We dedicate this fine species to the Earl Ducie, whose valuable
collection of Maltese fossils has added to our previous knowledge
of the palaeontology of the island, and whose geological map of

from the Island of Malta. 93

Malta so well exhibits the distribution of the various beds with
their faults aud denudation.

ISrissopsis crescenticus (Wright, n. sp.). PL VI. fig. 2 a-c.

Test oblong, rounded before and truncated behind ; flattened on
the dorsal surface, and deeply indented by the ambulacral
areas ; the ambulacrum forms an anteal sulcus ; the anterior
and posterior ambulacra on each side form two lateral crescents
that abut at the longitudinal line ; the antero-lateral pair are
the longest and widest, they curve forwards and backwards,
and the posterior pair curve backwards and forwards; the
anterior pair form an angle of 45°, the posterior pair an angle
of 65° ; the apical disc lies in a depression formed by the
confluence of the apices of all the ambulacra ; the posterior
border is squarely truncated, with the anal opening in its
upper angle ; the base is convex, with few tubercles and wide
naked spaces formed by the basal portions of the ambulacra;
the mouth is situated in the anterior third.

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 1T6^ inch, transverse
diameter lT4<j inch, height T8^ths of an inch.

Description. — The most remarkable feature in this species
consists in the mode of arrangement of the ambulacra ; the ante-
rior and posterior areas of each side curve in opposite directions
and form crescents, the convexities of which are directed towards
the middle line of the test, and give value to the name proposed.
The antero-lateral pair form an angle of 45°; they are about
the same length as the posterior pair, but are a little broader
and are more divergent : there are nineteen pairs of holes in the
external zone, and fourteen in the inner; the posterior pair
are nearly parallel with each other, and have a slight curve for-
wards to form the posterior horn of the crescent ; they are not
so much developed as the anterior pair ; the external zone of
holes contains fifteen pairs, but the inner zone (2 c) is imperfectly
developed, from their close approximation to those of the oppo-
site area : the apical disc is small ; the four genital holes are
large, the anterior pair being more closely approximated than the
posterior pair ; it is situated nearer the anterior than the posterior
border and lies in a confluent depression, in which the apices of all
the areas freely converge. The single ambulacrum is rather longer,
but not so wide as the anterior pair ; its lateral row of single holes,
with their accompanying tubercles, are small and indistinctly
seen, and it forms an inconsiderable anteal sulcus : the posterior
border is squarely and obliquely truncated, and in its upper part
near tin- dorsal surface is the large anal opening: the base is
rather convex; the sternal portion of the single interambu-

94 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

lacrum is slightly prominent, and ornamented with a few rows
of rather larger tubercles disposed in zigzag lines : the basal
tracks of the ambulacral areas are entirely naked, and where
they terminate around the mouth five petaloid poriferous radii are
observed. The mouth, of moderate size, is in the anterior third ;
the peripetal fasciole is narrow and indistinct ; the subanal
fasciole is much broader, and remote from the anus, but the test
is unfortunately broken in this region ; the tubercles are nearly
all of the same size, but a few larger ones occupy the sides, front,
and base.

Affinities and differences. — The flatness of the dorsal surface,
the deep depressions made by the petaloid portion of the am-
bulacral areas, and the double crescent formed by them, readily
distinguish B. crescenticus from its congeners. So few fossil
species of this genus have been figured or described, that we can
only compare it with the other forms obtained from the same bed,
from both of which it differs in many well-marked characters.

Locality and stratigraphical position. — It was collected from
bed No. 4, the calcareous sandstone at Malta, where it is rare.

Genus HEMIASTER (Desor, 1847).

Urchins with a high and much inflated test ; ambulacral sum-
mit nearly central ; the petaloid portions of the ambulacral areas
situated in depressions more or less deep ; the antero-lateral are
in general much longer than the postero-lateral pair; the peripetal
fasciole only surrounding in an angular manner the ambulacral
star. This genus differs from Micraster in all the species having
a more inflated body with a peripetal fasciole ; from Brissopsis in
having the postero-lateral ambulacra in general much shorter,
and the anterior and posterior pairs more unequal in length,
and likewise in having no subanal fasciole. A very few species
are found in the tertiaries, the majority belonging to the cre-
taceous rocks.

Hemiaster Grateloupi (Sismonda sp.).

SYN. Schizaster Grateloupi, E. Sismonda, Echin. Foss. Piem. p. 27.

tab. 2.
Hemiaster Grateloupi, Desor, Ann. Sc. Nat. torn. viii. p. 19.

Test orbicular, convex above and below, with tumid inflated
sides : the single ambulacrum short, shallow and narrow ; the
antero-laterals long, deep and diverging; angle of inclination
25° ; the postero-lateral pair slightly curved inwards ; angle
of inclination 62°; both pairs lie in deep depressions : the peri-
petal fasciole broad and undulating : the single interatnbu-
lacrum forming a dorsal ridge : posterior border abruptly trun-

from the Island of Malta. 95

cated : anal opening high near the upper surface : apical disc
small and central.

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 2^ inches, transverse
diameter 3 inches, height 1 ^ inch.

Description. — The orbicular form and inflated sides of this
Urchin, with its large, deep, diverging ambulacra, and greater dia-
meter in the transverse than in the longitudinal direction, impart
to it an air which widely distinguishes it from other Hemiasters.
The single ambulacrum is narrow and shallow, and forms an in-
considerable anteal sulcus, which measures \-fo inch in length
from the apex to the fasciole; it has a single row of lateral
holes and accompanying tubercles of small size placed near each
other within, and the holes only at considerable distances apart
without the fasciole. The antcro-lateral ambulacra are rather
wider and much deeper than the single area ; they are l-j% inch
in length, and are directed forwards and outwards, forming
an angle of 25°; the walls of the depression are formed by
the poriferous zones, and the base by the intervening smooth
space between them : the postero-lateral ambulacra are directed
obliquely backwards and gently curved inwards ; they are 1 inch
long and form an angle of 62° : the peripetal fasciole closely
embraces the base of the areas, and maintains a nearly uniform
width throughout its course : the test is very much inflated an-
teriorly and laterally, and its posterior border is abruptly trun-
cated: the single interambulacruin is elevated into a ridge,
which rises between the two posterior ambulacra, at the termi-
nation of which the anal opening is situated : the test is covered
with small, nearly equal-sized tubercles, which are larger on the
fore-part, cheeks, and sides than elsewhere : the apical disc is
small, and lies in a depression at the centre of the test, the
apices of the interambulacra rising into little eminences around
it : the base is entirely concealed by the matrix.

Affinities and differences. — This large species differs so much
from its congeners in its breadth, in the depth and divergence of
the antero-lateral ambulacra, which are likewise slightly curved
forwards, in the length and depth of the posterior pair, which
equal the single ambulacrum in length, in the breadth and extent
of the peripetal fasciole, and the perpendicular truncature of the
posterior border, with the general tumidity of its sides, that it is
readily distinguished from them.

Locality and stratigraphical position. — It was collected from
bed No. 4, the calcareous sandstone at Malta, and is one of the
few tertiary Urchins in our cabinet ; it is the only specimen of
the species we have seen.

96 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

Hemiaster Cotteauii, Wright. PI. VII. fig. 2a-d.

Test orbicular, globose, much inflated, declining anteriorly, ele-
vated posteriorly, the interambulacrum forming a prominent
carina which terminates in a tail-like process above the anus ;
posterior border obliquely truncated ; ambulacral areas deeply
sunk ; an anteal ambulacrum forms the sulcus in the anterior
border; antcro-laterals long, and inclined to 45°; postero-
laterals one-half the length of the anterior pair, inclined to
57°; apical disc nearly central; peripetal fasciole broad and
undulating ; anus high under the carinal process ; tubercles
larger on the sides and base than on the dorsal surface;
mouth labiate near the anterior border.

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 1^§ inch, transverse
diameter l^g inch, height l|i inch.

Description. — This Urchin has a globose form, and is much
inflated at the sides ; the dorsal surface is convex, and declines
much more rapidly from the apical disc to the anterior border,
than from the disc to the posterior border. The ambulacral
areas (2 a) are all deeply sunk ; the single ambulacrum is the
longest, and forms a considerable anteal sulcus; the antero-lateral
pair have a gentle double curve ; they are T7oths of an inch in
length, and form an angle of 45°. The number of pores (2 c)
in the avenues is twenty-two pairs in the inner, and twenty-four
in the outer zone ; the postero -lateral pair are scarcely half the
length of the anterior pair; they incline at 57°; their number of
pores is ten and twelve pairs. The peripetal fasciole (2 d) closely
embraces the ambulacral star ; a naked track proceeds from the
base of the antero-laterals to the mouth, indicating the course
of the imperforate portion of the ambulacral areas : the rapid
declivity of the anterior part of the test strongly contrasts with
the inflated condition of the sides and the elevation of the in-
terambulacrum ; from the centre of this area a ridge rises which
is produced into a tail-like process, and beneath, the posterior
border is scooped out, and truncated obliquely downwards and
inwards. The anus is situated high up, immediately beneath
the caudal prolongation ; the base is convex, and a partially
naked space on each side of the sternal portion of the inter-
ambulacrum, indicates the track of the basal portions of the
posterior ambulacra. The tubercles of the upper surface (2 b)
are smaller and more closely set together than those on the
sides and base, where they are larger, wider apart, and more
fully developed. They are perforated and uucrenulated, and
surrounded by a circle of small tubercles. H. Cotteauii resembles
Spatangus (Hemiaster) acuminatus, Goldf., but it is more globose,
and its posterior half is neither so elevated, nor yet so wedge-

nvir.

La

H. Bally dd et lift.

J a,._f Hexruaster SoillaB,
2. a._d. HewusLster Cottesiiiii,

>,_"b. Scalaria, Duciei,
4. a,_To. Lenticulites camplanattes", D&frono©

Printed lyHuHmandel ftTVitlt

"Wright.
Vrig'kt.

from the Island of Malta. 97

shaped as that species; the single ambulacrum is larger and
\vider, and the antero-lateral pair are more developed in the
(Jri-man than in the Maltese form; they resemble each other
in the interambulacrum in both possessing a tail-like terminal
process, and in having the posterior border obliquely scooped
out ; they are both, likewise, Miocene Urchins, S. acuminatus
being found in that terrain near Cassel and Dusseldorf (Ger-
many), and at Bordeaux and Blaye (France).

Affinities and differences. — The depth and length of the am-
bulacral areas, with the great declivity of the anterior side of the
test, and the post-discal carina, with its caudate-like process,
serve to distinguish this species from H. Scilla.

Locality and stratiyraphical position. — Collected from bed
No. 4, the calcareous sandstone at Malta. We dedicate this
species to our friend M. Cottcau, the learned author of ' Etudes
sur les lichinides Fossiles du departernent de P Yonne/ who has
most generously aided us in our studies, by contributing the
types of many of his species to our cabinet for comparative in-
vestigations.

Hemiaster Scilla, Wright, n. sp. PL VII. fig. 1 a-f.

SYN. Spatangus crassissimus, Desmoulins, Etudes sur les Echinides,

p. 391. no. 30.
Echinus, Scilla, Corp. Mar. pi. 10. fig. 4.

Test globular, higher behind than before; ambulacral areas
short ; single ambulacrum the longest, forming a deep sulcus
on the anterior border ; antero-laterals wide, diverging at an
angle of 44° ; postero-laterals not half the length of the ante-
riors, forming an angle of 56° ; both pairs form sulci on the
sides of the test : posterior border squarely truncated down-
wards and outwards : the anus high near the dorsum : base
convex : mouth at the anterior third, with a large projecting
under lip.

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 129^ inch, transverse
diameter l/^ inch, height 1^ inch.

Description. — Much confusion has arisen as to the identity of
this Urchin, occasioned probably by the circumstance of Scilla
having figured only the base of the test, and neglected to m\<
either its profile or the dorsal surface. In M. Agassiz's ' Pro-
dromus' it was entered as Micraster Goldfussii, but has been
omitted from Agassiz and Desor's ' Catalogue raisonneV M.
Desmoulins identifies it with the Spatangus crassissimus of
Defrance, but on referring to the original description * of that
species, we find that Defrance's species came from " la craie

* Diet. Sc. Nat. torn. 50. p. 96.

98 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

chloritee near Havre," and as no species of Urchin known to us
passed from the secondary to the tertiary epoch, we must reject
the high authority of this most accurate naturalist, and consider
the Urchin before us as distinct from S. crassissimus. The test
inclines to an oblong form (1 c) ; it is higher behind than before,
and declines more rapidly from the disc to the anterior border than
from the disc to the anus. The ambulacral areas lie in deep
depressions; the single ambulacrum (\e) is the longest, and forms
an inconsiderable anteal sulcus ; the antero-laterals are T\jths of an
inch in length, and form an angle of 44° ; the number of the
pores (1 /) in the zones is fifteen and twenty: the postero-laterals
are scarcely one-half the length of the antero-laterals ; they form
an angle of 56° ; the number of pores in them is respectively seven
and ten : the peripetal fascicle is broad, but feebly marked, and
closely embraces the bases of the areas : four sulci (1 «), nearly
destitute of tubercles, mark the course of the ambulacra from
the side of the fascicle to the mouth : the lateral interambulacra
are rather inflated, and marked by five or six angular elevations
(1 c) of the test : the single interambulacrum is elevated on the
dorsum (1 a), squarely truncated on the posterior border, and
convex beneath : the small oval anus is situated very high up,
about T6^ths of an inch from the disc : the sternal portion of the
interambulacrum (1 b) is convex and prominent, and is covered
with close-set tubercles, arranged in lines, proceeding like radii
from a central point of the base : the mouth has a large pro-
jecting under-lip. The upper part of the shell is covered with
small close-set uncrenulate tubercles (1 d), which are larger
and irregularly disposed on the front and base : the apical disc
is small and nearly central : there are only two genital holes
at the apices of the lateral ambulacra : the five eye-holes are
very small. Whether one pair of genital holes may be a generic
character of Hemiaster, we have not the means at present of de-
termining, as most of our specimens of this group have the disc
concealed ; but about the beautiful //. Scillce now before us there
can be no question.

Affinities and differences. — The absence of the dorsal carina
and caudal process serve to distinguish H. Scillte from H. Cot-
teauii -, the latter is likewise a more globose and less elegant form
of Urchin, and has the truncature of the posterior border down-
wards and forwards, whereas in H. Scillce the direction is down-
wards and backwards.

Locality and stratigraphical position. — Collected from No. 4,
the calcareous sandstone at Malta, from whence the original spe-
cimen figured by Scilla was obtained : this reason will suffice for
the name we have given it.

from the Island of Malta. 99

Genus PERICOSMUS (Agassiz, 1847).

In addition to the general characters of Hemiaster, these
Urchins have an arched arrangement of the peripetal fasciole and
a narrow marginal fasciole, which can be traced round the
anterior border, extending along the sides, passing beneath the
anus, meeting its fellow from the opposite side, and thereby
encircling the test. All the species of this small group have
been obtained from strata of the Miocene age.

Pericosmus latus, Desor.

SYN. Micraster latus, Agassiz, Cat. Syst. p. 2.
Pericosmus latus, Agassiz and Desor, Cat. raisonne, Ann. Sc. Nat.
torn. vi. pi. 16. fig. 1, & torn. viii. p. 19.

Test cordate, broad, convex above, flat below ; petaloidal ambu-
lacra straight, deep- sunk and narrow; the posterior nearly
as long as the anterior pair ; apical discs central ; peripetal
fasciole closely embracing the ambulacra, with three arches
across the single ambulacral depression ; marginal fasciole
narrow, entirely surrounding the upper part of the border of
the test.

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 2fo inches; trans-
verse diameter 2/n inches ; height lT3n inch.

Description. — This rare type of one of the extinct genera of
Spatangida was at first mistaken for a Micraster by Agassiz, and
entered in his ' Catalogus Systematicus ' under the name Mi-
craster latus ; the peripetal fasciole, however, readily distinguishes
it from Micraster, and the marginal fasciole from Hemiaster. No
doubt many mistakes will be committed regarding this Urchin,
as these fascicles are exceedingly delicate, and not always pre-
served : when they are absent, it then greatly resembles a Mi-
craster ; but when the marginal fasciole is effaced, and the peri-
petal remains, it then may be mistaken for a Hemiaster; for-
tunately, in one of the specimens before us, the fascioles are both
preserved, and their entire course can be traced. The test has
a uniformly curved dorsal surface, with a regular cordate form,
the base is slightly convex, and the posterior border is trun-
cated. The petaloid portions of the ambulacral areas are
straight, and lodged in rather deep depressions, extended ob-
liquely outwards on the middle of the dorsal surface, in the form
of a St. Andrew's cross ; the single ambulacrum lies in a deep
wide depression, and forms a considerable anteal sulcus ; at its
apical portion only, there are from ten to twelve pairs of ambu-
lacral plates, each perforated in the centre with a single hole ;
in all the other plates in the area the perforations are obsolete ;

100 Dr. T. Wright on Foss-il Echinoderms

the antero-lateral ambulacra, ^ths of an inch in length, are
nearly straight, having only very slight /-shaped flexures, which
curve forwards and outwards, making an angle of 35° : the two
poriferous zones lie close together, in deep narrow depressions ;
in each zone there are from twenty-four to twenty-six pairs of
holes ; the space between the pairs of pores is only a little more
than that which separates one row of pores from another, so
that the pores lie nearly equidistant from each other in the
sunken areas; the postero-lateral ambulacra are fifths of an
inch in length, and are extended backwards and outwards at an
angle of 60° ; there are from twenty to twenty-two pairs of holes
in each zone, the rows of which, like those on the anterior pair,
are nearly equidistant : the pcripetal fasciole closely surrounds
the posterior ambulacral.pair, makes two angles on their sides,
and crosses to the anterior pair, where it in like manner forms
two angles, then sweeps round the base, and passes in a straight
line along the anterior side ; from it three branches proceed in-
wards, which arch over the single ambulacrum, describing angles
as they advance to meet the branches from the opposite side ;
the marginal fasciole is a narrow line, which passes above the
fold of the border and entirely encircles the test, dipping into
the anteal sulcus in its course, but its position in relation to the
anus is not clearly shown in either of our specimens. Agassiz
figures it as passing under the anus ; in his figure the remark-
able arches on the anterior part are not drawn : the apical disc
is small, and occupies the centre of the test ; it has only two
genital holes like a Hemiaster, and five small ocular holes ; the
upper surface of the test is covered with small, nearly equal-
sized tubercles, those on the anterior side are a little larger;
the base is slightly convex, the lateral interambulacra carry
large tubercles on their basal plates, arid the sternal portion of
the interambulacrum is likewise covered with a regular tuberc il-
lation ; the basal tracks of the posterior ambulacra are smooth
between the border and the mouth ; the anus is situated high
up on the posterior border, and the mouth lies very close to the
anteal sulcus.

Affinities and differences. — The central position of the apical
disc and the depth and straightness of the ambulacra distin-
guish this form from P. excentricus ; the generic affinities of
this small genus have been already pointed out. The rarity of
Pericosmus, and the small number of species and individuals at
present known, limit our comparisons to the forms we have
cited.

Locality and stratigraphical range. — This is one of the few
Urchins found in the clay bed No. 2 at Malta : we have before
us a specimen from Balistro, Corsica, from the miocene beds of

from the Island of Malta. 101

that island, sent us by M. Michelin of Paris ; we consider the
peculiar arch-like arrangement of the peripetal fasciole, with the
marginal; as good generic characters whereby to form a distinct
genus.

Pericosmus excentricus, Wright, n. sp.

Test oblong, highly convex above, slightly so below; apical disc
very excentral, near the anterior border ; ambulacra in shallow
depressions ; single ambulacrum slightly grooves the anterior
border ; antero-laterals nearly transverse ; postero-laterals in-
cline at 55° ; peripetal fasciole narrow and undulating ; mar-
ginal fasciole narrow and low on the border ; tubercles on the
upper surface small, close-set, and nearly all of the same size ;
a few larger ones on the anterior interambulacra ; anus large
and situated high on the border; mouth-opening wide in the
anterior third, surrounded by five poriferous petaloid zones ;
sternal portion of the interambulacrum convex, with close-set
imbricated tuberculigcrous plates; basal portions of the inter-
ambulacral pairs with larger tubercles, wider apart, and more
irregular than those of the dorsum.

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 2 inches, transverse
diameter ly8^ inch, height 1 inch ?

Description. — This Urchin is so much crushed that it is im-
possible to describe its outline. The ambulacral areas form
shallow depressions, and the single area slightly grooves the an-
terior border : the antero-laterals are nearly transverse, their in-
clination being forwards ; they are -j^ths of an inch in length :
the postero-laterals form an angle of 55°; they are y^ths of an
inch long. The crushed state of the test makes it impossible to
count accurately the pores, or give the breadth of the areas ; the
apical disc, with four genital pores, is very small and remarkably
excentrical, being very near the anterior border ; the peripetal
fasciole is narrow, angular and undulating, and instead of sur-
rounding the anterior part of the antero-lateral ambulacra, as in
P. latuSy it descends from them and joins the marginal fasciole
below their base, so that the anterior sides of the antero-laterals,
and the single ambulacrum, want the peripetal fasciole. The
specimen before us is so much crushed, that we cannot trace the
band continuously all round the test, so as to describe its course
with accuracy ; it is possible that this species may form tin-
type of a distribution of the fascioles distinct from any that is yet
known. We have stated enough to show, that at least in this form
there is a considerable deviation from the normal arrangement.
The anus is large and oval, and near the dorsum; the mouth is wide
and bilabiate, and situated near the border; the sternal portion
of the interambulacrum is slightly convex, and thickly covered

102 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

with an imbricated arrangement on the plates, on each of which
a perforated tubercle is raised. The basal portions of the inter-
ambulacral pairs are covered with wider-set tubercles of the same
size, and the entire upper surface of the test is crowded with small
tubercles closely set together, and very uniform in size and
arrangement. The mouth is surrounded by five petaloid pori-
ferous ambulacra.

Affinities and differences. — The excentrical position of the disc,
with its four genital holes, and the petaloid poriferous ambulacra
around the mouth, establish an affinity between this form and
Srissus. The way in which the peripetal joins the marginal
fasciole is similar to what exists in Schizaster, whilst the mar-
ginal fascicle, entirely encircling the test and passing round
beneath the anus, is found only in Pericosmus. The excentral
position of the apical disc and the shallowness of the am-
bulacral star form a sufficient diagnosis between this species and
P. latus.

Locality and stratigraphical position. — Collected from bed
No. 1, the Gozo marble at Malta, where it is rare.

Genus SCHIZASTER (Agassiz, 1834).

Urchins with a cordiform test, broad and depressed before,
narrow and elevated behind ; the ambulacral summit excentral
and nearer the posterior border ; the petaloid ambulacra lodged
in very deep depressions, the antero-lateral much longer than
the postero-lateral pair; the single ambulacrum long and deeply
sunken in the anteal sulcus; the peripetal fasciole surrounds
the ambulacral star, and from one of the antero-lateral angles
thereof, a second postero-lateral fasciole arises, which passes
downwards and backwards along the sides and under the anus,
where it joins its fellow of the opposite side ; the genital pores
are two in number from the fusion of the anterior and posterior
pairs ; the five ocular plates are small and lodged in depressions ;
the eye-holes are microscopic. Schizaster differs from Hemiaster
in possessing a postero-lateral fasciole, and in having the antero-
lateral ambulacra less divergent and lodged in deeper depressions ;
the anteal sulcus is also much deeper.

Schizaster eurynotus, Agassiz.

SYN. Echinus Spatangus compressus et lapidescens in Melitensi

topho, Scilla, Corp. Mar. tab. 7. fig. 1.
Echinus gladiatus vestitus et nudus Imperati, Klein, Echinod. p. 35.

tab. 27 A.

Spatangus lacunosus, Leske, no. 77. p. 227.
Spatangus canaliferus, Lamarck, Anim. sans Vert. 2nd ed. torn. iii.

p. 327; Grateloup, Foss. Ours. Dax, p. 67.

from the Island of Malta. 103

Schieaster eurynotus, Sismonda, Mem. Echin. FOBS. Nizza, tab. 2.

fie. 3. p. 31 ; Agassiz and Desor, Ann. Sc. Nat. torn. viii. p. 21.

serie 3.
Spatangus ScillcK, Desmoulius, Etudes sur les Echin. no. 24. p. 392.

Test heart-shaped, depressed and rounded anteriorly, elevated
and pointed posteriorly ; ambulacral areas deeply excavated ;
the single ambulacrum long, deep, wider in the middle and
narrower at the anterior border, which is deeply grooved
by it : antero-laterals slightly /-shaped ; angle 52° ; length
Ij5^ inch : postero-laterals, angle 72°, short, -/^ths of an inch ;
apical disc with two genital holes near the posterior third ;
single interambulacrum elevated into a prominent carina ter-
minating in a caudal hooked process.

Description. — This Urchin resembles Schizaster canaliferus
now living on the shores of the Mediterranean, and for which it
has been mistaken by some naturalists, but an attentive study of
the living and fossil species discloses characters by which they
may be distinguished from each other. The test in S. eurynotus '
is cordate, depressed before and elevated behind. The ambu-
lacral areas are deeply depressed; the odd or anterior ambu-
lacrum is nearly twice the width of the pairs, it swells out in the
middle, is blunted at the apex, and most contracted at the
anteal sulcus, which is deep and narrow when contrasted with
the width it attains above. The poriferous zones lie at the base
of the walls of the sulcus; the very narrow plates that compose
the floor of this area are each studded with a row of small gra-
nules. The antero-lateral ambulacra diverge at an angle of 52°;
they are slightly /-shaped, and are 1^ inch in length : the
numbers of holes in the zones are thirty-six and thirty-four.
The postero-lateral pair are short, and make an angle of 72°;
they are y^ths of an inch in length, and have respectively
twenty-six and twenty-four holes in their zones. The peripetal
fasciole passes close to the base of the posterior pair, dips slightly
into the space which separates the anterior from the posterior
pair, runs at some distance from the anterior pair, passes close
by the base thereof obliquely towards the anteal sulcus, into
which it dips, and meets its fellow from the opposite side : the
very narrow postero-lateral fasciole is directed obliquely down-
wards and backwards, and unites with its fellow at some distance
below the anus. The test is depressed anteriorly and sloped
away at the cheeks, whilst behind it is much elevated. The
interambulacrum forms an elevated ridge between the posterior
ambulacral pair, and is produced into a caudal-like process
behind, beneath which the circular anus is pierced ; the sternal
portion of the odd interambulacrum is tumid and convex ; the

VOL. n. i

104 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

basal portions of the lateral and anterior pairs slope gently
towards it ; the tracks of the ambulacra are nearly naked as they
approach the mouth, and are here perforated with buccal pores.
The mouth is at the anterior third, and has a projecting under-
lip; the tubercles on the upper surface are small and of a
uniform size ; those on the sternum are larger, and are per-
forated and set on crenulated summits ; they are arranged in
lines radiating from a posteal point ; the tubercles of the inter-
ambulacral pairs are the largest.

Affinities and differences. — This species very much resembles
the living S. canaliferus, but it may be distinguished from it by
the following characters : — S. eurynotus is broader and more
depressed before, and is not proportionally so high behind as
S. canaliferus ; the antero-lateral ambulacra are more divergent,
and the postero-lateral pair are proportionally longer in S. eury-
notus than in S. canaliferus. The single ambulacrum is about
the same depth as the pairs, and has the pores in a single file in
S. eurynotus, whereas in S. canaliferus this area is much deeper,
and the pores are not in single file, but are crowded together, so
that they form three rows in a part of the zone ; the tubercles
of the base are much larger in the living than in the fossil
species. S. eurynotus is distinguished from S. Parkinsoni by
its /-shaped ambulacra being less divergent, and the position of
the apical disc, which is much nearer the posterior border in S.
eurynotus ; the anterior ambulacrum is likewise much wider and
deeper in that Urchin than in S. Parkinsoni : the great develop-
ment of the single interambulacrum, and breadth of the pos-
terior border in S. Desori sufficiently mark that species as
widely distinct from S. eurynotus.

Locality and position. — Collected in bed No. 4, the calcareous
sandstone at Malta ; we have it also from Santa Manza, Corsica,
sent us by M. Michelin ; it has likewise been found in the Ter.
tnoyen de Perpignan, Cagliari.

Schizaster Desori, Wright, n. sp. PI. VI. fig. 3 a-c.
Test cordate, broad and much depressed before, narrow and
much elevated behind ; ambulacral areas long, straight, and
very divergent ; peripetal fascicle forms an acute angle on the
anterior interambulacra ; apical disc situated at the posterior
third of the dorsum ; angle of the antero-lateral ambulacra
44° ; angle of the postero-lateral pair 60° ; posterior border
truncated obliquely downwards and inwards ; sternal portion
of the interambulacrum tumid and prominent at the base,
amounting almost to a deformity.

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 2 f8^ inches, transverse
diameter 2T7^ inches, height at the deepest part 1T% inch.

from the Island of Malta. 1 <>:,

Description. — This remarkable Urchin wants the symmetrical
proportions of the other Schizasters met with in the same rocks ;
it is rounded and broad before, and tapers into a narrow wedge-
shape process behind ; the dorsal surface inclines forwards at an
angle of 17°; the ambulacral areas are long. The single anterior
area compared with S. eurynotus is narrow, and of a uniform
width ; it is 1-^ inch in length from the apical disc to the
fasciole ; there are twenty-four pairs of pores in the avenues,
the external being much larger than the internal row, although
this is properly speaking a generic character. The antero-lateral
ambulacra diverge nearly straight outwards at an angle of 44°;
they form deep depressions in the test \-f$ inch in length, and
the zones contain thirty pairs of holes in each : the postero-
laterals are slightly petaloid, and gently flexed outwards ; they
are ££ths of an inch in length, and diverge at an angle of 60 .
The zones contain about twenty pairs of holes ; the test being
nearly as broad as it is long across the termination of the an-
tero-lateral ambulacra ; the anterior border is gently rounded,
and has a rather deep anteal sulcus for the ambulacrum ; from
the same point to the posterior extremity it tapers suddenly,
which gives a wedge-shaped appearance to the test when viewed
from above. The most remarkable feature in this Urchin is the
curious form which the single interambulacrum assumes, owing
to the great development of this area ; the dorsal surface forms an
inclined plane having an inclination of 17°; the anterior part is
therefore very much depressed, and the posterior part much ele-
vated. The single interambulacrum forms a prominent beak-
like process, beneath which the posterior border is broad, and
inclined downwards and forwards ; the sternal portion of this
area is prominent and convex, towards which the basal parts of
the lateral interambulacra slope suddenly forwards and inwards.
The anus is pyriform, and placed high up underneath the beak-
like process. The mouth is situated near the anterior border ; it
has a large under-lip, but is crushed in the small specimen, and
covered up in all the others before us. The small apical disc lies
concealed at the posterior third of the dorsum by the prominent
apices of the lateral interambulacra. The peripetal fasciole takes
a zigzag course along the outer borders of the ambulacra, and
from the base of the antero-laterals it passes nearly at right
angles across the anterior interambulacra to the external side of
the single ambulacrum, where it makes another angle, then
passes down the side thereof f^ths of an inch, dips into the sul-
cus and unites with the opposite fasciole. The lateral fasciole
commences at the angle near the base of the antero-lateral am-
bulacra, and passes downwards and backwards nearly in a straight
line over the angle of the posterior border at some distance from

i 2

106 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

the anus, and meets the one from the opposite side, at the
middle line near the base ; in the triangle thus formed, the caudal
process and anus occupy the base, and a depression lies beneath
which is filled with tubercles somewhat larger than those 011 the
dorsum, but smaller than those on the base ; the tubercles are
perforated and raised on prominent crenulated bosses (fig. 3 c) ;
the sternal and basal portions of the test, as well as the anterior
border, being furnished with much larger tubercles.

Affinities and differences. — The straightness of the pairs of
ambulacra, and the narrowness of the single anterior ambulacrum,
are alone sufficient to distinguish S. Desori from S. aurynotus
when viewed only from above, but when we add to these the
remarkable oblique truncation of the posterior border (fig. 3 b),
the great tumidity of the sternum, and the sloping character of
the sides of the base, we discover how widely different these two
forms are from each other. The same group of characters serves
to distinguish it from S. Parkinsoni, but in this species the apical
disc is much nearer the centre of the test ; the antero-lateral
ambulacra are arched outwards, and the postero-laterals are pro-
portionately longer.

Locality and stratigraphical position. — Collected from the cal-
careous sandstone bed No. 4, at Malta ; the large specimen be-
longs to the Bristol Institution, the others form part of Earl
Ducie's collection. We dedicate this species to M. Desor of
Neufchatel, one of the learned authors of the 'Catalogue raisonne
des Echinides/

Schizaster Parkinsoni, Defrance sp. PL V. fig. 3 a-c.

SYN. Spatangus Parkinsoni, Defrance, Diet. Sc. Nat. torn. 50. p. 96 ;

Desmoulins, Etudes sur les Echinides, p. 394. no. 29.
Spatangus lacunosus, Parkinson, Organic Remains, vol. iii. tab. 3.

fig. 12.
Schizaster Parkinsoni, Agassiz and Desor, Cat. raisonne', Ann. Sc. Nat.

torn. viii. p. 22.

Test cordate, depressed anteriorly, elevated posteriorly; apical
disc nearly central ; sides expanded and tumid ; cheeks sloping
and contracted ; single ambulacrum rather wider than the
anterior pair, of the same diameter throughout, except near
the apex; antero-lateral ambulacra diverge at an angle of 35°;
length 1 inch ; postero-lateral make an angle of 65° ; length
T%ths of an inch ; posterior part of the back raised into a long
prominent carina ; posterior border obliquely truncated ; base
convex ; mouth near the anterior border ; antcal sulcus nar-
row and of moderate depth.

Dimensions. — Adult. Antero-posterior diameter 2^J inches,
transverse diameter 2^ inches, height 1£J inch.

from the Island of Malta. 107

Junior. Autero-posterior diameter 2 inches, transverse dia-
meter 1-^j inch, height l-fp inch.

Description. — We have identified this Urchin with that figured
by Parkinson in his ' Organic Remains/ not however without
much hesitation, inasmuch as that figure is without details, and
is moreover drawn from a distorted specimen. We have in vain
endeavoured to find out the original, and have therefore, from
the central position of the apical disc and the great divergence
of the ambulacra, and from its being at the same time the most
common of all the Maltese Schizasters, and the one most likely
to have been sent to Parkinson, adopted Defrance's identifi-
cation. The test is heart-shaped, its widest part being at a
line drawn across the disc ; from this imaginary line the back
slopes obliquely forwards, and the border is rather bevelled away
at the cheeks ; from the same line backwards there rises a pro-
minent ridge which bends over into a short tail-like process. The
ambulacral areas (3 a) are deeply sunken, the single ambulacrum
has a tapering lanceolate form, and the anteal sulcus is deep and
narrow ; the poriferous zones lie in the angle of the depression ;
they consist of twenty-five pairs of holes, of which the outer
series is the largest ; the length of the petaloidal portion of this
area from the apex to the fasciole is 1^ inch. The antero-
lateral ambulacra (3 a) are more divergent in this species than
in the other Schizasters met with in the same rocks; they are
Ig^ inch in length and are slightly curved outwards and back-
wards ; they make an angle of 35° ; the number of pores (3 c)
in the zones is respectively thirty-six and thirty-four, the apical
eight pairs being almost microscopic: the postero-lateral pair
are y^ths of an inch in length and slightly /-shaped; they are
directed backwards at an angle of 65°, and are proportionately
narrower than the anterior pair ; there are twenty-two pairs of
holes in each of the zones, the upper six pairs of which are
microscopic. The peripetal fasciole (3 b) is distinctly defined and
passes close to the bases of the petaloid portions of the ambu-
lacra, but at a short distance from the sides thereof it describes
a curve inwards in passing over the anterior interainbulacra, and
dips obliquely into the anteal sulcus where it unites with that of
the opposite side. The lateral fasciole is large and very distinct ;
it takes a backward and downward course towards the base of
the posterior border, and joins its fellow at some distance be-
low the anus ; the two fascioles form the letter V in their trajet
on the test. The apical disc is situated very near the centre of
the back, removed a little nearer to the posterior than the ante-
rior border ; it is perforated with four equal-sized genital holes.
The anus is oblong, situated high up in the obliquely truncated
posterior border, in which is a triangular depression limited on

108 Dr. T. Wriglit on Fossil Echinodertns

the sides by the fascicle, and above by the anal opening and
caudal process ; the base is convex ; the sternum is not very pro-
minent, and has lines of tubercles proceeding in radii from a
point near the border ; the basal portions of the posterior ambu-
lacra are naked, and around the mouth buccal pores are seen,
which extend at considerable intervals along the trajet of the
posterior pair. The mouth is situated in the anterior fourth of
the base and has a projecting under-lip ; the basal parts of the
interambulacra glide into the general convexity of the floor of
the test ; the lateral pair have a regular tuberculation, but on
the anterior pair the tubercles are larger and more irregular.

Affinities and differences. — The nearly central position of the
apical disc and the greater divergence of the antero-lateral am-
bulacra distinguish this Urchin from its congeners ; the narrow-
ness of the odd ambulacrum and the absence of the swelling-out
in the centre of the same, serve to separate it from S. eurynotus ;
the blunt caudal process, the small posterior border, and the
general tumidity of the sides distinguish it from $. Desori.

Locality and stratigraphical position. — Collected from bed
No. 4, the calcareous sandstone at Malta, where it is common ;
it is found likewise in the Molasse, middle tertiaries, of Mar-
tigues, Bouches-du-Rhone. Fine specimens are contained in the
British Museum, Jermyn Street Museum, and that of the Bristol
Institution.

Since the preceding sheets of this memoir have been passing
through the press, we have had the opportunity of examining
the Maltese fossils belonging to the Geological Society, and some
that had escaped our notice in the British Museum collection ;
from these new materials the following notes are now added : —

Clypeaster Reidii, Wright, n. sp.

Test large, broadly pentagonal, and much elevated; border
abrupt, margin thin and undulated, rising with steep sides at
angles of 60°, and with a very little curve towards the verlex,
which is nearly central ; petaloidal portions of the ambulacral
areas large, nearly equal in width, and extending over nearly
three-fourths of the sides ; base quite flat ; mouth small, pen-
tagonal, nearly central ; basal ambulacral sulci proceeding
from the angles of the mouth, narrow, and sharply defined ;
anus round, near the posterior margin ; tubercles on the upper
surface small and closely set together, those on the base a
little larger ; apical disc nearly central and prominent, with
an outer circle of genital holes, and an inner circle of eye-
holes having the madreporiform tubercle in the centre.

from the Island of Malta. 109

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 5-^ inches, trans-
verse diameter 5T^ inches, height 2^ inches.

Description. — This large Clypeaster has been mistaken for one
of the varieties of C. altus, but a careful study of its test dis-
closes characters by which it is readily distinguished from that
common form. The circumference is nearly pentagonal ; it is
rounded before, undulated on the sides, and nearly straight
behind ; the sides of the pentagon are of unequal length, those
forming the front of the test are the shortest, those of the
middle are somewhat longer, and the posterior single side is the
longest There is scarcely any margin to the test in this species,
as the sides rise abruptly from the border to the apex, making
angles of 60° with the base, and being only slightly curved in-
wards ; the dorsum is therefore very small in proportion to the
diameter of the base. The petaloidal portions of the ambulacral
areas extend over nearly three-fourths of the sides ; they form
long elegantly-shaped petals, narrower in proportion to then-
length than those of C. altus, and consequently allowing of a
greater development of the interambulacral areas than in that
species; the petaloidal ambulacral areas are nearly all of the
same length, width and structure ; the centre of each petal is
arched and costated, and forms a considerable relief on the sur-
face of the test. The poriferous zones lie in slight depressions
on their sides ; each zone contains sixty-two pairs of pores set
widely apart ; in the inner row the holes are round, in the outer
row they are oblong, and both are united by straight oblique
sulci; the external surface of the partition-wall between each
pair is covered with a row of small tubercles. The bases of the
ambulacra are open, but not so widely as in some other con-
generic forms. The interambulacral areas are nearly flat, of
moderate width, and very uniform in their structure. The apical
disc occupies the centre of the dorsal surface ; it consists of two
circles of holes ; the outer is formed of five small genital holes,
the plates of which are not distinguishable, and the inner of five
small perforated ocular plates, which are distinctly visible at the
apices of the ambulacra. The madreporiform tubercle occupies
the centre, and forms a button-like prominence there ; the border
is thin and undulated, and this portion of the test presents a
striking difference to the obtuse marginal fold seen in C. altus.
The base is quite flat ; the pentagonal mouth is small and nearly
central ; the oral lobes are curved inwards at an acute angle, and
the five ambulacral sulci are sharply defined as they radiate
from the sides of the pentagon to the border. The anus is
round, and is situated near the posterior border : the tubm-lrs
on the upper surface are small and closely set together ; those-
on the base are a little larger.

110 Dr. T. Wright on F<ntsil Ec/tittoderms

Affinities (tiul dijj'cn'tices. — Clypcnxtcr Rcidii very much resem-
bles (/. tunbrella both as to height, width, and the smallness of
its tubercles ; it is distinguished from that species by the follow-
ing characters : C. Reidii is more elongated ; the petaloidal am-
bulacra are longer and narrower ; the interambulacra are flat-
tened and slightly curved ; the base is quite flat, and the oral
lobes are curved acutely inwards. In C. umbrella the interam-
bulacra are arched and costated, the base is concave, and the
oral lobes slope obliquely inwards. Compared with C. altus, the
differences are found to be still greater : in C. Reidii the test is
broader in proportion to its length ; the petaloid ambulacra are
narrower ; the poriferous zones are not so open at the base. The
apical disc is convex and prominent in C. Reidii, and depressed
in C. altus. In C. Reidii the border is thin and sharp, and the
base is flat. In C. altus the border is thick and rounded, and
the base is concave. In C. Reidii the mouth is small, and the
oral lobes curve acutely inwards; whilst in C. altus the large
mouth lies at the bottom of a concave depression formed by the
gradual inward sloping of the interambulacra. The distinctions
between our species and that of C. scutellatus and C. marginatus
are so well defined, that it is unnecessary to make a comparison
with them.

Locality and stratigraphical position. —This species is appa-
rently from bed No. 1, the Gozo marble, but this we cannot with
certainty state. Fine specimens are in the Jermyn Street Mu-
seum, and in the collection of the Geological Society of London.
We dedicate this species to his Excellency Sir William Reid,
Governor of Malta, whose laudable efforts to form a public col-
lection of Maltese fossils have greatly contributed to our know-
ledge of the palaeontology of the island.

Genus PYGORHYNCHUS, Agassiz, 1839.

In the dismemberment of the genus Nucleolites of Lamarck,
M. Agassiz has not been so fortunate as in other groups of
Echinida : the characters on which, for example, Catopygus^.\\(\.
Pygorhynchus are distinguished from Nucleolites are not satis-
factory, as they undergo important modifications in the different
species grouped together in each of these new genera. If we
take a type specimen of each genus only and compare them
together, we admit the distinctions pointed out; but when we
examine several species of each of these genera, we observe the
characters gradually blending into the primary type form : as
representatives in time, the grouping is valuable, but the zoolo-
gical characters in our judgment are too indefinite to found
genera thereon. With these remarks we refer provisionally the

from the Island of Malta. Ill

small Nucleolite before us to the section Pyyorhynchus, which
is thus characterized by Agassiz : — " Form elongated ; ambu-
lacra distinctly pctaloid, often costated as in Echinolampas.
Mouth central or subcentral, pentagonal, surrounded with five
large lobes, and a distinct rosette of buccal pores. Anus pos-
terior, nearer the superior than the inferior border." All the
species of the genus Pygorhynchus belong to the nummulitic
and tertiary rocks ; those of the genus Catopygus, with one ex-
ception, are cretaceous forms.

Pygorhynchus Vassalli, Wright, n. sp.

Test oblong, wider behind than before ; interambulacrum pro-
duced into a caudal elongation ; petaloid portions of the am-
bulacral areas narrow and short; sides tumid; anus small,
round, nearer the inferior border than the dorsum, with a
projecting beak-like process arching over its upper border,
and an oblique truncature of the lower part of the border
below ; base slightly concave ; mouth pentagonal, nearly cen-
tral ; oral lobes small ; rays of the poriferous star around the
margin short.

Dimensions. — Antero-posterior diameter 1^ inch, transverse
diameter T7^ths of an inch, height nearly T^ths of an inch.
Most of the specimens average only from one-half to two-thirds
of these dimensions. The large specimen before us is the most
perfect we have examined.

Description. — This small Urchin has an oblong form ; it is
rounded before, a little enlarged towards the junction of the
middle with the posterior third, which is produced into a caudal
process. The sides are tumid, and the upper surface is flat-
tened ; the petaloid portions of the ambulacral areas are narrow
and short, and form only a star on the dorsum ; the single and
postero-lateral areas are nearly alike in width and length ; the
antero-lateral pair are rather wider and shorter, they are /^ths
of an inch in length, and are slightly curved forwards and
outwards; their poriferous zones contain eighteen pairs of
pores, arranged in narrow rows, and not united by any apparent
slit. The postero-lateral areas are /^ths of an inch in length, and
their zones contain twenty pairs of pores ; these areas are directed
much backwards, which makes the width of the lateral interam-
bulacra proportionally greater. The apical disc is nearly central,
but nearer the anterior border ; it has four large genital pores,
and five well-marked eye-holes. The single ambulacrum is almost
identical in length and width with the posterior pair ; the apices
of all the ambulacra are rather rounded than lanceolate. The
lateral interambulacra we have said are very wide, but the single

112 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

interambulacrum is narrow, and forms a conspicuous prolon-
gation or beak-like process, which arches over the upper border
of the round anal opening, situated rather below the middle of
the posterior border, in an oblique truncature of the test : this
beak-like process is not seen in the small specimens before us ;
it would therefore appear to be a character of the adult con-
dition only. The base is slightly concave towards the mouth,
which is situated nearer the anterior border ; it has a pentagonal
form, with five small oral lobes covered with tubercles ; between
them, the terminations of the ambulacra form five short pori-
ferous petals. The tubercles on the upper surface are small and
irregularly disposed on the plates ; those on the base are a little
larger, especially in the vicinity of the mouth.

Affinities and differences. — This species resembles Catopygus
fenestratus from the upper chalk of Ciply, Belgium, but is di-
stinguished from it by having the sides more tumid and the
upper surface flatter ; the posterior border is likewise more pro-
duced ; it distinctly differs from it however in having the base
slightly concave, and the oral lobes less developed. It differs
from Nucleolites (Pygorhynchus] subcarinatus, Goldf., from the
middle tertiaries of Biinde, in having more tumid sides, a less
concave base, and a different form of the anal opening. From
the very brief notice of Catopygus conformis, Desor, from the
tertiaries of Orglande, it is impossible to form any idea how far
it may resemble that form, as it is neither figured nor described,
but merely entered in the ' Catalogue raisorme ' with this re-
mark : " Mais Tanus est un peu plus bas, et la face superieure
plus surbaissee."

Locality and stratigraphical position. — Collected from bed
No. 1, Malta, where it is extremely rare. Specimens are in the
collection of the Geological Society, the Jermyn Street Museum,
and the cabinet of Earl Ducie. We dedicate this species to
Dr. Vassallo of Malta, under whose judicious care and continued
research the public collection of Maltese fossils has been greatly
enriched.

Spatangus Desmarestii, Goldf.

SYN. Spatangus Desmarestii, Goldf. Petref. p. 153. tab. 47. fig. 4 a-c ;
Agassiz and Desor, Cat. raisonne, Ann. Sc. Nat. torn. viii. p. 7.

Test cordate, arched and carinated ; anteal sulcus broad ; peta-
loid portion of the antero-lateral ambulacra long, narrow, and
curved outwards and a little backwards, angle of inclination
18° ; postero-laterals long and narrow, angle 60° ; only a few
moderate-sized tubercles on the interambulacral plates between
all the ambulacral areas; border slightly obtuse; posterior
part truncated ; anal opening transversely oblong ; base piano-

from the Island of Malta. 1 1 3

convex ; tubercles moderate in size ; mouth transversely ob-
long, situated at the junction of the anterior with the middle
third ; tubercles on the upper surface very small.

Dimensions. — A German type specimen. Antero-posterior dia-
meter 2/fl inches, transverse diameter 2^ inches, height l*fo
inch.

A Maltese specimen. Antero-posterior diameter Ij8^ inch,
transverse diameter ly7^ inch, height ££ths of an inch.

Description. — This Urchin is well known from the admirable
figure in Goldfuss. Its upper surface is more convex and in-
flated than in the other congeneric species ; it is higher behind
than before, and has a blunt ridge which passes backwards from
the disc to the border. The antero-lateral petaloidal ambulacra,
£§ths of an inch in length, curve a little outwards, forming an
angle of 18°; their zones contain from twenty-two to twenty-
four pairs of pores, separated by rather thick partitions of the
test. The postero-lateral areas are narrower than the anterior
pair, and rather more than an inch in length ; their zones con-
tain from twenty-eight to thirty pairs of holes, and they form
angles of 60°. The interambulacral areas are wide and largely
developed in this species ; the upper plates in these areas, lying
between the ambulacra, support only very small perforated
tubercles, arranged in groups of threes and fours, and disposed
on all the areas; this character serves to distinguish S. Des-
marestii from all its congeners at present known : the small
tubercles on the dorsal surface are very small, and closely set
together. The single ambulacrum is lodged in a broad shallow
valley, which forms however a considerable anteal sulcus ; the
pores in this area are so much covered up with matrix in our
specimen, that we are unable to count their number. The pos-
terior border is truncated, and the large transversely oval anal
opening occupies the upper part of this region. The shelly
matrix entirely conceals the course of the subanal fasciole. The
sternal portion of the interambulacrum is slightly convex, and
covered with small tubercles that radiate in lines in all direc-
tions from a central point ; the basal portions of the anterior and
lateral interambulacra are covered with larger tubercles, and the
naked intermediate spaces indicate the trajet of the basal por-
tions of the postero-lateral ambulacra from the border to the
mouth. The mouth is situated at the junction of the anterior
\\itli the middle third; it is much elongated transversely, and
has five poriferous petals surrounding it. The apical disc itt
small and nearly central ; it has four genital holes and five small
eye-holes.

Affinities and diffrrnices. — The inflation of the test, the small-

114 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

ness of the large tubercles on the upper surface, and their pre-
sence on the interambulacrum, serve to distinguish this species
from its congeners.

Locality and stratigraphical position. — Found with S. Hof-
mmuii in bed No. 4, the calcareous sandstone at Malta, where it
is rare. The Maltese specimens we have seen are small, and do
not exceed the dimensions given ; they are contained in the col-
lections of the British Museum and the Geological Society. In
Germany it is found in the middle tertiaries at " Duberge bei
Biindc, and at Astrupp bei Osnabriick." The admirable figure
given by Goldfuss of this species is all that can be desired.

Genus EUPATAGUS, Agassiz, 1847.

Spatangoid Urchins, with a cordate or elliptical form, more or
less depressed ; the petaloid portions of the antero- and postero-
lateral ambulacral areas are wide ; the single area is lodged in
a shallow anteal sulcus, and the entire ambulacral star is closely
surrounded by a broad well-defined peripetal fasciole, which
undulates round its margin ; within this fasciolar space, the in-
terambulacral plates carry very large perforated tubercles raised
on crenulated bosses, and surrounded by wide smooth areolas,
like those in the genus Spatangus. The heart-shaped shield,
beneath the anal opening, is likewise surrounded by a well-
defined subanal fasciole. The basal portions of the postero-
lateral ambulacra form broad, naked bands, between the poste-
rior border and the mouth. The other characters resemble those
of Spatangus, from which it differs however in possessing a peri-
petal fasciole.

Eupatagus De Koninckii, Wright, n. sp.

SYN. Spatangus De Koninckii, Wright, Ann. of Nat. Hist. vol. xv.
p. 178.

The test of the original specimen of Eupatagus De Koninckii
having had the external layer of its shell and consequently its
fascicles denuded, we are now enabled to correct our determi-
nation of this species from a specimen in the collection of the
British Museum, in which these important parts of the anatomy
of the skeleton are well preserved. For the description of this
Urchin see our article Spatangus De Koninckii, to which we
subjoin the following note : — The peripetal fasciole is rather
broad, surrounding with little undulation the ambulacral star,
and forming a well-defined boundary between that portion of
the upper surface with large perforated tubercles, and that part
with very small tubercles; the subanal fasciole heart-shaped,
rather broad, and enclosing a shield-like space filled with larger

from the hi and of Malta. \ \ ~>

tubercles; it extends from the prominent point of the base to
near the lower part of the anal opening.

Scalaria Duciei, Wright, n. sp. PI. VII. fig. 4 a, b.

Diagnosis. — Shell turriculated, imperforate ; spire gently taper-
ing; whorls ten, with transverse prominent plates and longi-
tudinal elevations. The transverse plates, nineteen in number
on the body-whorl, are formed of numerous thin shelly laminae,
closely united where they proceed from the whorl, but out-
wardly they expand and form a rather irregular undulated sur-
face ; each plate describes three curves ; two of these, the
anterior and posterior, are short, and the central one is long,
forming an arch over the whorl ; the posterior, at their junc-
tion with the central curve, form angles, from whence blunt
spiny processes proceed ; these form a conspicuous ridge on
the posterior upper part of the whorls ; the junction of the
anterior with the central curves forms a carina on the body-
whorl, which commences at the posterior border of the aper-
ture, and terminates at the anterior part thereof, at a di-
stance from the umbilical ridge. The longitudinal elevations
form a kind of cellular structure ; between the plates they are
seven or eight in number, and on them and the intervening
surface of the shell, delicate longitudinal lines are sculptured.
The aperture is entire, and is round or inclining to an oblong.

Dimensions. — Length 2y^ inches, diameter of the body- whorl
j$ths of an inch.

Collected from the calcareous sandstone No. 4, at Malta.

Lenticulites complanatus, Defrance. PL VII. fig. 4 a, b.

Genus LENTICULITES, Lamarck. (Subkingdom Radiata.
Class Foraminifera. Order Helicostegues, D'Orb. Family Nau-
tiloida.) — Shell nautiloid, equilateral, spire rolled on the same
plane, compressed, sublenticular, multilocular ; whorls apparent,
opening narrow, triangular, prominent, against the penultimate
turn of the spire.

Diagnosis. — Shell oblong, lenticular, much compressed; septa
convex, with longitudinal partitions, growth lines very appa-
rent. Long diameter T4gths of an inch.

This beautiful Foraminiferous shell occurs in great abundance
in No. 2, the yellow sand with blackish grains ; in fact it forms
large masses of rock in this bed. As it is constantly associated
with the Echinoderms, we have added a drawing thereof. De-
france noticed, but did not figure this fossil ; he collected it at
"Anvers pres de Pontoise, a Dax, a Loignan pres de Bordeaux,

116 Dr. T. Wright on Fossil Echinoderms

ft Boutonnet pres de Montpellier, et en Italic dans les couches,
qui paroissent appartenir au calcaire coquillier grossier*."

EXPLANATION OF PLATES IV. V. VI. AND VII.
PLATE IV.

Fig. 1. Cidaris Melitensis: a, the upper surface; b, side view of the am-
bulacral and interambulacral areas, natural size ; c, an iuteram-
bulacral plate, and a portion of an ambulacral area with the
poriferous zones, magnified.

Fig. 2. Echinus Duciei : a, upper surface ; b, side view, natural size ; c, the
form of the mouth-opening, showing the disposition of the mar-
ginal notches ; d, the five jaws and teeth " in situ" imbedded in
a mass of rock ; e, the apical disc, showing the arrangement of
the genital and ocular plates ; /, two interambulacral plates, and
a portion of a poriferous zone, magnified.

Fig. 3. Echinolampas Deshayesii : a, the upper surface ; b, the under sur-
face, natural size ; c, a portion of the test, showing the tubercles,
magnified ; d, a portion of an ambulacral area, and poriferous
zones, magnified.

PLATE V.

Fig. 1. Brissus latus: a, the dorsal surface, reduced one-third in size;
b, the apical disc, magnified ; c, the perforated tubercles, with
their crenulated bosses and encircling granules, magnified.

Fig. 2. Brissus oblongus : a, the upper surface, showing the petaloid am-
bulacral star and peripetal fasciole ; 6, the under surface, showing
the subanal fasciole, natural size ; mouth, and the trajet of the
naked basal portions of the ambulacra ; c, the tubercles, and
their circles of granules, magnified.

Fig. 3. Schizaster Parkinsoni : a, the upper surface, showing the petaloid
ambulacral star, the peripetal and lateral fascicles, the natural
size ; b, a portion of the peripetal fasciole, with the boundary
granules, magnified ; c, a portiou of the poriferous zones, mag-
nified.

PLATE VI.

Fig. 1. Brissopsis Duciei : a, the upper surface, showing the petaloidal
ambulacral star, surrounded by the peripetal fasciole, reduced
one-third ; b, six plates with small poriferous tubercles from the
anteal sulcus ; c, form of the pores, and arrangement of the tuber-
cles in the poriferous zones ; d, the larger perforated tubercles,
and their crenulated bosses with their circlets of granules ; e, a
portion of the peripetal fasciole, showing how distinctly it is
defined from the rest of the surface by rows of granules.

Fig. 2. Brissopsis crescenticus : a, the upper surface ; b, the under surface,
natural size ; c, the arrangement of the pores, near the apical
portion of one of the zones.

Fig. 3. Schizaster Desori : a, the upper surface ; b, the under surface,
natural size ; c, the perforated tubercles, with their circlets of
granules and crenulated bosses, magnified.

Diet. Sc. Nat. tome xxv. p. 453.

from the Island of Malta. 117

PLATE VII.

Fig. 1. Hemiaster Scillce: a, the upper surface, showing the ambulacral
star and peripetal fascicle, natural size ; b, the under surface of
the same test ; c, a lateral view, to show the great height of this
species ; </, the perforated tubercles and encircling granules, mag-
in tied; e, a portion of the single ambulacrum, showing the
arrangement of the pores ; f, a portion of a |x>riferous zone.

fig. 2. Hemiaster Cotteauii : a, the upper surface, natural size ; b, the
perforated tubercles, with their circles of granules ; c, portion of
a poriferous zone ; if. portion of » the penpetal fasciole, with its
boundary granules.

Fig. 3. Scalaria Duciei : a, shell, the natural size ; b, a fragment showing
the mouth.

Fig. 4. Lenticulites complanatus : a, natural size of this Foraminiferous
shell; b, a section magnified, showing the cells: — large rocky
masses of this fossil occur in the yellow sand associated with the
Urchins of that deposit.

118

On Perna quadrata, Sow. By JOHN LYCETT, Esq.
READ 30-TH JANUARY 1855.

THE present notice of a fossil shell, which has already been
figured and described, requires some explanation.

The Perna quadrata of the ' Mineral Conchology/ t. 490. f. 2,
represents a very inequivalve Perna ; but as the specimen figured
appears to have been somewhat imperfect, and as it was placed
by the artist in an unfortunate position and is seen only from
a single point of view, it affords a very insufficient aid to a de-
scription which is substantially correct as far as it refers to the
only specimen which appears to have been at the disposal of the
author. With such an illustration it will not afford surprise to
find that Phillips in his Geology of Yorkshire, t. 9. f. 24, repre-
sented a second and very different shell under the name of Perna
quadrata ; and as the latter work contains no descriptions of spe-
cies, Goldfuss was in turn also misled to figure a third Perna
distinct from both the others under the same name (Petrefacta,
t. 108 ); upon the same plate however is Perna rugosa, which is
identical with the quadrata of Phillips ; the latter is an equivalve,
squamous, thick shell, well known to collectors of British Inferior
Oolite fossils. There is another inducement to acquire a correct
knowledge of the original Perna quadrata, inasmuch as the spe-
cies is a very remarkable one, constituting a departure from the
typical forms of the Perna, and approaching to others of the
kindred genus Inoceramus. The diagnosis of this shell in the
' Mineral Conchology ' is as follows : — " Quadrilateral, one side
shorter than the other three ; valves gibbose, unequal, the shorter
side very concave, bounded by two obtuse carinae."

The figure in the ' Mineral Conchology ' has the right or
flattened valve facing the spectator; the contour of the larger or
convex valve therefore is not seen : the shell is not placed upright
upon the page, the lower border forming the right-hand side of
the figure : even the outline is not perfect, as there seems to be a
portion of the lower border wanting, and thus forming an angle
at its anterior extremity, which would be rounded were that part
entire.

The typical Perna are equivalve or subequivalve ; their fibrous
tests are squamous externally, and acquire great thickness with

Mr. J. Lycctt on Pcrna quadrata.

119

advance of growth ; the valves are so much flattened, that their
attenuated apical extremities have not more thickness or con-
vexity than the corresponding parts of the Pinna and My tilt ;
tin- li'mire-plate is always broad, the greater length of the valve
being always perpendicular to, or in the opposite direction to
the line of the hinge-plate. Perna quadrata, on the contrary,
is very inequivalve, and with advance of growth it becomes
almost gryphoidal ; the umbo of the larger valve is very promi-
nent, straight and incurved; the anterior side of the valve is
steep, with a large excavation, byssal aperture and corrugated
border ; the posterior side is much compressed, and extended into
a kind of imperfect wing ; the hinge-plate is narrow, its border
is much lengthened, so that the greater length of the valve is in

Perna quadrata, Sow.
1 . Exterior of the convex valve. 2. Hinge-plate of the flattened valve.

I lu'diuvtl one-fourth.)

that direction, and the shell is transverse ; the narrow hinge-
plate renders the ligamental grooves very short, their diameter
laterally being equal to their length, as is often seen in the
genus Gervillia ; they diminish rapidly, so that the posterior half
of the hinge-line is destitute of hinge-plate and grooves. The
byssal aperture is formed by the larger valve only. In both
valves the test is very thin, excepting at the prominent umbo
and anterior side of the lanrrr valve ; the surface, unlike that of
the typical Per/i#, is smooth ; the right valve has little con-
\c\ity, and its umbo little prominence; its anterior bord-
thickened as in the other valve.

In the Periuf, as in the fnocera.m, much variability exists in
VOL. n. K

120 Mr. J. Lycett on Perna quadrata.

specimens of the same species, the result not only of different
stages of growth, but also of individual peculiarities. All the
specimens of Perna quadrata differ more or less from each other
and from the figure in the ' Mineral Conchology/ so that the
identity of these specimens with Sowerby's shell has not been
ascertained without the examination of a considerable number of
examples. The contrast which Perna quadrata presents to the
typical Perna is therefore very great; its general aspect is in
fact that of an Inoceramus, more especially of the subinvolute
forms of the latter genus, from which it is distinguished only by
the anterior excavation and aperture ; but as this feature is one
only of subordinate value when viewed singly, there would seem
to need the addition of some other distinctive features ere we
are enabled to affirm the clear generic separation of Perna and
Inoceramus. The oblong flattened figure of the smaller valve
and the thinness of the test might cause it to be mistaken for a
Crenatula when the hinge-plate is not exposed. Perna quadrata
may therefore be regarded as the type of a group of inequivalve
transverse shells, whose relation to the typical Perna may be
compared with that which certain aberrant species of the kindred
genera Inoceramus and Gervillia bear to their respective typical
groups. Of the Jurassic forms may be instanced the large Ger-
villia Hartmanni and G. tortuosa, compared with the flattened sub-
equivalve species of the same genus ; in these and other instances
the inequality of the valves becomes more marked with advance of
growth. The very perfect preservation of the hinge-plate, together
with the condition of the tests of associated bivalves, forbids the
supposition that the thinness of the test has been produced by
the removal of thick nacreous layers from the inner surface.

Dimensions. — Length of our largest specimen in the direction
of the hinge-line 5£ inches, height 3| inches, convexity of the
larger valve 2 inches.

Geological position and localities. — The specimen figured in the
'Mineral Conchology ' is from the Cornbrash of Bulwick ; our own
specimens are from the freestone portion of the Inferior Oolite
near Nailsworth, from a quarry in Woodchester Park, worked for
the purposes of the Roman Catholic Monastery; specimens have
also been obtained in the freestone quarries of Scar Hill in the
parish of Minchinhampton, thus affording an additional instance
of that general resemblance between the Testacea of the Cornbrash
and the Inferior Oolite, which has been noticed by Prof. Buck-
man in a paper on the Cornbrash of Cirencester, and which forms
a part of the Proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists' Club.
The exact position of Perna quadrata in the freestone is the two
uppermost beds of that rock, immediately underlying the Oolite
marl, or in its absence, the cream-coloured hard argillaceous lime-
stone with Nerinaas which replaces it in the valley of Nailsworth.

121

On a New Genus of Fossil Cidaridae, with a Synopsis of the
Species included therein. By THOMAS WRIGHT, M.D., F.R.S.E.

NOTWITHSTANDING the many new generic sections introduced
into the classification of Echinoderms, by MM. Agassiz and
Desor, and the important light thrown by these savans on our
knowledge of the numerous species of this class contained in
European collections, still the progress of discovery renders it
imperative on palaeontologists to modify from time to time
many of the opinions put forward by these authors in their
' Catalogue raisonneV When the amount of real work done by
them is taken into account, in a field which was then compara-
tively unknown, the wonder is, not that mistakes or oversights
should have been committed, but that so much good work
under the circumstances should have been attained, which will
bear the most severe criticism, and remain as it was left, a monu-
ment of the genius and industry of the authors.

In our memoirs on the Cidaridae of the Oolites, we have
figured and described three species, Goniapygus perforatus, Pe-
dina Etheridgii and Pedina Bakeri ; the true generic position of
these forms seemed to us uncertain at the time our papers were
passing through the press, as they exhibited characters which
did not assimilate with either of the generic divisions of the
' Catalogue raisonneV Our materials did not then justify us in
proposing a separate genus for their reception ; the discovery,
however, of an interesting series of new congeneric forms has
now enabled us to rectify our determination, and propose the
genus Hemipedina for the group, to which we have added a
synopsis of the species included therein.

HEMIPEDINA, Wright, 1855.

This new genus is composed of small, neat, and highly orna-
mented Urchins, much depressed on their upper surface, and
with a flat or slightly concave base. The ambulacral areas are
narrow and straight ; the pores in the poriferous zones are ar-
ranged in single pairs ; the interambulacral areas are in general
more than double the width of the ambulacral, with two, four,
or six rows of tubercles in general arranged abreast on the same
tubercular plate. The tubercles arc perforated, and set on mam-
nullary eminences with smooth uncrenulated summits; one row
of tubercles in general only extends from the peristome to the
disc ; the other rows, when there are four and six rows in the

K2

•

122 Dr. T. Wright on a new Genus of Fossil Cidaridse,

area, stop short at the. equator, or between the equator and the
disc ; the intertubercular space on the upper surface of the test is
therefore in general wide, and covered with a small miliary gra-
nulation. The apical disc is large ; the genital and ocular plates
are expanded and foliated. The mouth-opening is of moderate
dimensions, and the peristome is divided into ten nearly equal-
sized lobes. The spines are long, slender, and needle-shaped ;
those that are known, equal at least the diameter of the test, and
their surface is sculptured with delicate longitudinal lines.

Hemipedina is related to Diadema in having the pores ar-
ranged in the zones in single pairs and the tubercles perforated ;
but it is distinguished from Diadema by the absence of crenu-
lations on the summits of the mammillary eminences. It is
related to Pedina in possessing perforated and uncrenulated
tubercles ; but it is distinguished from that genus in having the
pores in the zones in single pairs (Pedina having the pores in
triple oblique pairs like Echinus), in having the elements of the
apical disc more largely developed, and in the species being nearly
all small and depressed forms. Hemipedina is related to Echin-
opsis in possessing uncrenulated and perforated tubercles, with
the pores in pairs ; but it is distinguished from the latter by the
narrowness of the ambulacral areas, the depressed form of the
test (Echinopsis being high and inflated), the form of the mouth-
opening, and the deep decagonal lobes of the peristome (that of
Echinopsis being almost deprived of these incisions), together
with the greater size and development of the elements of the
apical disc.

Hemipedina, as far as we at present know, is composed of
Jurassic species, which commence in the lower Lias and extend
into the Coral Rag, each stage possessing its own specific forms.
The following synopsis of the British species now before us will
be figured and described in detail in our Monograph on the
British Oolitic Cidaridse.

A. Species from the Lias.

Hemipedina Bechei, Wright.

Cidaris Bechei, Broderip, Geol. Proc. ii. 202.

Diadema Bechei, Agassiz, Morris's Catalogue of British Fossils,
1st ed. p. 51.

Test small, much crushed, and covered over with spines ; ambu-
lacra with two rows of tubercles; interambulacra with four
or six rows of tubercles ; spines long, slender and needle-
shaped, T80ths of an inch in length, with longitudinal lines on

with a Synopsis of the Species included therein. 123

the surface. This appears to be identical with the type-spe-
cimen in the Museum of the Geological Society.

Locality. — Lower Lias, Lyme Regis.
Coll. J. S. Bowerbank, Esq.

Hemipedina Bowerbankii, Wright, nov. sp.

Test crushed, l^th of an inch in diameter ; ambulacra! areas nar-
row, with two rows of marginal tubercles rather smaller than
those in the interambulacra, a tubercle on every alternate
plate ; interambulacral areas wide, with six rows of tubercles
abreast, surrounded by a delicate scrobicular circle; spines
shorter and thicker (^ths of an inch in length) than those of
H. Bechei, although the test is much larger, deeply sculptured
with longitudinal lines.

Locality. — Lower Lias, Lyme Regis.
Coll. J. S. Bowerbank, Esq.

Hemipedina Jardinii, Wright, nov. sp.

Test small, much depressed; ambulacral areas wide, with two
rows of marginal tubercles which extend from the peristome
to the disc ; interambulacral areas with two rows of tubercles
set near the poriferous zones, from eleven to twelve tubercles
in each row, a delicate scrobicular circle of granules around
each, and a naked intertubercular space in the centre ; mouth-
opening small, situated in a depression ; peristome decagonal ;
base finely radiated in consequence of the size and regularity
of the interambulacral tubercles.

Locality. — Marlstone near Ilminster, Somersetshire, and Bre-
don Hill, Gloucestershire.

Coll of the late H. Strickland, Esq., and Dr. Wright.

Hemipedina Etheridgii, Wright.

PedinaEtheridgii, Wright, Annals of Nat. Hist. S. 2. vol. xiii. p. 3 15.
pi. 1. fig. 5 a-d.

Test small, circular, depressed ; ambulacral areas narrow, with
six small perforate tubercles below, and a double row of mar-
ginal granules above ; interambulacral areas with two rows of
tubercles, seven in each row ; apical disc large and petaloidal ;
mouth-opening small; peristome decagonal; lobes nearly
equal.

Locality.— Upper Lias, Ihiun>u T.
Coll. Dr. Wright.

124 Dr. T. Wright on a new Genus of Fossil Cidaridse,

B. Species from the Inferior Oolite.

Hemipedina Bakeri, Wright.

Pedina Bakeri, Wright, Annals of Nat. Hist. S. 2. vol. xiii. p. 312.
pi. 1 . fig. 4 a-c.

Test circular, depressed ; ambulacral areas very narrow, with two
rows of small tubercles set so far apart that they form a zig-
zag row ; interambulacral areas with two rows of rather large
prominent tubercles, five in a row; apical disc with a pro-
minent anal rim ; mouth-opening large ; peristome deeply
decagonal.

Locality. — Pea-grit, Inferior Oolite, Crickley Hill.
Coll. Dr. Wright : a single specimen.

Hemipedina perforata, Wright.

Goniopygus ? perforates, Wright, Annals of Nat. Hist. S. 2. vol. viii.
p. 267. pi. 6. fig. 5a-b.

Test small, circular and depressed ; ambulacral areas with two
rows of small tubercles which extend from the peristome to
the disc ; interambulacral areas with two rows of tubercles,
seven to eight in each row, three or four secondary tubercles
between the primary rows at the base ; surface of the plates
covered with numerous coarse miliary granules ; mouth-open-
ing large; peristome rather deeply decagonal; lobes nearly
equal in size ; apical disc large and foliated.

Locality. — Pea-grit, Inferior Oolite, Crickley Hill.
Coll. Dr. Wright.

Hemipedina tetragramma, Wright, nov. sp.

Test circular, -j%ths of an inch in diameter ; ambulacral areas
narrow, with two marginal rows of small nearly equal-sized
tubercles extending from the peristome to the disc ; interam-
bulacral areas with two rows of primary tubercles, about four-
teen in each row, and two rows of secondary tubercles, ten in
each row, extending from the peristome to nearly the upper
surface ; mouth-opening small, situated in a depression ;
peristome decagonal, unequally lobed.

Locality. — Pea-grit, Crickley Hill.
Coll. Dr. Wright.

Hemipedina Waterhousei, Wright, nov. sp.
Test small, pentagonal, rather inflated at the sides ; ambulacral
areas with two rows of small tubercles extending from the
peristome to the disc ; interambulacral areas with two rows of

with a Synopsis of the Species included therein. 125

tubercles, eight in a row ; scrobicular circles neatly defined ;
mouth -opening small ; apical disc narrow and prominent.

Locality. — Pea-grit, Inferior Oolite, Crickley Hill.
Coll. Dr. Wright.

Hemipedina Bonci, Wright, nov. sp.

Test small, pentagonal, depressed; ambulacral areas with two
marginal rows of close-set tubercles; interambulacral areas
with one entire row and four short rows of tubercles, which
extend only as far as the equator; tubercles of both areas
about the same size ; base flat ; mouth moderate in dimen-
sions ; peristome unequally decagonal ; apical disc absent.

Locality. — Pea-grit, Crickley Hill.
Coll. Dr. Wright.

C. Species from the Great Oolite and Cornbrash.
Hemipedina Davidsoni} nov. sp.

Test much depressed, 1 inch in diameter ; ambulacral areas with
two rows of marginal tubercles very regular in their arrange-
ment throughout ; interambulacral areas wide, with two rows
of primary tubercles, fourteen in a row, and two rows of
secondary tubercles which extend beyond the equator, between
the former, and two rows of smaller tubercles between the
main rows and the poriferous zones, so that at the equator
there arc six rows of tubercles abreast, whilst on the upper
surface there are only two rows ; mouth-opening small, in a
concave depression ; peristome decagonal and nearly equally
lobed ; apical disc absent.

Locality. — The sandy beds of the Great Oolite, Minchin-
hampton.

Coll. Dr. Wright : only one specimen known.

Hemipedina Woodwardii, Wright, nov. sp.

Test circular, much depressed ; ambulacral areas narrow, with
two rows of small tubercles below and extending as far as the
equator, diminishing to granules on the upper part of the
areas; interambulacral areas with two rows of rather large
primary tubercles, eight in a row, and two rows of secondary
tubercles, three to four in each row, which scarcely reach the
equator, the upper part of the intertubercular space being
filled with a small, abundant miliary granulation ; apical disc

126 Dr. T. Wright on a new Genus of Fossil Cidaridse,

large, anal rim prominent ; mouth-opening small ; peristomc
decagonal, nearly equal-lobed.

Locality. — Cornbrash, Wiltshire.

Coll. British Museum, from Dr. Smith's collection ; Dr. Wright.

Hemipedina tuberculosa, Wright, nov. sp.

Test elevated, subconoidal ?, the precise form unknown ; ambu-
lacral areas with two rows of basal semitubercles raised on
very prominent bosses diminishing rapidly in size into coarse
granules above ; interambulacral areas with two rows of large
tubercles set on very prominent bosses, with scrobicular circles
of coarse granules surrounding the areolas ; two rows of small
secondary tubercles close to the poriferous zones from the
peristome to the equator, and three or four at the base of the
intertubercular space ; upper surface enveloped in the matrix ;
apical aperture large.

Locality. — Coral Rag, Wiltshire.
Coll. British Museum.

Foreign Species of the genus Hemipedina.
Hemipedina seriale, Wright.

Diadema seriale, Agassiz ; Leymerie, Mem. de la Societd Geologique
de France, tome ii. p. 330. pi. 24. fig. 1, 1839 ; Agassiz and
Desor's Cat. raisonne des Echinides, 3 scr. tome vi. p. 348.

Test hemispherical, subglobose above, flat below; ambulacral
areas with two rows of tubercles nearly as large as those of
the interambulacra ; interambulacral areas with six rows of
tubercles abreast at the equator, diminishing to four and two
rows above ; a few secondary tubercles unequally distributed ;
mouth-opening small ; peristome slightly decagonal.

Locality. — Inferior Lias, France.
Coll. M. Michelin.

Hemipedina Woodwardii, Wright.

This species occurs in the Cornbrash of the Marquise, near
Boulogne-sur-Mer. In one of the specimens before us the spines
are preserved ; the primary spines are not very long, scarcely the
length of the diameter of the test; the secondary spines arc
short and needle-shaped ; the surface of both kinds is covered
with fine longitudinal lines.

Locality. — The Cornbrash near Boulogne-sur-Mer.

Coll. British Museum.

with a Synopsis of the Species included therein. 127

Hemipedina Nattheimense, Wright.

Echinopsis Nattheimense, Quenstedt, Handbuch der Petrefacten-

kunde, p. 582. pi. 49. fig. 37.

Locality. — White Jura, Nattheim.

Coll. British Museum. At this moment the specimen is not
at our disposal. We shall give a diagnosis of this species in our
Monograph.

Hemipedina Scemanni, Wright, nov. sp.

Test small, hemispherical ; ambulacra with two rows of tubercles ;
interambulacral areas with one row of primary and two rows
of secondary tubercles, the primary tubercles alternating with
the secondary tubercles, not placed abreast as in most of the
species ; tubercles of both areas nearly the same size.

Locality. — Coral Rag, Commercy, Meuse.

Coll. Dr. Wright : sent by M. Louis Soemann of Paris.

VOL. II.

128

On some new Species o/ Hemipedina /ro/w the Oolites.
By THOMAS WRIGHT, M.D., F.R.S.E.

SINCE the publication of our paper in the August Number of
the 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' on the new
genus Hemipedina and the Synopsis of the species included
therein, our friend S. P. Woodward, Esq., has kindly sent us
three new English forms of this group, one found in the cal-
careous grit of Berkshire, and two in the Kimmeridge clay of
Bucks ; our friend Thomas Davidson, Esq., has likewise com-
municated a figure of one found by M. Bouchard Chantereaux
some years ago in the Kimmeridge clay of Boulogne-sur-Mer ;
we lose no time therefore in recording these additions to the
Oolitic fauna, at the same time returning our hearty thanks
to the kind friends who have so liberally communicated the
specimens.

A. Species from the Calcareous Grit.
Hemipedina Marchamensis, Wright, nov. sp.

Test large, and depressed ; ambulacral areas narrow, with two
rows of marginal tubercles, nearly as large as those of the
interambulacra, extending regularly and without interruption
from the peristome to the apical disc, and separated by a zig-
zag line of small granules down the centre, the areas retain-
ing a nearly uniform width throughout ; poriferous zones form
a slightly waved line, from every three pairs of pores being set
slightly oblique to the line of the zones ; interambulacral areas
four times the width of the ambulacral, with eight rows of
tubercles at the equator, each tubercular plate supporting
four nearly equal-sized tubercles abreast ; bosses prominent ;
areolas surrounded with incomplete circlets of small granules ;
mouth-opening less than one-third the diameter of the test ;
peristome unequally decagonal; five jaws, in situ, each jaw
having two broad flat central ridges, and two oblique mar-
ginal ridges with two intervening depressions ; teeth long, and
obliquely truncated at the points.

Dimensions. — Transverse diameter 2T9TT inches; height ly5^
inch ?

Locality. — The calcareous grit of Marcham, Berks.
Coll. The Hon. R. Marsham.

Dr. T. Wright on some new species of Heiniptdiiia. 129

B. Species from the Kimmeridge Clay.

Hemipedina Morrisii, \Vrigh t, nov. sp.

Form and size unknown ; test small ; ambulacra! areas with t \\ < .
rows of regular prominent marginal tubercles gradually dimi-
nishing in size from the base to the apex of the areas, and
separated by a zigzag line of small granules down the centre ;
poriferous zones slightly waved ; pores large, the pairs sepa-
rated by thin septa ; interambulacral areas more than three
times the width of the ambulacral, with six rows of tubercles
at the equator, each plate supporting three nearly equal-sized
tubercles abreast ; bosses prominent ; areolas surrounded by
incomplete circlets of small granules.

Spines referred to this species long, round, slender, and sculp-
tured with delicate longitudinal lines ; articulating cavity small,
with a smooth rim ; head thick, with a thin prominent finely
milled ring ; body long, much more slender than the head.

Locality. — Kimmeridge clay, Hartwell, Bucks.

Coll. Professor Morris.

Hemipedina Cunningtonii, Wright, nov. sp.

Form unknown, upwards of an inch in diameter; ambulacral
areas with two marginal rows of very small tubercles rather
irregular in their mode of arrangement; poriferous zones
nearly straight ; interambulacral areas three times the width
of the ambulacral, with two rows of tubercles situated on the
zonal half of the tubercular plates, leaving thereby a wide in-
tertubercular space which is filled with 8 to 10 rows of small
granules ; the bosses large and prominent, and the tubercles
of a proportionate size; areolas surrounded by a complete
circlet of small granules the same size as those filling the
middle of the areas.
Locality. — Kimmeridge clay near Aylesbury. Collected by

Professor Morris.

Coll. British Museum.

Foreign Species from the Kimmeridge Clay.

Hemipedina Bouchardii, Wright, nov. sp.

Test large, depressed; ambulacral areas with two rows of re-
gular marginal tubercles extending without interruption from
the peristome to the apical disc, and separated by a median
zigzag line of small granules ; poriferous zones straight ; intri •-
ambulacral areas three times the width of the ambulacral, with

130 Dr. T. Wright on some new species of Hemipediiia.

ten rows of tubercles at the equator, each tubercular plate hav-
ing five tubercles abreast ; areolas surrounded by circlets of
small granules ; spines slender, sculptured with longitudinal
lines.

Dimensions. — Transverse diameter 2^ inches ?
Locality. — Kimmeridge clay, Boulogne-sur-Mer. Collected
by M. Bouchard Chantereaux.

Coll. M. Bouchard Chantereaux at Boulogne,

In the present state of our knowledge it would be premature
to suggest subdivisions, but it is clear that we have two distinct
types in the genus Hemipedina : 1st, those with two rows of
large tubercles, and a wide intertubercular granulated space in
the middle of the interambulacral areas; and 2nd, those with
four, six, eight or ten rows of nearly equal-sized tubercles in
these areas at the equator.

131

Note on the Subgenm Limea, Bronn.
By JOHN LYCETT, Esq.

READ 28TH AUGUST 1855.

THE present note is intended to direct attention to a peculiarity
connected with the external surface of Limea, trivial in its zoo-
logical importance, but which is calculated from its persistency
to be a useful aid to the palaeontologist in the absence of hinge
characters.

The subgenus Limea has hitherto been distinguished from
Lima solely by the presence of a series of parallel teeth upon
each side of the hinge-plate, a feature which cannot be ascer-
tained in the majority of specimens ; and the only British species
of Limea hitherto described has so little in its general aspect to
separate it from the young condition of Lima duplicata (a shell
which is associated with it in the same beds), that any clear ex-
ternal distinction which can be ascertained between them is
worthy of notice, more especially when it will also be found to
characterize Limea as a subgenus.

It is in the auricles that the distinctive feature resides, and it
is immediately connected with the hinge-plate beneath : it will
be found that the radiating lines which usually ornament the
surfaces of the auricles in the Pectens and Limse also exist in
Limea, but that in the latter they abruptly disappear towards the
outer angle of each auricle, leaving a small triangular smooth
area, which is traversed transversely downwards and inwards by
a few elevations ; these are placed immediately over and corre-
spond to the grooves which separate the teeth upon the hinge-
plate. In all well-preserved specimens this kind of surface is
visible upon one or both of the auricles, its distinctness depend-
ing upon the condition of the specimen with reference to fossi-
lization and the greater or less prominence of the internal
features.

Limea duplicata is abundant in the shelly oolite of Leek-
hampton Hill ; there is also another more ornamented but un-
described species higher in the same formation, and found at
many localities in the upper Ragstones of the Cotteswold Int'i -
rior Oolite. The peculiarity of the auricles is observable equally
in both these specie.

VOL. II.

Remarks on the Inferior Oolite and Lias in parts of Northampton-
shire, compared with the same Formations in Gloucestershire.
By the Rev. P. B. BRODIE, M.A., F.G.S.

HAVING, at a late meeting of the Cotteswold Naturalists' Club,
given a vivd voce account of the Inferior Oolite and Lias in a
part of Northamptonshire; at the request of the Secretary, I
have prepared a more detailed description for our ' Proceedings/
It is well known that certain beds in the Inferior Oolite in the
neighbourhood of Northampton have been extensively worked
for the ironstone which largely prevails in it thereabouts, though
I believe it is not now so generally used for (economical pur-
poses as it was formerly. This was certainly the case with
those quarries which I examined near Blisworth. They are not
worked to any great depth, and occupy the higher ground in the
district ; the strata consist of sandy ferruginous oolitic stone
containing a few imperfect casts of shells, though the greater
part of the mass is unfossiliferous : the top beds are coarse, and
contain impressions of shells; the lower ones are more com-
pact, and are composed chiefly of ironstone. The Inferior Oolite
here appears to be of no great thickness, and differs materially
from that of the Cotteswolds. The hills which are occupied by
it near Blisworth are comparatively low, and form a striking
contrast to those in Gloucestershire partly composed of the same
formation. The fossils I obtained were a large Cardium, a Tri-
ffonia, a Pecten, Terebratulce, and a few Univalves. Fossils are
much more abundant at Northampton, though only occurring
there in the form of casts.

Upper Lias. — From the position of the Inferior Oolite, the
Upper Lias was to be looked for at a low level at the base of
these hills, and I accordingly found it in a brick-pit in the
valley at Bugbrook between Weedon and Blisworth, below
the level of the Railway at no great distance from the Kilsby
tunnel. Beds of Lias clay and shale are used for brick-making
with the usual Upper Lias fossils, among which Ammonites
serpentinus and Belemnites were very prevalent. The clay is
traversed by a thin, continuous layer of limestone, which, as
1 anticipated, turned out to be the ' fish bed/ identical litholo-
gically with the same band in Gloucestershire, and full of innu-
merable fragments of fish (though I could discover none entire)
and coprolites, with some specimens of Inoceramus dubius and
t races of Sepia.

On the Inferior Oolite and Lias of Northamptonshire, fyc. 133

This ' fish bed ' has been noticed by Mr. Morris in parts of
Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire on the Great Northern Rail-
way, and it is very probable that it will be detected in other
places where the Upper Lias occurs in situ, since it is rarely
wanting, in its course through Somersetshire and Gloucester-
shire, at the lower part of this deposit. In fact, this ' fish and
insect bed ' seems as persistent in the Upper Lias as the ' Insect
limestone ' is in the lower.

The section at Bugbrook is as follows in descending order : —

ft. in.

1. Rubbly white limestone in detached bits, in dark blue shale, with "I ^ Q

numerous fragments of Ammonites /

2. Thin-bedded limestone (' fish bed ') ; white externally, inside has ^

a green tinge with white specks ; it has a laminated fracture, [ Q 3
and splits readily when weathered ; it does not occur in nodules, f '
but in a regular thin band in the clay J

3. Thin, coarse, dark-coloured slaty stone, very rough, covered

with spines, teeth and plates of Echinoderms, resting on the
marlstone.

The thickness of the Upper Lias visible at this spot did not
exceed a few feet; it is succeeded by the Marlstone with the
usual fossils. I could not determine the total thickness of the
Upper Lias, as there was no section exposed, but there must be a
considerable mass of clay between the Inferior Oolite and the
small section at Bugbrook, though probably not half so thick as
the Upper Lias in Gloucestershire, which, according to Mr. Hull
of the Geological Survey, amounts at least to 200 feet in many
parts of the Cotteswolds.

These strata, as well as those of the Inferior Oolite, are per-
fectly horizontal. When the Railway was in progress, the top
beds of the Lower Lias just below the Marlstone were exposed
at Kilsby, and were as usual very rich in fossils, similar for the
most part to those found in the equivalent strata at Campden,
and Hewlett's Hill near Cheltenham.

The summit of Edge Hill in Warwickshire is capped by the
Marlstone, the Upper Lias having been denuded; but small
boulders of the ' fish bed/ containing scales of fish and ' Inoce-
ramus dubius* are of frequent occurrence in the vale below,
showing that it formerly occupied its normal position above the
Marlstone in that district.

At Alderton, in Gloucestershire, the following strata were ex-
posed below the ' fish bed ' in April 1856, which seemed to be
richer in fossils than usual, and therefore I have noted them
here, which will enable the reader to compare them with those
at Bugbrook above mentioned.

Brown and dark shales with many Ammonites, Inoceramus

M M

134 On the Inferior Oolite and Lias of Northamptonshire 3

Rostellaria (abundant), Cidaris*, Nucula, Avicula, and
Aptychus. These are succeeded by two or tbree blue marly
bands divided by shale, which contain a univalve like a Ceri-
thium, Avicula, Nucula, Pholadomya, Pecten, Astarte, and Am-
monites. A light blue, slightly indurated marl reposes imme-
diately upon the Marlstone. The total thickness of these clays
and marls forming the base of the Upper Lias is about 30 feet.

* A similar small species of Cidaris ( C. minuta) occurs abundantly with
spines attached in the Upper Lias shale at Gretton near Winchcomb, where
a fine specimen of a Lepidotus was lately discovered in the * fish bed,' and
is now in the collection of my friend Dr. Wright.

135

Notes on the Genus Quenstedtia. By JOHN LYCETT, Esq.
READ 16xH SEPTEMBER 1856.

THIS genus of Lamellibranchiate Conchifera, described in the
Great Oolite Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society, was
founded upon two shells figured in Prof. Phillips's c Geology
of Yorkshire/ under the names of Pullastra oblita and Psam-
mobia l<Kvigatay the former of them being chosen as the type of
the genus.

Of Pullastra obUta, I have succeeded in clearing and exposing
the hinge of each of the valves in many instances, and am per-
fectly conversant with its characters, which will be found correctly
described in the Monograph alluded to. The siphonal, pallia!
and muscular scars were ascertained in a cast from the York-
shire Dogger, and upon the characters supplied by these satis-
factory materials the genus was founded. Specimens with the
test preserved, and which admit of the hinge characters being
exposed, are obtained in the upper portion of the Inferior Oolite
of the Cotteswolds ; a single young example of the species only
having been afforded by the Great Oolite of Minchinhampton.
In the Great Oolite Monograph it was stated to be allied to
Psammobia, but distinguished from it by the dental characters of
the hinge, and by the absence of an elevated nymphal plate to
sustain the ligament. The general resemblance which the aspect
of this shell presents to the Mactromya mactroides of Agassiz
had not been overlooked, but as the figures of Mactromya mac-
troides, in the ' Etudes critiques ' of that author, consist for the
most part only of casts, which afford no information respecting
the hinge, it was considered unadvisable to allude to the pro-
bable identity, as it was certain that Quenstedtia possessed no
affinity either with Mactra or with the family of the Myada, and
the shells of Phillips had priority as species. This supposed
identity of Quenstedtia oblita with the Mactromya mactroides of
Agassiz, has recently been fully confirmed in the publication by
M. Terquem of an elaborate work, with plates, entitled, ' Obser-
vations sur les Etudes critiques des Mollusqucs fossiles, com-
prenant la Monographic des Myaires de M. Agassiz.' In this
work the author has figured and described the Mactromya mac-

136 Mr. J. Lycett on the genus Quenstedtia.

troides; the figures representing the shell and cast of the
interior under different aspects : upon the same plate (No. 5) are
placed figures of the recent Psammobia vespertina for comparison ;
the conclusion drawn by the author from this comparison is that
Mactromya mactroides is a Psammobia. It will be observed
that in these figures, the author has altogether omitted one of
the most essential points of comparison necessary to establish a
generic identity, the hinges not being exhibited; he has, however,
given casts of the interiors of the valves in both the shells, in-
cluding the siphonal, pallial and muscular scars, but these afford
no information respecting the hinge. The author arranges Mac-
tromya mactroides with M. tennis, M. brevis and M. litterata, all
of which group he believes to be Psammobia', he also states that
the group has a small cardinal tooth in each valve, which he
regards as an abnormal variation from the dentition of Psammobia
vespertina, which has two teeth in each valve. As the author
does not state expressly that he has cleared and exposed the
hinge in each valve of Mactromya mactroides, and as he is careful
to record similar facts relating to other genera, I am led to infer
that his knowledge of the hinge in the shell in question has
been derived either from the partial exposure exhibited by the
valves when in contact, or from other imperfect evidence. How-
ever this may be, it is certain that the hinge is altogether unlike
that of Psammobia : to avoid the trouble of reference, I subjoin
the hinge characters of the fossil shell : —

QUENSTEDTIA. Hinge in the left valve consisting of one obtuse,
oblong and transverse tooth, slightly compressed from above, situated
beneath the umbo and received into a corresponding oblong pit in
the hinge-plate of the opposite valve.

There is therefore no tooth in the right valve and consequently
no pit in the left valve. This kind of hinge, which so nearly
•resembles that of the fossil genus Myoconcha, is altogether
^distinct from that of Psammobia, with its two grooved, diverging
hinge-teeth in each valve.

The ligament is received into a narrow, lengthened and deep
area posterior to the umbones; — the shell is therefore destitute of
the elevated nymphal plate of Psammobia.

The siphonal flexure, as may be observed in the figure given
by M. Terquem, is less considerable than in Psammobia, and,
unlike that genus, it is united posteriorly to the pallial line only
at its extremity, so that with the pallial line it forms a narrow
tongue, the upper and lower borders of which are limited by the
gradual convergence of the two lines : in Psammobia the siphonal
and pallial lines are united in a position nearly vertical beneath
the umbo, and proceed posteriorly united into a single line. The

Mr. J. Lycett on the genus Quenstedtia. 137

aggregate of these characters, it must be admitted, fully justifies
the separation of Quenstedtia from Psammobia; and it yet remains
to be demonstrated that true Psammobia are found in any rocks
older than the Tertiary system, none of the so-called .Jurassic
Psammobia having hitherto exhibited the characters of that genus
free from ambiguity.

139

Remarks on the Lias of Barrow in Leicestershire, compared with
the lower part of that Formation in Gloucestershire, Worcester-
shire, and Warwickshire. By the Rev. P. B. BRODIE, M.A.,
F.G.S., Vice-President of the Warwickshire Naturalists' Field
Club.

READ 27TH JANUARY 1857.

«

DURING a late visit to the well-known Lias quarries at Barrow-
on-Soar, I was able to compare the various sections there
exposed with those in the equivalent beds in Warwickshire,
Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire ; and, although I could de-
tect no remains of Insects, nor even a trace of them *, the posi-
tion of the strata, and their lithological characters, are identical
with the true Insect limestones in the counties above men-
tioned.

As Mr. Jukes has already described the lower Lias at Barrow
and the neighbourhood in ' Potter's Charnwood Forest/ it will
be needless for me to repeat those sections ; but it will be neces-
sary to give one not referred to by him, taken from an upper
quarry of Mr. Lee's, in order to identify the beds, — where we
have, in descending order,

ft. in.

1 . Alluvial drift, sand and red clay/with rolled boulders of Lias 8 0

2. Blue shale 3 0

{Hard blue limestone (Rummels), with young Plagiostoma gi- "j
gantea, Lima rudis, and numerous Ammonites, similar to > 0
the Plagiostoma-bed in Gloucestershire J

4. Thick blue shale 4 0

6. Blue limestone (representative of Insect-bed) 0 6

(I. Black shale 1 2

7. Limestone (representative of Insect-bed) 0 6

8. Black shale 1 0

{Blue nodular and crystalline limestone (top hurls) — a very "j

peculiar band, resembling a bed near to the 'frestone ' of > 0 6

Warwickshire, as at Grafton in that county J

10. Shale.

Bottom of quarry. 19 5

As Mr. Jukes truly observes, the strata vary considerably
even in adjacent quarries — certain beds thin out and others come

* Although, in the short examination I was able to give the Barrow
limestones, I could discover no Insect remains, nor could hear of any
rvi-r having been found, it is possible that a closer research would detect
them.

VOL. II. N

140 Rev. P. B. Brodie on the Lias

in; thus, in Mr. Ellis's large pit on the other side of Barrow,
there is at least 30 feet of shale above the 'rummels? No. 3 in
section, and there are more courses of limestone, especially those
which appear to represent the Insect limestone. It is worthy
of note, that while the Rummels No. 3 is evidently the equivalent
of the Plagiostoma-bed in Gloucestershire and elsewhere, it is
succeeded at once by the beds of Lias, which in Gloucestershire,
Worcestershire, and in some portions of Warwickshire, occur
much lower in the series, the intervening strata being entirely
wanting in that part of Leicestershire. Most of the quarries
do not exceed 30 feet in depth, but some have been opened to a
depth of 42 feet, the lowest stratum being a bed of blue marly
clay. The limestones are used in Leicestershire for the same
economical purposes as the Warwickshire ' paving-stones/ and
are equally adapted for this object ; but they do not seem to be
employed for making hydraulic lime, as they are in the quarries
belonging to my friends Messrs. Greaves and Kershaw at Wilm-
cote, near Stratford-on-Avon.

In places there are several small faults, and in one pit the
lower strata were thrown up so as to form a complete saddle, of
limited extent, at right angles to Mount Sorrel, not far off, —
showing on a small scale what the effect of such a dislocation
would be on a large one.

Except in No. 3 of section, shells are scarce ; below this, I
observed only a few Ammonites planorbis and Aptychus, and a
long shell (Meleagrina ?) common in the shale at Brockeridge
Common, near Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, and there asso-
ciated with numerous and beautiful specimens of the same Am-
monite.

The fine Saurians and Fish for which this district has been
long famous occur more or less in all the shales and limestones,
though some courses are richer than others ; and for the last
two years very few have been met with. In Mr. Lee's extensive
collection, the genus Dapedium was by far the most abundant,
many of which were quite perfect ; and among several fine fish,
I noticed one nearly 2 feet in length, belonging to a different
genus, and in a remarkably fine state of preservation.

The only Crustacean I observed was the Eryon Barroviensis
(M'Coy), which was small and ill-preserved, and by no means
equal to the large and perfect specimens met with occasionally
at Bidford in Warwickshire*.

I did not detect any remains of plants.

* This species is not uncommon in the Insect limestone at Strensham
in Worcestershire (where the finest Insects have been obtained, but the
pits are now, unfortunately, closed), and Forthampton, near Tewkesbury,
where they are generally well preserved, though invariably of small size.

of Barrow in Leicestershire. 141

At Wilmcote in Warwickshire there are indications of nu-
merous faults (which were lately pointed out to me by Mr.
Kershaw), in all directions round the district, more than are
generally supposed. Thus the ' firestone/ which is the lowest
and hardest stratum worked, crops-out at various points and
dips at a considerahle angle, on the higher ground ; and the
several bands of 'Insect limestone' and shale lie in a basin
formed by the outcrop of this lower bed. The ' Plagiostoma-
bed,' containing P. gigantea, Cardinia ovalis, and Astarte lurida,
occurs in places in its normal position ; but there appears to be
no trace of the underlying Saurian beds, which are of consider-
able thickness in Gloucestershire, and their absence is to be
noted both at Wilmcote and Barrow, which implies a great
thinning-out of the lower Lias in that direction. This holds
good, at all events, with respect to the lower Lias at the latter
place, where there are fewer bands of ' Insect limestone/ but at
the former they are more numerous, not less than eight courses
divided by thick shale ; and as the ' Insect-bed' in Gloucestershire
is often confined to one, or at most two layers, only a few inches
thick, the increased number of ' Insect-beds' in Warwickshire
may represent the ' Saurian beds' in Gloucestershire and other
places, with which they were perhaps coeval in point of time.

The ' firestone' above referred to is a hard, crystalline lime-
stone, full of oysters and spines of Echini, from 3 to 7 inches
thick. In Warwickshire it always underlies the last bed of
' Insect limestone/ but does not occur in Leicestershire.

I have only seen two specimens of the large Eryon from Warwickshire,
one of which is in my own collection, and the other in that of my friend
Mr. Kershaw. I am indebted to his kindness for another fine but appa-
rently distinct species of this genus.

The largest measures 6 inches in length from the top of the head to the
extremity of the tail, and a little more than 2 inches in breadth in the
widest portion of the body.

li'.

On the Sands intermediate the Inferior Oolite and Lias of the
Cutteswold Hills , compared with a similar Deposit upon the
Coast of Yorkshire. By JOHN LYCETT, Esq.

READ 28™ JULY 1857.

MY friend Professor Buckman having invited me to throw to-
gether some geological conclusions to serve as a foundation for
a discussion, I select a subject which has already received some
consideration at the hands of the Club, and which, from its local
position, and a difference of opinion which has arisen with respect
to the zoological affinities of its fauna, seems to claim some
further examination. I allude to the series of micaceous sands
and marls which are situated intermediate the Inferior Oolite
and Lias, and which are known to English geologists generally
as the Sands of the Inferior Oolite, and to continental cultivators
of the science as the Jurensis marls ; the Gres Supraliassique ;
the Hydroxyde Oolithique ; the superior portion of the Upper
Lias; the Lias Zeta of Quenstedt, &c. Dr. Wright* and Mr.
Hullf have each recently exemplified this deposit in copious
and well-known memoirs ; but as regards the Cotteswold Na-
turalists' Club, the present is the first communication which has
been presented to it in a written form. The conclusions arrived
at by the authors above referred to are based solely upon zoo-
logical evidence, and are therefore liable to be affected by sub-
sequent additions, which may tend to alter the relative propor-
tions of Oolitic or of Liassic species found in the deposit ; and
as some interesting accessions to its fauna have recently been
made, more especially in the lower fossiliferous zone, which was
but little known until within these few months, I present a
notice of them, with the remark, that although as contributions
they possess some value, they by no means afford a triumph to
any foregone theoretical conclusions ; — that they may be com-
pared rather to a portion of the materials forming a part of the
structure of a buried edifice whose proportions are not yet fully
developed, and of whose full history so much yet remains to be

* " On the so-called Sands of the Inferior Oolite." Journ. Geol. Soc.
1856.

t Mem. of the Geol. Surv. of Gr. Brit. " The country around Chelten-
ham." 1857.

Mr. J. Lycctt on the so- called Sands of the Inferior Oolite. 143

ascertained, that at present it would be injudicious to indulge
in absolute conclusions respecting it. This sandy deposit must
be seen to be fully appreciated : presenting much variability in
its thickness throughout its long course in the Cotteswolds, it
is everywhere readily recognized, and even the approximate
position of any small exposures of it may be predicated with
tolerable exactness. Unfortunately, nearly the whole of the
Cotteswold sections are of a small and imperfect character, con-
sisting chiefly of cuttings of rock upon deep lane-sides, or upon
the banks of water-courses ; and although these in the aggregate
exhibit the entire physical features of the deposit, they do not
enable us to ascertain the thickness of the whole, in particular
localities, with any near approach to accuracy. We cau there-
fore only estimate the thickness by tracing upwards the beds
upon hill-sides, and occasionally by examining the rock brought
up during the process of well-sinking. From information ob-
tained in this manner, it would appear that the thickness of the
sands varies in the middle Cotteswolds from 35 to 80 feet ; and
Mr. Hull has shown that over the northern and southern Cottes-
wolds they present even a greater amount of variability in thick-
ness. My own observations lead to the conclusion, that, like
the mass of the Inferior Oolite generally, the thickness is greater
upon the outer western escarpment of the Cotteswolds than in
the interior valleys, where they are far remote from the outer
range. In tracing upwards the beds from the Lias there occurs
the following general order of succession : —

A. Upper Lias clay, grey or blue, soft, and clearly distinguished
from

B. Brown or chocolate-coloured, marly, micaceous sandstone,
with frequent red ferruginous stains between the lamination;
occasionally the stone is more argillaceous, and buries the
hammer when struck ; in other instances, from the presence
of portions of shells, it is more hard, but is peculiarly irre-
gular and uncertain both in hardness and colour, varying
from a blackish-grey to a bright foxy or reddish hue, every-
where glittering with micaceous particles. At about 4 feet
from the base are usually one or two thin bands charged with
fossils, the greater number of which are very imperfectly pre-
served : this may be designated as the lower shelly zone, and
may be studied in small lane-side sections at Nailsworth and
at Brimscombe. In the Yorkshire exposition of the deposit,
I shall subsequently show that a shelly zone occurs in a similar
position. Passing upwards from 10 to 20 feet, there occurs
a general diminution of compactness in the rock, and of its
marly structure; there gradually sets in

144 Mr. J. Lycett on the so-called Sands

C. Micaceous, foxy-coloured or yellowish, incoherent sands,
seldom much compacted, but locally becoming soft sandstone,
from 20 to 40 feet, abruptly terminated upwards by

D. Concretionary marly bed, usually darker in colour than the
sands, but varying much in structure and aspect within short
distances, and everywhere more or less fossiliferous ; the tests
of Mollusca are less frequently preserved than in the lower
zone. A constant mineral feature is the presence of small
oval grains of hydrate of iron disseminated through the rock ;
a structure which, however, is not peculiar, as it is present in
the Inferior Oolite at Dundry and in the Lias of France.
From 2 to 4 feet is the thickness of this bed in the Cotteswolds.

Immediately overlying this upper Ammonitiferous bed are
several others of hard brown or yellowish calcareo -siliceous
sandstones, in which fossils are usually very sparingly distributed,
and, from the evidence these afford, the beds have by universal
consent been assigned to the Inferior Oolite.

In Yorkshire, the lofty iron-bound coast at the Peak and at
Blue Wick exhibits the same remarkable deposit in considerable
thickness, and slightly modified in its mineral character from
the Cotteswold Sands. In a visit which I recently made to this
coast, in company with my friend Professor Morris, the identity '
of the lower portion of the Dogger or Inferior Oolite of Phillips
with the Gloucestershire Sands was strongly impressed upon my
mind. At Blue Wick the Dogger is altogether about 80 feet in
thickness, and rises in successive beds in descending order from
the rocky beach into the face of the lofty cliff, the lower 40 feet
representing the sands of the Cotteswolds. Beneath these suc-
ceed the hard beds of the Upper Lias Shale, 200 feet thick,
followed by the Middle Lias, nearly equal in mass ; ultimately,
at the Peak, facing Robin Hood's Bay, these great deposits are
all exposed in one vast unbroken section, forming a lofty mural
cliff, nearly 400 feet in height and three miles in length, in the
course of which the Dogger attains the summit of the cliff.
Words are scarcely adequate to express my admiration of this
grand exposition of the lower Jurassic rocks, which for extent
and completeness can scarcely be paralleled. Proceeding north-
wards, the upper 40 feet of the Dogger loses more than half its
thickness, and the lower portion, or representative of the Sands,
thins out altogether ; a great fault then succeeds, by which the
Middle Lias is upraised to the summit of the cliff.

The highest bed of the Upper Lias consists of black, finely
laminated shale, the transition to the sandstone above being
abrupt and very distinctly marked. The sands are here com-
pacted into thick-bedded, dark grey micaceous sandstones in

uf the Inferior Oolite. \ l.'i

the lower part, and into brownish or foxy-coloured micaceous
sandstones in the upper part, so that the whole nearly resembles
the Cotteswold Sands, and differs chiefly in its greater compact-
ness. Fossils are distributed very sparingly throughout the
mass of the sandstones, but they are present more abundantly,
as in the Cotteswolds, in two calcareo- argillaceous zones, situated
in like manner, the one at the top, the other near to the base of
the scries. The lower fossiliferous zone is a dark grey concre-
tionary band of rock crowded with valves of Linyula Beanii; in
smaller numbers &reOrbicula reflexa, Vermetus concinnus, Avicula
inaquivalvis ? and another Avicula, a small smooth Pecten, Ceri-
thium, &c. Belemnites are not uncommon, but Ammonites are
rare, and are obtained singly and at intervals throughout the
sandstones ; these are, A. variabilis, var. Beanii, A. striatulus,
and A. Aalensis; the latter form has not been observed in the
Cotteswolds, but occurs in the same stage (Lias Zeta of Quen-
stedt) in the Jura. Vermetus concinnus occurs at intervals
throughout the sandstones in small groups, and usually isolated.
Tlu- dark grey colour of the lower beds of sandstone changes
upwards to a foxy hue, and at the summit is the upper fossili-
ferous zone, from 14 to 18 inches thick, concretionary and
dark-coloured ; altogether it nearly resembles the Cotteswold bed
at Haresfield Hill, with Cephalopoda. In like manner, each
abounds with a Terebratula, which is its predominating fossil ;
the Yorkshire shell is the Tei-ebratula trilineata of Young and
Hi id, T. ovoides, Sow., a larger form than the subpunctata of
llarrsfield, but which very much resembles the latter shell when
collected indiscriminately at each locality, and without prefer-
ence to presumed typical forms : unfortunately, the Blue Wick
>|x rimens are more frequently compressed and distorted. Other
t ow| Is recognized are, Pleurotomaria subdecorata, D'Orb., which
also occurs at Nailsworth ; Belemnites compressus, B. irregularis,
and portions of Ammonites. Rhynclttmclla cynocephala has
occurred very rarely, and several specimens of R. bidens are also
recorded. The thick sandstones of the Dogger which overlie
this /one abound with small quartzose pebbles, which are never

beneath the trilineata bed.

In Gloucestershire, the lower zone at Brimscombe and Nails-
\\orth has produced the Liassic Orbicula reflexa, Aviculu in-
rnlris':, Lima Galathea, Ammonites Raquinianus, which
is the crassus of Phillips, and another tumid form whirh much
ubles it, and may be only a distinct variety. These have
not been found to pass into the upper zone; but the oolitic ele-
ment is fully represented in this lower zone by certain Conchi-
i« i i, as Myoconcha crassa, Perna rugosa, Trigonia striata, r/i<>-
iiiilininju Jiiln-nla, Modioln ' ' '»miomya nngulifera, Mi/fifus

146 Mr. J. Lycett on the so-called Sands

lunuJaris, Modiola ungulina, Gresslya abducta, and Modiola com-
pressa. The upper zone contains in addition the following
Oolitic species : — Cypricardia cordiformis, Hinnites abjectus,
Astarte excavata, Sow., var., A. detrita, Macrodon Hirsonensis,
Modiola Sowerbii, Gervillia Hartmanni, Gresslya conformis,
Homomya crassiuscula. Pecten textorius and Turbo capitaneus
appear to have a considerable stratigraphical range, as they are
found from the Upper Lias to the Inferior Oolite inclusive. Of
the eighteen Ammonites, which appear to include fifteen distinct
species, several are undoubtedly derived from forms which occur
in the higher beds of the Upper Lias shale of the counties of
York and Somerset ; others seem to be proper to the stage, and
not one of the Ammonites passes upwards into the Inferior
Oolite. The Brachiopoda appear to be entirely Liassic deriva-
tives ; and even Rhynchonella cynocephala, which, from its abun-
dance and wide diffusion, seems to offer a good designation for
the stage (Cynocephala-stage), is perhaps nothing more than a
variety of R. acuta, — the number of plaits, whether anterior or
lateral, affording no constant or reliable distinctive character ;
in other respects the general figure of both is absolutely the
same. The single Nautilus, N. latidorsatus, is also Liassic. On
the other hand, in the numerous Conchifera the Liassic element
nearly disappears altogether, and we find a considerable infusion
of the Oolitic, leaving, however, no inconsiderable number of
species which appear to be proper to the stage. It is indeed a
very striking but undoubted fact, that of the very numerous
Liassic Conchifera and Gasteropoda, not more than four or five
are continued into the Cynocephala-stage, and even of these
two only are found in the upper zone. The more common
Upper Lias Ammonites (Lias Epsilon) are equally absent in the
Cynocephala-stage, as A. communis, A. serpentinus, A. bifrons,
A. annulatuSj A. exaratus, A. elegans, Y. & B., A. fimbriatus.
A. striatulus is strictly identical with the Liassic form ; but the
common Cotteswold form of A. variabilis var. dispansus offers
well- marked distinctions from the Liassic variety, which, as it is
the A. Beanii of Simpson, may be termed the variety Beanii.
The variety dispansus is more compressed, the volitions more
enveloped; both the fasciated tubercles and the ribs are smaller,
less prominent and more numerous ; the ribs being much more
curved near to the keel. The Liassic variety, however, occurs very
rarely at Frocester Hill. Ammonites opalinus I have omitted
altogether, as the single specimen found lying upon the ground
at Haresfield Hill may have been derived from those superin-
cumbent Inferior Oolite beds to which it has been referred by
Quenstedt and Oppel. The species alluded to is the opalinus of
Keinecke, Zieten, and Quenstedt, but not the priniordialis of

of the Inferior Oolite. 147

Schlotheim and D'Orbigny, which is sometimes confounded with
it. A. primordialis is an Upper Lias species. Two forms of
these Cotteswold Ammonites appear hitherto to have been un-
described; these will shortly appear, under the names of A.
Moorei and A. Leckenbyi* ; the former is allied to Aalensis, the
latter to hircinus.

The statement that these Ammonites all cease with the high-
est bed of the stage, needs some little qualification : a single
specimen of A. striatulus and A. variabilis has occasionally been
detected in the lowest of the hard brown beds which overlie the
Cephalopod-bed at Frocester Hill ; Belemnites and Rhynchonella
cynocephala are more frequent. Whether, however, these Tes-
tacea may have been washed into the newer bed, or may for
awhile have lingered there as living denizens, is of little moment,
as it is certain that the occurrence is of a local nature, and ex-
tends only to the lowest bed of the Inferior Oolite.

In assigning to the Sands the provisional rank of a distinct
zoological stage, my conclusions are founded upon a review of
its fossils compared with those of the Upper Lias "Epsilon" on
the one hand, and of the Inferior Oolite on the other, to each of
which they offer certain approximations, in some instances
amounting to absolute identity, in others to the more distant
affinities of varieties ; after deducting these, a considerable num-
ber still remain, which appear to be proper to the stage. This
view is to some extent in accordance with that of Quenstedt,
who, in his 'Jura/ has separated the Jurensis marls from his
Lias " Epsilon" or Upper Lias shale, into a distinct subdivision
or stage of the Lias, under the name of Lias " Zeta" It may be
preferable for the present to allow it to remain as an independent
stage until more extended observations shall have been made, —
more especially until the Testacea of the Lias "Epsilon " shall
have been more fully figured and described. In this respect
it may rank as of the same stratigraphical value as the Cornbrash
or the Kelloway Rock, a theoretical arrangement which will
leave the problem to be determined by future researches, viz. to
which of the two great formations bordering it, its fossils offer
as a whole the nearest approximation. Considerable as the list
of these has now become, it is evident that much still remains
to be done ; other localities require to have their fossils better
collected and examined. How insufficient is our list from Dor-
setshire ; how few species have been distinctly assigned to the
stage in Yorkshire; how short a time has elapsed since the
fossils of the lower zone have hmi collected in the Cotteswolds ;
how meagre is the list of M. Eugene Deslongchamps from Gal-

* The Cotteswold Hills : Handbook to their Geology and Palaeontology.

148 Mr. J. Lycett on the so-called Sands

vados ; and, in the Mozelle, how considerable a number of the
species remain undetermined ! The recollection of these defi-
ciencies should induce us to discourage for awhile all decisive
conclusions, and lead us rather to compare our acquisitions
from time to time, carefully and rigidly subjecting them to
the necessary comparisons, free from the bias of preconceived
opinions.

In the Cotteswolds, 56 Testacea have been obtained in the
upper, and 54 in the lower zone; in all, 81 species, — divided
into, Cephalopoda, 22 ; Brachiopoda, 4 ; Gasteropoda, 9 ; Con-
chifera, 46.

The following amended list of fossils from the Cynocephala-
stage of the Cotteswolds offers some additions and corrections
to those previously published, and is divided into two distinct
zones.

Upper Zone at Frocester Hill, at Haresfield Hill, and at various
other smaller sections.

Ammonites variabilis, D'Orb., var. Opis carinatus, Wright.

Beanii. Trigonia Rarasayi, Wright.

— variabilis, var. dispansus. striata. Sow.

striatulus, Sow. costata ?

radians Orbignianus, Schlot. Astarte complanata, Rann.

radians Dewalqueanus, Rein. excavata, Sow., var.

comensis, De Buck. detrita, Gold/.

insignis, Schub. lurida, Sow., short, gibbose var.

— , var. with compressed back. Macrodon Hirsonensis, D'Arch.
subinsignis?, Op. Gryphsea plicata, Lye.

— Jurensis, Ziet. Hinnites abjectus, Phil., sp.
discoides, Ziet. Lima Electra, D'Orb.

- Boulbiensis, Y. 8f B. bellula, Mor. 8f Lye., var.

Levesquei, D'Orb. Modiola Sowerbyi.

— — torulosus, Schub. Pecten textorius, Schlot.

- Moorei, Lye. Gervillia Hartmanni, Goldf.
— Leckenbyi, Lye. Pinna fissa, Goldf.

Belemnites tripartitus, Schlot. Goniomya angulifera, Sow., sp.
irregularis, Schlot. Pholadomya fidicula, Sow.

compressus, Voltz. arenacea, Lye.

Nautilus latidorsatus, D'Orb. Gresslya abducta, Phil., sp.

Turbo capitaneus, Munst. conformis, Ag.

Cerithium papillosum, Desh. Myacites arenacen, Ag., sp.
Cypricardia cordiformis, Desh. — , species undet.

brevis, Wright. Ilomomya crassiuscula, Mor. fy Lye.

Cucullaca ferruginea, Lye. Terebratula subpunctata, Dav.

Tancredia, n. sp. Khynchonella cynocephala, Rich.

Cjirdium Ilullii, Wright. Jurensis, Quenst., var.

Opi< lunulatus, Sow., var.

of the Inferior Oolite.

149

Lower Zone at Nailsworth and Brimscombe.

Ammonites variabilis, var. dispansus.

Raquinianus, D'Orb.

, species allied to Raquinianus.

Jurensis, Ziet.

radians Orbignianus, Schlot.

striatulus, Sow.

subinsignis ?, Op.

— concavus, Sow.
Belemnites compressus, Voltz.

— tripartitus, Schlot.
Nautilus latidorsatus, D'Oro.
Turbo capitaneus, Munst.
Trochus (lii|>!icat us. Sow.
Pleurotomaria subdecorata, D'Orb.
Chemnitzia lineata, Sow., sp.
, species undet.

Natica adducta, Phil.
— Oppelensis, Lye.
Orbicula reflexa.
Astarte lurida, Sow.

complanata, Rosm.

rugulosa, Lye.

Trigonia striata, Sow.
Cypricardia brevis, Wright.

cordiformis, Desk.

Cucullrca ferruginea, Lye.
olivjcformis, Lye.

Nucula Jurensis, Quenst.
Cardium Hullii, Wright.
Unicardium, sp. indet.
Myocoucha crassa, Sow.
Perna rugosa, Munst.
Goniomya angulifera, Sow., sp.
Gervillia Hartmanui, Munst.

fornicata, Lye.

Avicula inaequivalvis ?, Sow.
Modiola cuneata, Sow.

Sowerbii, Sow., sp.

compressa, Munst.

unguliua, Y. Sf B.

Mytilus lunularis, Lye.

, sp. indet.

Lima Electra, D'Oro.

bellula, var., Mor. 8f Lye.

Galathea, D'Orb.

ornata, Lye.

— , n. sp.
Pholadomya arenacea, Lye.

fidicula, Sow.

, sp. indet.

Myacites arenacea, Lye.

, sp. indet.

Rhynchonella cynocephala, Rich.
plicatella, var.

150

On the Discovery of Cnicus tuberosus at Avebury y Wilts.
. By Professor BUCKMAN, F.L.S., F.G.S., F.A.S. &c.

READ GTH OCTOBER 1857.

IN reporting upon our meeting at Avebury, Wilts, on July 15,
1856, I took occasion to remark upon some interesting plants
which I had obtained from the Druidical Circle ; and amongst
notes upon others, will be found the following :—

" Cnicus acaulis, Steraless Thistle, with — anomalous as it ap-
pears— stems several inches high. This is one of the forms
which has given rise to the many, synonyms by which the true
species is surrounded*/'

In July of the present year, I found myself at the Avebury
Circle, in company with my friend Edwin Lees, Esq., F.L.S.,
F.G.S., when this Thistle was more minutely examined by us ;
and, upon carefully getting some specimens up by the roots, we
were pleased to find that it agreed in this and other respects
with the Cnicus tuberosus, Willd., Tuberous Plume Thistle, — a
specimen of which appears to have been sent by A. B. Lambert,
Esq., to Sir J. E. Smith, and is figured in ' English Botany/
t. 2562, to the description of which is appended the following
habitat : — " A copse-wood, called Great Ridge, on the Wiltshire
Downs, between Boyton House and Fonthill, abundantly :" and
Smith states that he there gathered it in 1819 f-

For many years, however, this form appears to have become
extinct in this its original habitat ; and it was thought to have
bee"n entirely lost to our flora until within the last few months,
when my friend Mr. W. Cunnington of Devizes fortunately dis-
covered that a nurseryman in his neighbourhood had propagated
the plant from its original stock presented to the nurseryman
by Lambert himself. The two or three specimens thus handed
down are now in Mr. Cunnington's possession ; and upon paying
him a visit at Devizes, on our way from Avebury to Stonehenge,
I was gratified to see a specimen in full flower in his garden, as
well as two dried examples in his herbarium ; from an examina-
tion of these, I am enabled to declare their complete identity
with those I had so recently gathered at Avebury.

Here, then, we have a curious example of a plant having been

* Address to the Cotteswold Naturalists' Club, by Prof. Buckraan,
Jan. 27, 1857, p. viii.

t English Flora, vol. iii. p. 393.

Prof. Buckmau on Cnicus tuberosus. 151

lost for many years in one locality, and subsequently occur-
ring in another; and yet, though the collecting botanist may
perhaps felicitate us upon restoring this to the British flora, I
have myself great hesitation in receiving it as a true and un-
doubted species, the grounds for which I would shortly sum up
as follows : —

It occurs sparingly at Avebury, surrounded by the true Cnicus
acaulis and Cnicus acanthoides in great abundance.

Its most important distinctive character will be found in the
radical tubers, which, in full-grown examples, are somewhat
large and fleshy, and unilaterally placed on the rhizome. In
smaller specimens the roots are long and flexile, but not ex-
panded into tubers, — which is just the state in which they occur
in the Cnicus acaulis.

It is true that it cannot be described as acauline, as the stem
is more than a foot in height ; but this is also often the case with
the true acaulis, as we have now before us examples of this spe-
cies several inches high.

From these circumstances, in connexion with the rarity of the
tuberous form in a plant that seeds so abundantly, each head of
flowers being capable of perfecting as many as 150 seeds, —
taking also into consideration the well-known sporting propen-
sity of this genus, — I cannot help thinking this to be a hybrid;
and from the fact of the abundance of the two forms before indi-
cated in its immediate vicinity, we may not unreasonably look
upon them as the origin of our tuberous type.

There is perhaps no genus of plants more perplexing to the
botanist than that of Carduus, which is now made to include
Cnicus; hence the variation in the number of species in our
different floras; and thus Babington heads his descriptions
of them with the following significant note — " many hybrids
occur in this genus*;" and my friend Lees has kindly furnished
me with the following note upon another disputed species, which
bears directly upon this question :—

" In August 1856, I found the Cnicus Forsteri of Smith, in
a field near Crowle, Worcestershire. In the same marshy field
was a considerable quantity of Cnicus pratensis and a very nu-
merous growth of C. palustris. The position of Forster's Thistle
was between the C. pratensis and C. palustris , so as to give rise
to an immediate suspicion of its hybridity ; and, upon examina-
tion, the characters shown by C. Forsteri were exactly interme-
diate also. The leaves were much like those of C. palustris ,
while the stem and flowers were in small clusters, instead of
being single as in the latter. Indeed, the result of my examina-
tion convinced me that C. Forsteri could be only a hybrid ; and
* Manual of British Botany, 3rd edition.

152 Prof. Buckman on Cnicus tuberosus.

this I stated in an account I sent to the 'Phytologist/ and which
appeared in the September Number of that Journal for 1856."
For the present, then, I must content myself with having
offered presumptive evidence of the non-specific character of
what is, after all, a decidedly distinctive form ; and as I have
brought home some specimens and planted them in my botanical
garden, where I shall also introduce the acaulis and acanthoides,
I shall look forward to the results of experiments with these with
no little degree of interest, as in all probability, like so many
other experiments which I have been enabled to perform in the
same direction, these may serve still more to perplex the question
" What is a species ?"
Cirencester, July 1857.

153

Note on the Presence of the Fossil genus Isodonta, Buv., in the
English Jurassic Rocks. By JOHN LYCETT, Esq.

To James Buckman, Esq., Hon. Sec. to the Cotteswold
Naturalists9 Club.

DEAR SIR,

Will you have the goodness to communicate to the Club, at
their next meeting, that we may claim the genus Isodonta, Buv.
(Sowerbya, D'Orb.), as an addition to the fauna of the English
Jura ?

The sole species hitherto described is the Isodonta Deshaysea,
Buv., from the ferruginous Oolite of the Oxfordian beds of the
Department of the Meuse. Recently, my good friend Mr.
Leckenby presented me with a fine specimen of the so-called
Cucullaa triangularis, Phill., from the Cornbrash of Scarborough.
The resemblance in the general aspect of this shell to the Iso-
donta of Buvignier was at once apparent ; but it was only upon
an inspection of specimens in the British Museum, collected by
M. Tesson, that their identity with the Yorkshire shell became
a conviction to my mind. Individual specimens vary in their
elongation and in the degree of angularity at their infero-pos-
terior extremity : little differences of this kind form the sole
distinction between the British fossil and that of the Meuse,
and the Normandic specimens in the Museum differ from each
other at least to an equal extent. The Cucullaa triangularis,
Phill. Geol. York. i. tab. 3. fig. 31, is from the Coralline Oolite
of Malton ; it is somewhat less elongated than my Cornbrash
specimen, and agrees more nearly with the figures of Buvignier,
' Paleont. de la Meuse/ Atlas, pi. 10. figs. 30-35, except that
the figure of Phillips is somewhat more inequilateral from the
shortness of the posterior slope : in the Cornbrash specimen, as
in those from Normandy and from the Meuse, this feature is
less conspicuous ; but there can be no doubt that the anterior
side is always somewhat more produced than the other; the
surface is smooth, but with two distant and strongly-marked
folds of growth. The very tumid figure and incurved umbones
are the external characters whereby it may be distinguished
from Tancredia ; the test is likewise thicker than in the latter
genus. At present it does not seem that the Cornbrash shell
can be separated as a species either from that of the Yorkshire
Coralline Oolite, from the Normandic specimens, or from those

154 Mr. J. Lycett on the Fossil genus Isodonta.

figured by Buvignier from the Department of the Meuse ; but
it is desirable that additional British examples of this rare form
should be examined. I need hardly suggest to you the expe-
diency of making a rigorous search in the Cornbrash and the
Kelloway rock of the vicinity of Cirencester ; and believe me to
remain, dear Sir,

Yours, &c.,

JOHN LYCETT.
Minchinhampton, October 19, 1857.

155

On some Sections of the Upper Lias recently exposed at Nails*
worth, Gloucestershire. By JOHN LYCETT, Esq.

RKAD 21sx JULY 1858.

So few opportunities are afforded for examining the Upper Lias
of the Cotteswolds, so small are the artificial exposures of the
stage occasionally made, so limited their extent and depth, that
its fossils are almost unknown, and even the thickness of the
stage has been very variously estimated. During the author's
experience of more than twenty years, the Upper Lias has only
been known to him by small sections in clay-beds used for brick-
making, and these are usually quite destitute of fossils; some
cuttings, therefore, recently made, which exposed the entire
thickness of the stage and many of its fossils, have induced him
to prepare the present brief notice.

The only authorities for the Upper Lias of the district are —
' Outlines of the Geology of England' by Conybeare and Phillips,
1822; 'Outline of the Geology of the Neighbourhood of Chel-
tenham/ by Sir R. I. Murchison, 1834; the enlarged edition of
the latter work by J. Buckman and H. E. Strickland, 1845;
'Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain;' 'The
Geology of the Country around Cheltenham/ by E. Hull, Esq.,
1857. In the first of these works the Upper Lias is only dis-
tinguished from the other members of the same formation by a
useful section given at page 252, .exhibiting the succession in the
beds upon the western slope of the Cotteswolds at Painswick
Hill, by the late Mr. Halifax of Standish; but their thickness is
not given.

VOL. II. O

56 Mr. J. Lycett on the Upper Lias of Gloucestershire.

The following is the section, to which figures are here added,
to mark the superior divisions :—

Inferior Oolite

ery micaceous sand

Sand, with beds of unctuous, slaty, bluish clay

Blue clay with septaria.

in beds of grey Lias-like marlstone

Lenticular balls of indurated marl with Ammonites and
parts of Fishes 6

•2

3

4

'Marly sandstone, a yellowish-brown sandstone, spangled with
mica, blue at the heart, abounding with large Belemnites,
Pectens, &c

'Marl and clay

'Clay, with veins of foxy earth containing ferruginous nodules
concentrically formed round a nucleus of Lias

'Lias.

10

1. The lower portion of the Inferior Oolite; thick beds of
coarse, calcareous, shelly gritstone, more or less tinged with
oxide of iron.

2. The sands of the Cynocephala-stage, with a shelly band at
the top, some flaggy argillaceous sandstones in the middle, and
a shelly band at the bottom.

3. 4, 5, 6. Upper Lias; no fossils visible in this section.

7. Marlstone or Middle Lias.

8, 9, 10. Lower Lias ; but little exposed.

In Sir R. I. Murchison's little sketch of the ' Geology of Chel-
tenham/ the thickness of the Upper Lias is estimated at 60 or
70 feet ; and the following fossils were collected by him from a
road- side cutting near Sandy well Park : — Ammonites bifrons,
A. undulatus, A. annulatus, Belemnites acutus, B. tubular is, B.
penicillatus, Inoceramus dubius, Plicatula spinosa, Trochus bisectus,
Area, Gervillia, Lucina, tModiola, Nucula, Nautilus, Pholadomya.
In the second and enlarged edition of the same work, the authors

Mr. J. Lycett on the Upper Lias of Gloucestershire. 157

estimate the general thickness of the Upper Lias at 100 feet
to the fossils given in the former edition are added the follow-
ing:— Ammonites falcifer, A. Strangwaysii, Belemnites Bru-
guierianuSy Trochus bisertus, Nucula rostralist JEschna Brodiei,
Astacus, Hippolita, Cidaris minuta. In the memoir by Mr. Hull,
the Upper Lias is stated to be upwards of 230 feet thick at
Leckhampton Hill ; it is estimated to be 300 feet at Cleeve
Cloud ; in the hills further northwards, at from 80 to 100 feet ;
it constantly declines in thickness towards the Oxfordshire
boundary of the county, so that at Burford its thickness is only
6 feet. In the southern portion of the Cotteswolds it is stated
to be only 10 feet thick at Wootton-under-Edge, and about
30 feet at'Stroud ; but I shall have to show that at Nailsworth,
a spot situated between the two latter places, the thickness
of the Upper Lias is upwards of 105 feet. The only additional
fossils mentioned by Mr. Hull are Nautilus inomatus and Belem-
nites abbreviatus.

The sections upon which the present remarks are founded
were made in forming several deep drains and a cutting for a
carriage-drive upon a steep hill-side preparatory to building a
villa and laying out the surrounding ground for ornamental
purposes, upon the western side of the valley, and immediately
adjoining the village of Nailsworth ; it also happened about the
same time that a cutting was made along the whole course of
the turnpike road in the same valley, towards Stroud, for the
purpose of laying down gas-pipes ; another small section was
also afforded by some alterations made in the mill-stream at
Holcomb Mills, about half a mile higher up the valley. The
deep-drain sections afforded a view of the higher beds of the
stage, even to their junction with the micaceous marly sands of
the Cynocephala-stage ; the other cuttings exposed the lower
beds, but less perfectly than the upper ones, and also some por-
tion of the Marlstone series. But although a portion of nearly
the whole of the beds was uncovered, the entire area from which
fossils could be procured was very inconsiderable. In descend-
ing order occurred —

Several feet of blue clay, with intercalated thin layers of dark-
coloured shale.

A thin stratum of grey, finely laminated shale, with clusters
of valves of Posidonia Bronnii.

Brown and blue clays and marly bands containing some irre-
gular layers of hard shale, and of thin bands of blue argil-
laceous limestone.

Fossils were moderately abundant in the bands of limestone.

o2

158 Mr. J. Lycett on the Upper Lias of Gloucestershire.

Ammonites bifrons was the most conspicuous ; A. communis was
in much smaller numbers ; the few other Ammonites obtained
consisted of A. falcifer, A. heterophyllus, A. cornucopia, A. cras-
suSy A. Lythensis, A. Jurcnsis, and a new species near to A.
Humphriesianus ; a few fragments occurred apparently of Nau-
tilus sinuatus, and a single specimen of N. latidorsatus. Belem-
nites were comparatively few, as were also Gasteropoda and Con-
chifera; the latter included two undescribed species, one of
Tancredia and one of Placunopsis.

In the lower beds bluish grey clays predominated; but the
sections were insufficient to expose an unbroken sequence of the
lower beds, although the entire thickness of the stage was ascer-
tained with a near approach to accuracy ; the measurement gave
a thickness of 105 feet, the beds being free from disturbance.
Some few layers of limestone nodules occurred, but their amount
was not comparable with those obtained from the Upper Lias of
Somersetshire. To the same general deficiency of lime, as
exemplified in the paucity and thinness of the limestone bands,
may probably be attributed the general scarcity of fossils when
compared with the Upper Lias of Somerset ; here the chief mass
of the deposit consisted of brown and blue clays which were
quite destitute of fossils ; no remains of Saurians or of Fishes
were observed. These conditions present a remarkable contrast
to the same stage at Ilminster, with its pale yellow limestone
charged with Saurians, Fishes, and a multitude of Mollusca of
all classes, numbering probably more than 150 species, notwith-
standing that the entire thickness of the stage is only a few feet
at that place. To study these, the extensive collection of Mr.
Moore, in the Bath Museum, should be visited.

The occurrence at Nails worth of finely laminated shales with
the little Posidonia Bronnii in the upper portion is interesting,
as identifying the stratum with the continental representative of
the same shale : this fragile bivalve appears to be limited to the
single stratum indicated.

The large Tancredia is the first recorded example in the Lias
of England, although upwards of eleven species are distributed
throughout our Lower and Upper Oolites ; in France and Ger-
many, on the other hand, nearly all the recorded species are
Liassic. It is probable, however, that some, or even all of the
shells referred to Tellina in the " Etage Bathonien" of D'Orbigny
belong to the genus Tancredia, excluding the two species in his
" Etage Bajocien," which belong to the genus Quenstedtia.

The following is the limited list of Upper Lias Testacea pro-
cured at Nailsworth : —

Mr. J. Lycctt on the Upper Lias of Gloucestershire. 159

Cephalopoda. Gasteropoda.

Ammonites bifrons, Brug. Pleurotomaria.

- falcifer, Sow. Turbo capitaneui, Munst.

<•• uiiiini ins. Sow. Conchifera.

heterophyllus, Sow. Astarte lurida, Sou?.

cornucopia;, Y. fy B. Lucina ?

Jurensis, D'Orb. Tancredia laeviuscula, n. sp.

Lythensis, Y. Of B. Posidonia Bronnii, Munst.

crassus, Phil. Placunopsis sparsicostatus, n. sp.

annulatus, Sow. Nucula Hausmanni, Horn.

— Ilrainstrensis, n. sp. Pecten.

Belemnites compressus, Voltz. Gresslya gregaria, Rcem. sp. (G. An-
— — tripartitus. glica, Ag.)

Nautilus latidorsatus, D'Orb. Lima gigantea, Sow.

— sinuatus, Sow. _ bellula, Mor. 8f Lye.

Notes on the Testacea.

Ammonites bifrons. A variety with compressed sides, in which
the falciform ribs are but little prominent. A few examples
occurred of the ultimate condition of growth, in which state it
may readily be mistaken for a distinct species, and probably
constitutes the A. Hildensis of Simpson. The costse have dis-
appeared upon the whole of the last volution, which presents
only densely arranged fine falciform lines which pass over the
back and the keel ; the lateral sulcation has become indistinct
through the flattening of the sides of the volution ; the back has
lost its rectangular figure and become rounded, sloping obliquely
upon each side from the keel, and the two dorsal grooves have
disappeared ; the keel itself has become more elevated and con-
spicuous. The inner or smooth portion of each volution over-
wraps and conceals the costated portion of the preceding volu-
tion, so that the entire aspect of the shell is smooth, and it is
only by breaking away a portion of the last volution near to the
suture that the ribs of the next volution can be exposed and
the identity of the species proved. It occurred abundantly.

A. communis. Specimens were indifferently preserved, but
exhibited some of those varieties in the arrangement of the dor-
sal ribs, and in the general figure, which perplex collectors who
desire to separate them into the forms named A. communis,
A. Hollandrei, and A. Braunianus, — a perplexity which is in no
degree lessened by the study of numerous specimens. Further
investigations into these forms are desirable.

A. heterophyllus. Badly preserved examples, and few.

A. cornucopia (A. fimbriatus, Sow.). A single fine example
in one of the higher beds. Some casts of young forms, appa-
rently of this species, have been prormrd in the lower zone of
the Cynocephala- stage at Nailsum-th.

160 Mr. J. Lycett on the Upper Lias of Gloucestershire.

A. Jurensis. Fragments only in the higher beds.

A. crassus (A. Raquinianus, D'Orb.). Evidently the same
shell as in the lower zone of the Cynocephala-stage at Nails-
worth and in the Upper Lias of Yorkshire.

Ammonites Ilminstrensis, n. sp.

In its general figure it is scarcely to be distinguished from
Ammonites Humphriesianus ; the style of its ornamentation is
also very similar to that of the latter species ; there are, how-
ever, some well-marked differences. In A. Humphriesianus the
lateral costse form, with the dorsal, a curvature more or less
marked ; in the Lias shell, the ribs pass from the suture straight
over the sides and back. Usually two, but sometimes three,
dorsal ribs unite with one lateral rib. In A. Humphriesianus the
number of dorsal ribs is somewhat greater ; but the most con-
spicuous distinction consists in the form of the dorsal ribs, which
in the Lias shell are much more narrow, elevated, and acute, so
that there is a wide space left between each rib. In the young
shell the lateral ribs are likewise much elevated and acute, so
that they are little larger than the dorsal ribs ; there is also
some little distinction in the figure of the volutions, and conse-
quently of the aperture, the portion near to the suture over-
hanging the preceding volution more than in the Inferior Oolite
shell.

The septa consist of three large principal lobes, much pro-
duced, and of two small accessory lobes. The dorsal lobe is
much lengthened, with a single, terminal, very elongated and
pointed digitation upon each side of the mesial line ; there are
two smaller lateral digitations ; all the dictations are indented.
The superior lateral lobe has its termination trifurcate, the me-
sial digitation being pointed, and of immense length ; but the lobe
altogether is less lengthened than the dorsal lobe. The inferior
lateral lobe is similar in figure to the superior lobe, but is much
smaller and shorter. The two accessory lobes are very small and
simple, the second being nearly concealed by the convexity near
to the suture. The dorsal saddle is of great width, consisting
of two principal divisions, of which the outer is much the larger ;
each division has two principal branches with numerous inden-
tures. The lateral saddle has two principal portions, of which
the outer is the smaller ; the indentures are smaller and less
conspicuous than in the dorsal saddle. The accessory saddles
are small and simple, almost without indentures.

Ill-preserved specimens occurred rather abundantly at Hoi-
comb, associated with A. bifrons and Astarte lurida. My
friend Mr. Moore has favoured me with fine specimens from
the pale-yellow bed of the Upper Lias at Ilminster, and smaller

Mr. J. Lycett on the Upper Lias of Gloucestershire. 161

forms of the same species occur in the lower shelly zone of the
Cynocephala-stage at Nails worth. The largest specimen in my
possession has a diameter of 2J inches ; the height of the aper-
ture is 6 lines, the opposite diameter 10 lines.

A.falcifer. A few specimens. At Stroud, when the railway
was being constructed, a thin band of pale grey limestone was
crowded with fine specimens, to the exclusion of all other species.

A. annulatus, Sow. Few, and ill-preserved.

A. Lythensis, Y. & B. Smaller forms than occur at Whitby.
It is not the A. Lythensis of Quenstedt ; the latter is a very
different Ammonite.

Belemnites compressus, Voltz. Large specimens in the upper
bed, associated with B. tripartitus.

B. tripartitus, Schl., agrees with specimens in the Cynocephala-
stage at Nailsworth and at Frocester Hill.

Nautilus latidorsatus, D'Orb. (N. Toarcensis, D'Orb. ; N. Ju-
rensis, Quenst.). A single fine specimen.

N. sinuatus, Sow. Fragments only.

Pleurotomaria. Species undetermined, with elevated spire,
narrow convex volutions, mesial siphonal rib, and fine, densely
arranged, equal encircling lines.

Turbo capitaneus, Miinst. Its aspect agrees with specimens
from the Cynocephala-stage in the neatness of the ornamen-
tation.

Gresslya gr eg aria, Roem. A large tumid species, well sepa-
rated from congeneric forms. A single specimen.

Tancredia laviuscula, n. sp.

A large elongated species, with an oblique dorsal angle and
the posterior border nearly closed. Compared with allied forms,
it is more lengthened and less convex than T. donaciformis ; the
anterior extremity is more rounded; the umbo is but little
elevated, the posterior side being much extended and its extre-
mity pointed ; the height being only equal to y^ths of the length.
It is distinguished by the same features from T. Deshayesea and
T. cowpressa. A single fine specimen.

Lima gigantea, Sow. This well-known shell occurs both in
the Lower and Upper Lias of Gloucestershire. D'Orbigny has
separated the older form under the name of L. edulis. I do not
perceive that the latter possesses any sufficient specific distinction.

Lima bellula, Mor. & Lye. Delicately preserved, and exhi-
bit ing the finely ornamented surface, which is rarely seen in
Inferior Oolite specimens. Some of the latter attain larger
dimensions and have a somewhat shorter figure, but do not
possess any other distinguishing feature.

162 Mr. J. Lycett on the Upper Lias of Gloucestershire.

Placunopsis sparsicostatus, n. sp.

Shell flattened, suborbicular, oblique ; umbo raised, submar-
ginal, the surface with numerous irregular, unequal, concentric
plications, and a few raised, equal, linear, distant, undulating
and radiating ribs, sometimes slightly knotted where they pass
over the plications. Diameter 12 lines. A single good specimen.

Nucula Hausmanni, Roem. Nearly allied to Nucula Erato,
D'Orbigny, an Inferior Oolite shell both of Yorkshire and
Gloucestershire; but the latter species is less angular, less pointed
at the extremities, or more ovate and smaller. A single fine
specimen.

Posidonia Bronnii, Miinst. A delicate papyraceous and some-
what irregular shell, usually indifferently preserved, but occurring
throughout a thickness of about two inches in tender, thinly
laminated shale. Impressions are abundant, but the test is
rarely preserved.

Astarte lurida, Sow. So numerous are the Jurassic species
of Astarte, and in many instances so nearly allied are they to
each other, that the utmost care and precision is necessary, both
in descriptions and figures, to convey clear and correct ideas of
them in the absence of the fossils ; nor under any circumstances
can the varieties of aspect which they assume, and the bounda-
ries between species, be in every instance sufficiently defined.
The figure of Astarte lurida in the ( Min. Conch/ accurately re-
presents a short specimen in the young state, before the arrests of
growth had produced irregularity and inequality in the encircling
ribs, the verbal description appended being very concise. The
following description is the result of an examination of a multi-
tude of specimens in every stage of growth : —

Shell oblique, ovate, moderately convex; umbones anterior,
pointed, and incurved ; anterior side very short ; lunule large,
striated, elliptical, excavated, its margin slightly rounded ; liga-
mental margin lengthened, its outline somewhat curved, forming
with the other valve a lengthened, smooth, but not deeply exca-
vated area with acute borders ; lower margin elliptically curved,
internally crenulated. Surface with elliptical costse, regular in
the young shell, subsequently degenerating into irregular and
unequal elevations, more especially when the surface exhibits
arrests of growth ; the costae are not much raised, rounded, and
fully equal in breadth to the interstitial spaces (about thirty-two
in a full-grown specimen) ; the entire surface has fine striations,
which follow the direction of the costse.

Specimens vary much in their length .and obliquity ; but none
are comparable to the Oxford Clay shell figured in the ' Illus-

Mr. J. Lycett on the Upper Lias of Gloucestershire. 1(53

trations of the Geology of Yorkshire ' under the name of Astarte
lurida : the large anterior side and the small lunule mark the
latter as a distinct species.

Several examples of Astarte lurida were obtained in the upper
portion of the Upper Lias in a mill-stream cutting at Holcomb ;
it has also occurred very abundantly a little higher in the p-<>-
logical scale, in the lower zone of the Cynocephala-stage at
Nailsworth. D'Orbigny ('Prodrome') places it in his "JSUge
Hajocien," which is probably an error; the English localities
cited by him (Fox Hill and Taunton) are not Inferior Oolite ;
nor does it appear that the latter formation, although so rich in
the genus Astarte > has ever produced A. lurida.

VOL. II.

Annual Address to the Cotteswold Naturalists' Field Club, read ly
T. B. LL. BAKES, President, at Gloucester.

BEAD FEBBUABY 16, 1859.

AOAIK my friends have we met, and again does it fall to my duty to
record, however briefly and imperfectly, the transactions of our Club.
You will forgive me, I am sure, if, on this occasion, I go back
somewhat farther than usual, to the time when Sir Thomas Tancred
— who, though he never would take any other title than that of
Secretary, so long as he staid with us, was the real author and
manager of our Club, first called together, in July, 1846, a small
party at the " Black Horse " on Birdlip Hill, and in the course of a
walk through Witcombe Woods, the Roman Villa, and Cooper's
Hill, shewed us how much enjoyment and instruction might be
gained by a simple ramble through beautiful scenery, in company
with several men who are all more or less skilled ; but at least, all
interested in that glorious study of nature, in whose honour our
meetings are held. On that day, when the sun shone fairly on us,
and all went smoothly, we first felt the charm of such meetings in
fine weather. But, on our next meeting, when we essayed a Forest
ramble, and spite of torrents of rain — such as the skies of the Forest
can produce when they please — spent a really enjoyable day, then,
indeed, we felt that our love for nature was not a mere fair weather
fancy, but one that would stand the test of winter and rough
weather.

From that time, for now thirteen years, have we enjoyed our five
or six meetings per annum. Our Club has been as full as we
thought it prudent to allow ; it has been the moan* of bringing
together many men of eminent talents, and uniting them in a common
band, and it has, I believe, also been the means of encouraging many
VOL. n. Q

166

young students of nature, and, ]»*• introducing them to those who
have been able and willing to assist thorn, has given a T( sh spring
and impetus to their zoal. It b given ; ,»1 of us many t/uly .iappy,
enjoyable, and profitable days ; and, which I consider by no means
the least oi its benefits, it has made rs all better acquainted with
the objects of most Interest, whether of nature or art, in our own
county. But much as this is — for a small rural Club to be thankful
for — we may say yet more. We do not boast that Sir Thomas
Tancred, or any here, originated the idea of such a Club. I believe
that, in almost every point, it was a simple imitation of that founded
in the North, by Sir "William Jardine, Mr. Selby, and Dr. Granville.
But, I believe that ours was the first of these field Clubs in the
South of England, and that the "Woolhope, Worcestershire, Malvern,
"Warwickshire — aye, and even Sussex and Kentish Clubs — have been
encouraged to commence, from seeing how well ours has prospered,
and we feel ourselves strengthened and encouraged by a bond of
union with similar societies dispersed over all England.

But let us refer to our meetings of last summer, for, imperfect as
my notices of our gatherings may be, I believe that even such a
slight record of the principal objects of interest to be seen in the dif-
ferent localities, where we have met, is of value, as serving to call
the attention of future visitors to the same spot.

On April the 27th, the Club gave both honour and pleasure to
its President, by acceding to liis request, and holding the winter
meeting at Hardwicke. He had urged this experiment because he
had long felt that there were, in different parts of the country where
the Club might wish to meet, many gentlemen who would gladly
exercise hospitality, were it not that the independent feeling (which
I trust the Club will always maintain) forbids its being a burden
to any one.

Your President was anxious to show that, if others were not too
proud to follow his example, this difficulty might be easily over-
come. He therefore requested the Club to dine with him, paying
the usual 3s. 6d. each for dinner, and he had great satisfaction
afterwards, in handing to the Secretary an account of the total cost
of meat, bread, vegetables, servants to wait, &c., &c., of the dinner,
shewing a balance of nearly a pound due to the Club funds. He
would most gladly see this example followed.

The party, before dinner, walked through the grounds, and up
Hawklow, Oakleigh or Hockley Hill, on the side of which a Tenant
Farmer called their attention to some most hopeless-looking pasture.
A slight examination at the time, led to a correspondence and a more
careful analysis of the soil, on which a course of treatment was
recommended. This is now being carefully carried out on certain
marked spots of the field, and the result remains to be seen. If it
fails — being only carried out on small portions — the risk is small.
If it succeed, not only that Farmer, but many another Farmer
and JLandlord too, may feel grateful for the visit of the Cotteswold
Club.

167

After dinner some papers were read, which will appear in our
annuls, and Mr. Jones exhibited a small and evidently simple
instrument, which shewed such marvellous effects of the poweis of
extremely rapid rotation ; that, although perhaps it was only an ex-
tension of the powers of the humming-top, yet it was so wonderful
an extension, that no more business was done that evening, and the
fixing of the meetings for that summer were postponed till our next
Club day.

On May 18, a considerable party met at Stroud, and walked to
the newly-erected Cemetery ; where, in addition to a beautiful view
of the Valley of Stroud, opening into the great Vale of the Severn,
was found a very curious and interesting fault exposed (as all faults
must be) by the levelling of the Graveyard. Nor were we less
pleased or interested by a collection of curiosities at the house of the
Keeper of the Grounds, which shewed that, where taste and
ingenuity exist, wealth is not necessary to develope them.

We also visited another fault of about thirty feet in a quarry at
Swift's Hill, and then walked to Stroud Glade, where, in a farmyard,
we found the yet vigorous remains of a "Wytch Elm, hardly to be
matched in England. Alas! we were unprovided with measures,
and determined to return at a future time better provided — which
determination, like many others, has never been carried out. We
decided, however, that it was about sixty feet in circumference, and
though only a thin shell of wood was attached to the bark, yet the
latter was entire, with the exception of a gap some three feet wide,
by Avhich we entered, and a hole cut in the opposite side, through
which a handle had worked, when the hollow had been used as a
convenient shed for a cyder-press. The shell, I think, was from
fifteen to twenty feet high, and from thence rose a very vigorous
growth of young wood, which is frequently lopped, to prevent its
weight from breaking the thin shell of trunk. The manner in which
the bark has rounded the edges of some of the small holes in the
tree, and formed a complete rose in the hollow, is most curious.

On Wednesday, June 30, a very small party set forth from
Tewkesbury to visit the quarries on Brockridge Common, hoping to
find there some of our Members who knew the spot, and had pro-
mised to attend. After waiting some time, and seeing little, they
walked to the neighbouring Church at Ripple, where there was
much to please the archaeologist, especially when shown by the
kind Rector, and returned along the Valley to Tewkesbury. Some
little time after they had sat down to dinner the missing and much
missed portion of the party came in, having lost much time in
hunting for the first detachment. After many regrets had been
expressed, and much consultation had taken place as to how such
eontre temps might be avoided for the future, no better means could
bo suggested than that members should answer the Secretary's letters,
and endeavour to reach the place of meeting at the time fixed.

On Wednesday, July 29, a large party of our Club, and a far
larger party of Ladies and strangers, met at Gloucester, wi.h the

168

programme of going by the "Wave" steamer down the Canal to
Sharpness, and thence in the " Eagle " steamer to visit the Cliffs of
Pennarth (which exhibit at one view the upper beds of the New Bed
Sandstone, and the entire series of the lower lias beds), and the
generally interesting shores of the Severn, including the Bone bed at
Aust. Down the Canal we chatted merrily. Boarding the "Eagle "
on we steamed, talking of Pennarth, of its interesting Cliffs, and of
the Mends from Bristol, who had promised to meet us there, and it
was only as we neared the Holms, that the truth oozed out, that so
deep a bank of mud, impassible to human foot, lay between the
water and the Cliff that our landing was impossible, and our scien-
tific examination of the Lias dwindled away to an hour or two
strolling about the Holms. However, in misfortune, the only thing
to be done is to make the best of it, and so interesting a lecture did
we get from the ever-ready Professor Buckman, that many of the
less scientific of the party declared that they had gained more in-
struction and pleasure on the Holms than they could have hoped for
at Pennarth.

On September 1 5 a meeting took place in the Forest of Dean.
I myself was engaged with our Regiment of Yeomanry, at Chelten-
ham, and therefore was not much more than half wet through.
But in the Forest I can quite imagine that there was no half-and-
half wetting. Mr. Jones, Dr. Watson, and Mr. Ford are recorded to
have stood it, and walked it, and, despite of the air and the water,
to have taken good note of the earth where the cuttings of the rail-
ways and the mines displayed her heretofore hidden treasures.
Honour be to the trio who braved the elements. Yet, had not
other duties called him, I think that the trio would not have had it
all to themselves, but TA ould have been converted to a quartett by
the presence of your President. And thus ended the Thirteenth
year of our Club.

And now, my kind friends, I am about to resign my office into
your hands ; but not as usual with the will to resume it, should you,
as you have hitherto done, kindly ask me to do so.

I have long felt that, for many reasons, I was unfit any longer
to hold such a office. In good truth, I never was fitted for it ; but
I hoped that my good- will to the Club, my love (notwithstanding my
want of knowledge) of the study of nature, and the time and atten-
tion I was able to devote to it, atoned in some degree for my defi-
ciency in science.

But, of late years, another study has occupied me. One so
engrossing that I have willingly given my heart and my health to
the work. It has not, indeed, lessened my love for the glories of
nature in any degree. It has not diminished my interest in the
prosperity of the Club ; but it has so absorbed my time and my
strength, that frequently I am incapacitated from attending to any,
but the one object of my thoughts. For a time I believed that the
difficulty of organizing the system of Reformatories throughout
England would soon be done. But as he who climbs a mountain,

when he has surmounted the highest point he could see from the
valley, still finds other heights towering far above — so I see less
chance than ever of being freed from my labours. Or rather, and
more truly, let me say, I see more hope than ever, that so long as it
may please God to use my services, there will be palpably more and
more to be done.

The work of establishing Reformatories through the length and
breadth of the land is indeed finished. Nay, more ! Not only is the
tree planted, but the fruit is ripening The numbers of boys con-
victed throughout England is greatly diminished. But if wo take
the particular towns where they have been able to send to Refor-
matories every boy on a second conviction, the decrease is large
indeed. I have now little doubt that, with our present Reformatories,
we can not only keep all England, except London, clear of regular
boy- thieves ; but that ere next Christmas we can commence taking
the worst of those of London, and if so, I have little doubt that we
can produce a strong impression, in three years, even on the crime
of the Metropolis. But then comes the great and important question
of doing the same for adults. Forgive me, my dear friends, that I
have been so long talking of my own shop matters. I meant merely
to have explained why my time was more than heretofore occupied
by other pursuits, and my pen has run away with me.

To return. I have long felt that I was unsuited for the office of
your President. I now feel happy to think that you may, if you
please, place that office in the hands of one — who both by rank and
position, still more by high attainments and knowledge not only of
one, but of many branches of that glorious study which we meet to
cultivate — will do honour to your choice.

And now, my friends, I bid you not farewell, for I trust that
my attendance at your meetings will not be more rare, and certainly
my interest in the Club will not be diminished, but I beg you to
let me resign the office of your President, only that it may pass into
hands which will carry out more worthily and fitly (than I was ever
able to do) the true objects of the Cotteswold Club.

170

Notes on the Inferior Oolite Beds in the neighbourhood of Bath, by
W. V. GUISE, F.L.S., F.G.S.

READ TO COTTESWOID NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUB, FEB. 15, 1859.

I PROPOSE, in the following observations, to introduce to my asso-
ciates of the Cotteswold Club a notice respecting the Oolitic deposits
in the neighbourhood of Bath, with reference, more particularly, to
some peculiarities presented by the Inferior Oolite beds in that
district, and to the relations which they offer to those of the
Cotteswolds.

In the course of the late autumn I was enabled to devote three
weeks to the study of the Geology of the Bath district, in which I
had the advantage of the frequent companionship of the well-known
and accomplished Palaeontologist, Mr. Charles Moore, to whose
guidance I owe it that I was enabled to visit many points of interest
and importance which would otherwise have escaped my obser-
vation.

My remarks having reference more particularly to the beds of the
Inferior Oolite, it is not my intention to do more than to glance
cursorily at the underlying clays, of the extent and peculiarities of
which it is not easy to form a correct estimate ; as, in the immediate
neighbourhood of Bath, the Lias is rarely exposed to any extent, and,
excepting in well-sinking or in digging the foundations of houses,
few opportunities offer for its examination.

Lonsdale, in his Memoir on the Oolitic district of Bath, in the
3rd Volume of the Transactions of the Geological Society, estimates
the entire thickness of the Lias in that vicinity at somewhat less
than 300 feet, and probably this may be viewed as a fair approximate
average; but the thickness of the deposit varies considerably in
different localities. In the Charlcombe Valley, it certainly exceeds

171

that measurement considerably ; while at the Hamlet of Meadgate
or Medycat, seven miles S.E. of Bath, it cannot be estimated at more
than from 40 to 70 feet, and may very possibly be less.

The presence of the " Middle Lias," or " Lias Marlstone," is one
of the points most difficult of identification in the Bath district, and
I must acknowledge, that during the few opportunities I had of
studying the question, I was unable to satisfy myself of the presence
of that deposit by any recognisable features. I am bound, however,
to add that Mr. Moore has satisfied himself of its existence, though
in an obscure form, and under altered conditions from those in which
it presents itself in the Cotteswold range. At Charlcombe Hill, as
well as on the north-western extremity of Dundry Hill, a consider-
able thickness of very adhesive ferruginous clay appear to occupy
the position of the "Middle Lias," and may very possibly be its
representative ; but if so, its presence is not indicated by any fossils,
in so far as I was able to discover, and at Meadgate the Upper and
Lower Lias Marls appear to pass insensibly into one another,
without any distinct line of demarcation, though the presence of
" Spirifor rostratus " about the middle of the series would appear
to mark the horizon of the " Marlstone." Lonsdale, in his Memoir,
speaks of the " Marlstone " near Bath as containing numerous in-
dividuals of " a large Pecten with obtuse ribs," which might be
attributed to P. aquivalvis ; but, inasmuch as he appropriates the
term " Marlstone " to certain sandy beds, interposed between the
Lias and the Inferior Oolite, it is plain that he refers to the " Sands"
interculated between these two deposits ; in which, however, I was
not fortunate enough to observe the Pecten in question, nor any
other fossil organism whatever. These " Sands" are everywhere
present in situ, and exhibit a series of alternating Sands and Sand-
stones to a thickness of from 60 to 80 feet, to which extent they are
exposed at Charlcombe, the only spot at which I was able to trace
them throughout their entire thickness, and as this Section presents
some features of interest, I will proceed to review it in detail.

SECTION AT CHAHLCOMBE.

It will be seen by reference to the map, that the village of Charl-
combe lies due north of Bath, niched into the hollow of one of the
numerous pretty combes scooped out by the action of the retiring
waters, when the coast-line, of which it forms a part, was slowly
emerging from the waves of the ancient " tertiary" ocean. The
direction of the Valley itself is about N.W. and S.E., and is traversed
throughout the greater portion of its length by a small rivulet, which
takes its rise in a deep gully, not far from the Church, and it is this
gully which affords the Section to which I have adverted.

After passing over the entire thickness of the Lias Clays, which

at this point I cannot estimate at less than 600 or 700 feet, the

gully intersects the highest beds of the "Upper Lias Shales, which are

seen dipping downwards at a considerable angle, the result

172

apparently of subsidence, and overlaid by Oolitic drift, which covert
all the superior deposits. About 25 feet of these Shales are exposed,
distinguished by their well-marked character, no less than by the
Liassic Cephalopoda, portions of which are abundant. The Shales are
overlaid by the " Sands," a series of alternating micaceous Sands and
Sandstones, from 60 to 80 feet thick, which appeared to be wholly
unfossiliferous. To these " Sands" succeeds the Inferior Oolite rock,
about 25 feet in thickness, and exhibiting the following succession
of beds, which will be found to be remarkably persistent in character
and extent throughout the Bath district : —

1. Basement led. — A hard rock, full of fossils, and \
especially characterised by the prevalence of Tri- > 4 to 5 feet,
gonia costata and Rhynchonella spinosa )

2. Coarse Bastard Freestones. — Bubbly in their ) _. f
upper portions — slightly fossiliferous. j

Now, the point to which I particularly desire to invite attention,
is to the fact of the Trigonia and Spinosa Beds, forming the base of
the series, and to their being surmounted by 20 feet of freestones ; thus
apparently inverting the order of sequence exhibited in the Cottes-
wold sections, and I shall endeavour to show that this relationship
holds good throughout the Bath district, extending even to Dundry
Hill, where I found similar conditions prevailing.

INFERIOR OOLITE BEDS AT LYMPLEY STOKE.

On the line of railway between Bath and Bradford, and about
three miles from the latter town, is the pretty village of Lympley
Stoke, looking down upon the Valley of the Avon, whose green ex-
panse is diversified by the frequent windings of the stream, and by
the Trowbridge Canal, which traced along the foot of the hills
forming the opposite boundary of the valley, is flanked for probably
two miles of its course by the beds of the Inferior Oolite, which,
emerging from beneath the clays of the Fuller's Earth, present a
mural escarpment of extreme regularity until eventually lost beneath
the overlying beds, under which they dip at a scarcely appreciable
angle within a short distance of the town of Bradford. The extent
and regularity of this section render it extremely valuable for the
study of the Inferior Oolite series in this district, and it will be
found to present characters in all respects similar to those exhibited
by the same beds at Charlcombe.

The Canal is at this point hollowed out of the " Sands" — a sub-
soil one would imagine, not very well adapted for the retention of
water, and about two or three feet of the sands are exposed above
the level of the Canal. Besting on these sands is the " basement-bed "
of the Inferior Oolite, about three feet in thickness, charged with
fossils, amongst which Trigonia costata and Rhynchonella spinosa are
abundant. The texture of the rock is extremely hard and intract-
able, which renders it difficult to extract fossils in good condition.
Trigonia costata is most frequently present in the shape of casts ;

173

llhyn. spinosa is plentiful, and in the crevices of the rock an occa-
sional example may be observed with the spines attached, though
not easy of extraction. To these " Trigonia and Spinosa grits "
succeed about 22 or 24 feet of impure bastard freestones, very much
fractured and disjointed, and more or Icssrubbly and disintegrated
in their upper portions — these beds are comparatively devoid of
fossils, a small form of Terebratula perovalis appearing the most
frequent

The following list of fossils from the " basement-bed " will servo
in some degree as a guide to the character of the deposit : —

Lima proboscidea. Ostrea.

Trigonia costata. Turbo capitaneus.

Trigonia, 2 species. Natica.

Pecten. Bhyn. spinosa.

Gryphsea Buckmanni. obsoleta.

Gresslya adducta. inconstans.

Pholodomya, 2 species. Terebratula perovalis.

Trichites, abundant. Serpulao, abundant.

Nautili and Ammonites portions, but not common.
For this list, which does not pretend to give more than a mere
outline of the contents of the beds in question, I am mainly indebted
to Mr. Moore ; but doubtless a careful examination would yield a
far larger series to any geologist who could spare time for their
investigation.

Besides the sections just described in detail at Charlcombe and
Lympley Stoke, I examined detached portions of the lower beds of
the Inferior Oolite at several points around Bath, and at the village
of Turley, about seven miles from thence, just above the quarries at
Meadgate, and found the "Trigonia and spinosa grits" forming the
basement-bed, and resting immediately on the " Sands."

The question that naturally presents itself to the mind of a
Cotteswold Geologist, upon a review of the foregoing considerations,
is, — what is the position occupied by these Bath Oolites, relatively
to the great development of the same beds in the neighbourhood of
Cheltenham and Gloucester? Our able colleague, Mr. Lycett, in
his clear and intelligent work on the Cotteswold Hills, divides the
Inferior Oolites in that district into three stages, distinguished by
their characteristic Brachiopods ; the lowest of which is designated
as the Cynocephala Stage ; the middle as the Fimbria Stage ; and the
highest as the Spinosa Stage. Hence, we should conclude, if this
arrangement be generally applicable, that in the neighbourhood of
Bath the two lower stages of the Cotteswold Oolites have thinned
out, leaving a special development of the Spinosa Stage, as the
representative of the entire group, and this may possibly prove to be
the case ; but, in order satisfactorily to ascertain this point, it will be
necessary to trace out the beds of the Inferior Oolite, from their area
of greatest development in the neighbourhood of Cheltenham, Stroud,
and Gloucester, to the position of diminished importance which they
occupy in the neighbourhood of Bath.

VOL. II. H

174

DUNDRY HILL.

The Oolites of Dundry Hill, near Bristol, have always presented
a problem of some difficulty to Cotteswold Geologists, who have
found it no easy matter to apply their own local subdivisions to the
30 or 40 feet of rags and freestones there developed, so as to bring
the two sets of deposits into harmonious relations with one another.

Mr. Lycett, though evidently entertaining some doubts respect-
ing the true correlation of these beds, offers a solution of the question
as follows : — He says, " at Dundry the quarries are capped with
rag-stones, which seem to belong to the Spinosa Stage ;, this is under-
laid by useful building freestones, and by sandy Oolite, in all nearly
50 feet thick, which, probably, represent the Fimbria Stage. The
Cynocephala Stage is here represented by only half-a-yard of ' Sands '
overlying the Tipper Lias Clay." "We have here the Cotteswold
series apparently identified at Dundry, and I visited the quarries
with the expectation of being able to recognise the equivalents of
the three stages as laid down by Mr. Lycett ; but I am bound to
record as the result of my observations, my persuasion that the
Dundry beds are a repetition and extension of those at Lympley
Stoke and Charlcombe, having the Trigonia and Spinosa beds at the
base, and resting on the " Sands "as in the last-named localities,
but with a greater extension upwards of the freestones, which like-
wise assume at Dundry a purer grain, and more even and regular
characters.

The Freestones at Dundry occupy the eastern extremity of the
hill, from which point, followed along their line of strike, they
rapidly attenuate, so that within an area of less than a mile from
their point of greatest extension, they cease to be any longer trace-
able. The principal quarries are near the Church, and in what is
known as the "Upper Quarry " the following beds are exposed : —

1. Eubbly beds 4 feet.

2. Hard gritty rock 9 „

3. Freestone beds 6 „

In these beds fossils are by no means abundant, or of good
differential type ; but lying amongst the debris which surround the
margin of the quarry, I found a block of stone precisely identical in
characters with the "basement-bed" at Lympley Stoke, and like
that charged with Trigonia Costata and Rhynchonella Spinosa. Whence
derived was the question, and an inspection of that and the adjoining
excavations affording no satisfactory explanation, I awaited the re-
turn of the quarrymen from their dinner to obtain information on
the subject ; and learnt, in reply to my enquiries, that the rock in
question lies at the bottom of all, and reposes upon a stratum of clay,
which in its turn rests upon Sand. The clay was described as a
water-bearing stratum, and in sinking a well for water in the
quarry, the workmen had brought up the blocks of " Trigonia and
Spinosa grit " from the position indicated. The clay band would
appear to be a merely local and accidental deposit ; and I heard a

175

story of a man whose well was supplied from this stratum, who not
being satisfied with the quantity of water yielded, and desiring to
increase the supply, penetrated to the underlying sands, and lost the
pure element altogether. The following is the succession of beds as
furnished by the quarry man : —

Kubbly beds 4 feet.

Hard gritty rock 9 „

Freestone beds 6 „

Hard coarse freestone 3 „

Rubbly stone 8 or 9 „

Shelly-bed, containing Trigonia and Spinosa . .3 „

Blue Clay 4 or 5 „

Sand

in all about 33 or 34 feet, exclusive of the clay band. I could find
no example of Trigonia, or R. spinosa, in the overlying beds ; though
Mr. Moore informed me that he had taken R. spinosa in a young
form in the Upper Rags, and had even met with it as high up as the
Bradford Clay.

The considerations which present themselves on a review of the
foregoing facts, are of a nature to prevent hasty conclusions ; but I
think I have shown sufficient reason to justify and call for a more
complete and methodical investigation of the intermediate circum-
stances which mark the passage of the Bath and Dundry beds into
those of the Cotteswold series, so as to ascertain how far, and to
what extent the division of the latter series into different stages,
characterised by special Brachiopods, can be maintained over a more
extended area ; or whether such subdivisions are not of merely local
value, and, in that respect, rather an hindrance than an aid when
applied to the definition of beds, in the deposition of which different
circumstances have in all probability prevailed.

176

Annual Addrt** to the CotUtwold Naturafot*' Field CM, read By
W. V. GUISE, F.L.S.. F G.S , Pretident.

23, 1860.

, — In compliance with the custom of the Club it becomes
my duty to lay before you an outline of the general working of our
Society, and of the progress of Science in connexion with it, during
the past season. In doing so, I am happy to have it in my power
to congratulate you upon the results. It is true that I cannot point
to many written papers as evidence of our activity ; yet, in proof
that we have not been idle, the records of our meetings will shew a
goodly array of facts established, and of doubts resolved, which are
after all amongst the most valuable results within the reach of local
contributors to Science.

In estimating the advantages of such an association as ours,
it must be borne in mind that the good which we effect is not limited
to the registration of facts in connexion with local phenomena,
Tpg>»itia1 and important, though such functions undoubtedly are. Our
gatherings in out-of-the-way nooks and corners ; our rambles over
hill and dale, by pool and stream, in leafy woodland, or on breezy
down ; the free interchange of thought and feeling between con-
genial minds ; all these conditions and circumstances tend to promote
that love of Nature and of Natural Science, which the Field Clubs
in especial have done so much to foster and develope.

The chief danger to be apprehended, perhaps, from the social
character of our meetings is lest we should degenerate too much
into the habits of mere " pic-nickers," From this risk, however,

177

our Society has been hitherto redeemed, by the valuable and im-
portant work done by the able observers and skilful Naturalists it is
our good fortune to rank amongst our members. It will suffice to
mention the names of Wright, Buckmann, Jones, Lycett, Brodie, and
Symonds, to recall at once names of writers well known in the
scientific annals of the country, and of whom some have by their
works obtained a more than European reputation.

To preserve such a Society in its full vigour and activity, is no
light responsibility for any individual, let his accomplishments or
fitness for the task be what they may ; and it was with the utmost
diffidence, and with a heavy sense of the importance of the charge,
that I permitted myself to be nominated for the office of President at
the commencement of our last season ; and this sense of responsi-
bility was in no degree lessened by the fact, that I was called upon
to succeed in office, one of the most justly popular Presidents that
ever conducted the affairs of any similar association. My predecessor,
Mr. Barwick Baker, was at the birth and founding of this Society ;
indeed, I may say, that in conjunction with our amiable friend, Sir
Thomas Tancred, he was our parent and founder — "fons et origo" —
and during thirteen years, in the course of which, hig supervision
never relaxed, nor was his tact found wanting ; he saw it grow and
gather strength, until our reputation stood amongst the highest
of similar societies, and our example becoming contagious, gave rise
to vigorous off-shoots in the neighbouring Counties, of which the
Field Clubs of Woolhope, Malvern, "Worcester, and Warwick are
living and flourishing evidences.

With the strong sense then that I entertained of the disadvan-
tage of following such a predecessor, I may well be believed, when
I assert that it w as with hesitation and reluctance that I consented
to accept the office of President of the Cotteswold Club. Relying,
however, upon the kind support of the members, and on the in-
valuable assistance of our able and indefatigable Secretary, Mr.
Jones, I undertook the duties of the office, and I am thankful to say,
that thus sustained, I have found my task comparatively easy ; and
at this, the termination of my year of office, although, as I have
said, our proceedings have not been illustrated to any extent by
written contributions, yet I can point with satisfaction to the work
accomplished, to the healthy and vigorous condition of the Club, to
our increased numbers, and to the undiminished interest in our
proceedings, as testified by the usually full attendance at the
different places of meeting.

The annual Meeting of the Club was held at the " Ram Inn,"
Gloucester, on the 15th of February, 1859, when T. B. LI. Baker,
Esq., after reading an address reviewing the proceedings of the past
year, to the regret of the Club, vacated the Presidential chair,
Professor Buckman at the same time retiring from the post of
Secretary.

W. V. Guise, of t Elmore Court, was then elected President, and
John Jones, of Gloucester, Secretary, for the ensuing year.

178

A discussion then ensued upon a proposition of the President,
" that the Club should no longer be limited to 50 members," which
proposed alteration was finally determined upon.

A party was afterwards organised to visit the "Marls tone"
quarries at Churchdown, in which several members joined ; whilst
others visited Highnam and Lassington, or inspected the Secretary's
interesting Cabinets of fossils.

About 30 gentlemen sat down to dinner, which was served by
"mine host" of the "Earn" in a style which drew forth well-
merited encomiums.

After dinner the following new members were elected : —
J. J. Watson, Ph. D., F.G.S., &c.,
Rev. F. Smithe, M.A., F.G.S., Churchdown.
Charles Prentice, Esq., Cheltenham.
Dr. Buchanan Washbourne, Gloucester.
W. C. Lucy, Esq., Gloucester.

The President read a paper upon the " Oolites in the neighbour-
hood of Bath ;" the purport of which was to shew, that throughout
the Bath district, and extending even to the quarries at Dundry, the
Trigonia and Spinosa beds, which occupy the upper zone of the
" Inferior Oolite " in the neighbourhood of Gloucester and Chelten-
ham, and overlie the well-known freestone-beds in that district, are
there found resting immediately upon the so-called "Lias Sands,"
and having above them beds of bastard freestone, which at Dundry,
in particular, assume the form of a true freestone, and are worked
as such.

The reading of this paper gave rise to an animated discussion,
which assumed at length, to the regret of all listeners, the form of a
personal altercation. Surely, it is not out of place here, to express
the hope that, that most useful feature of our meetings, the discus-
sion of points of scientific interest and importance may be conducted
without acrimony and without " o'erstepping the modesty of nature."
Let us remember that there can be no dogmas in science. The ex-
perience of every day is teaching us how dangerous it is to lay down
laws, and to insist upon the adoption of theories as though they were
incontrovertible truths, more especially in Geology. The vast book
of Nature is open to all ; but he only is a true philosopher and a
worthy interpreter of her pages, who reads in a humble and teachable
spirit, feeling after all, how small a portion the wisest among us can
hope to have the privilege of contributing to the great ocean of
Truth, the depths and boundaries of which lie all undiscovered
beyond. " In Geology," says General Portlock, in his Address to
the Geological Society, " there can be no partizanship, as the object
is not to support the territorial rights of formations, but to arrive at
truth."

With these observations, which I hope will not be deemed in-
trusive, I will proceed to give the substance of the remarks which
fell from our able colleague, Dr. Wright, with reference to the beds
referred to in the President's paper before-mentioned. He divides

179

the Inferior Oolite into three zones, whereof he styles the lower the
zone of Ammonites Murchisona ; the middle the; zone of Ammonite*
Humphresianut ; and the upper the zone of Ammonites Parkinsoni ;
these subdivisons having different degrees of development in different
parts of the counties of Gloucester, Somerset, and Dorset, being
thick, thin, or absent, as the case may be. The upper zone is, he
states, the most persistent throughout England, France, and Ger-
many. The middle zone is only feebly represented in the northern
Cotteswolds, but fairly developed at Dundry ; the lower zone having
its best development near Cheltenham.

The Charlcombe and Limpley Stoke beds near Bath, are referred
by the Doctor to the upper zone, the middle and lower zones being
absent.

For a more ample and complete exposition of Dr. Wright's views
upon this subject, I would refer enquirers to the very learned paper
upon "The Subdivisons of the Inferior Oolite in the South of
England," read before the Geological Society, in April, 1859, and
now published in the February number for the present year of the
Quarterly Journal of the same Society. It is a masterly resume* of
the entire subject, conducted with admirable patience and research,
and illustrated by an amount of learning both literary and paheon-
tological, which must ever render the paper indispensable as a work
of reference to all students of the Oolitic Series, whether they accept
the Doctor's limitations and subdivisions or not

May 11.— The Club met at the "Lamb Inn," Cheltenham, and
mustered in considerable force. After breakfast, an omnibus con-
veyed the party to the foot of Cleeve Hill, where the Geological Sec-
tion, under the direction of the late President, and Messrs. Brodie,
Norwood, and Jones, proceeded by the lane which passes between
the " Rising Sun " and Mr. Dobell's residence at " Cleeve Clouds,"
to investigate the stratigraphical position of the so-called " Road-
stone" of the district, the characteristic fossil of which is Terebratula
Phillip&ii. While the Entomological Section, represented by the
President, and the Rev. T. A. Marshall, took the lower ground
through the village of Bishop's Cleeve.

To the Secretary, I am indebted for the following account of the
proceedings of the Geologists, and for the very valuable list of fossils
annexed, of which few could have furnished so ample and reliable
a catalogue : —

These beds — those containing the "Roadstones" — are clearly
much out of place, and must, when "in situ," have been superior
to those of the Fimbria Stage, which now cap the hill immediately
above them Previously to having seen them, the Secretary, from
the account given of their fossil contents by Messrs. Norwood and
Bromby, ventured to assign to them a stratigraphical position, and
the subsequent examination of their organic contents, as well as of
their lithological characters, confirmed him in the opinion he had
expressed ; namely, that these beds are the equivalents of those,
which at Ravensgate, Cooper's Hill, and Haresfield, immediately

180

underlie the well- developed " Gryphite grits," and contaia the
greater numbers of the fossils in the following list : —

Brachiopoda.
Terelratula Phillipsii.

Buckmanni.

perovalis.

Rhynchonella spinosa.

— — — . — quadriplicata.

Monomyaria.
Avicula costata.
Gervillia tortuosa.

Gryphaa Buckmanni — in the more rubbly portions.
Hinnites tulerculosus — Goldf.
Lima proloscidea.

belMa.

Ostrea (MarsUi) ?

Pecten — Scarcely distinguishable from the P. pleuro-
nectes, and from the large smooth Pecten of
the Lias Marlstone.

Trichites — Large fragments.
Dimyaria.

Astarte rhomboidalis.

Cardium ? — Large casts.

Oresslya alducta — Very large.

Cucullaa ? — Casts.

ollonya.

Lithodomus ? fabella — Abundant.
Macrodon hirsonensis.

Modiola ?— Hull.

Pholodomya fidicula.

Phokdomya ? — A large species, apparently

unnamed.
Trigonia costata.

decorata — Lycett.

Gasteropoda.
Melania striata.

leckhamptonensis.

Pleurotomaria — (Casts).

Cephalopoda.

Nautilus — Large species, broken and in casts.
Ammonites liumphresianus.

It may be observed that, at Cooper's Hill, good and typical
specimens of Terebratula Phillipsi not unfrequently occur, as well
as of T. Buckmanni, the latter most frequently, in a sandy-bed at
the base of the "roadstone;" whereas at Cleeve, from one block of
stone, may be obtained numerous specimens, which present every
conceivable shape of character between T. Buckmanni, and what

181

would generally be considered immature forms of T. Phtflipsti, the
aged and typical form of the latter occurring most frequently in the
upper and more rubbly portion of the quarry. These observations
lead naturally to the inference that T. Buckmanni will eventually
be pronounced to be merely a young form of T. Phillipsn, as we have
only to produce — using the term in its technical sense — the outline
of typical T. Buckmanni, to obtain the perfect form of the other
species.

It is also worthy of remark, that in the Trigonia beds at Hares-
field, which are no longer gritty, but flaggy in structure, and from
which the contained fossils may be disembedded without much
difficulty, a form of Terelratula abounds, which is generally called
glolata ; but upon comparing it with its predecessors, to which the
foregoing remarks apply, it will be seen at a glance that it quite as
nearly resembles them, as the species to which it is generally

The entomological event of the day was the capture, by the
President and Mr. Marshall, of six individuals of the rare rhyu-
chophorous beetle Platyrhinus latirostis, taken upon decayed ash-
pollards, feeding on Spharia concentrica — (Berkeley), Sph:
fraxinea — Sow., with which their trunks were embossed.

On Thursday, 19th of May, the Club assembled at Apperley
Court, by invitation from H. Strickland, Esq., to meet the gentle-
men of the Malvern, Woolhope, and Worcester Nat. : Hist. :
Field Clubs ; and were entertained in a style of genuine old
English hospitality, which well illustrated the high esteem and
regard in which the kind-hearted host holds the cultivators of
those delightful sciences, from which he has himself, during a
long life, derived so much pleasure, and with which the name of
his family will ever be honourably associated.

After dinner, by permission of our host, scientific discussion
was invited, and the

Rev. W. S. Symonds, of Pendock, President of the Malvern
Field Club, proceeded to announce the discovery of a Pteraspis,
an " Old Red Ganoid " in the Lower Ludlow Rocks of Leint-
wardine, by Mr. Lightbody. This is a most important discovery,
as fish-existence is thereby carried two steps lower in the geolo-
gical scale than it had been previously supposed to range. In
the words of Mr. Symonds, at a recent meeting of the Malvern
Field Club, " this discovery greatly antedates the period during
which fish have been proved to have existed ; for the whole thick-
ness of the ' Upper Ludlow Shales,' and the ' Aymestry Lime-
stone' intervenes between the grave of the Pteraspis of the
' Upper Ludlow Shales,' and that of the Pteraspis ludewis (Salter)
of the Lower Ludlow Rock of Leintwardiue."

Mr. Jones then introduced to the notice of the meeting, the re-
markable discovery made by Dr. Falconer, in the Cave of Maccag-
none, near Palermo, of human implements in flint, together with

VOL. II. S

182

the faeces of a Hytena, and the teeth and bones of extinct
Mammals, cemented underneath a stalagmitic deposit to the roof
of the cave ; from which Dr. Falconer drew the inference, that the
cave had been filled to the roof during the human period, so that a
thick layer of bone-splinters, teeth, land-shells, and human imple-
ments, had been agglutinated together, and that, subsequently,
and within the human period, such a change had taken place in the
physical configuration of the district, as to cause the cave to be
emptied of its contents, excepting the patches cemented to the
roof.

This is only one of the many startling facts which have been
of late brought to light ; which, with accumulating force and
volume, seem to constrain the admission that man was at one
time contemporaneous, not only with animals now extinct, but
with a conformation of surface, and a distribution of land and
water, very different from that which now exists on the surface of
the globe.

The occurrence of human implements associated with the
teeth and bones of extinct species of Elephant, Rhinoceros, Bear,
Hysena, Tiger, Stag, and Ox, in stratified gravel on the Chalk-
hills of the Valley of the Somme, near Abbeville, and at St.
Acheul, near Amiens, together with the late discovery in Brixham
Cave, in Devonshire, of flint weapons in company with the bones
of extinct animals, have brought the co-existence of them with
man prominently forward amongst Geologists, who seem to be
arriving at the conviction, that man and the extinct mammals
referred to, were at one time contemporaneous, and if so, and the
physical facts in connexion be correctly interpreted, then it would
appear to follow, that the existence of man upon the earth must
be ante-dated to a period immeasurably far beyond the 6,000
years to which the human epoch has been usually limited.

These are indeed startling facts, and the wonderful conclu-
sions to which they seem to lead, may well make us hesitate before
we adopt them in their full extent. Nevertheless, howsoever our
interpretation may be at fault, the facts of Nature are incontro-
vertible. They are the acts of the Almighty Creator Himself, and
have been written by Him "for man's understanding," in charac-
ters as imperishable as the rocks on which they are inscribed ;
and we may feel perfectly satisfied that if the facts be true, and
they be truly interpreted, we must accept the conclusions, no matter
how much they may appear to militate against preconceived
opinions, or against the apparent meaning of written records.

On Wednesday, the 15th of June, the Club met at Dursley.
The President, Secretary, and the Rev. J. H. Deane, proceeded
from the Berkeley-road Station through the Stinchcombe Marl-
stone quarries, where nothing worthy of record was found, to a
quarry, on the top of the hill above Dursley, where the strati-
graphical relations of the beds are well shown, In descending

183

order the Trigonia grit comes first into view, then a bed about
eight feet in thickness, without any distinctive fossil, so far as we
could discover, and then the " freestone,*1 which is at that point
about CO or 70 feet thick. The Fimbria bed appears to be totally
unrepresented. Below the " freestone," the Cephalopoda bed, and
the upper portion of the subordinate " Sands," come into sight ;
but the beds, intervening between these and the base of " the
freestone," are obscured by rubble.

The " Sands " were here tenanted by a colony of Mason-
wasps, Odynerus spinipes, accompanied by their parasite Chrysis
bidentata.

After breakfast the party, with a considerable addition to its
strength, proceeded to Peakdown, in a road-cutting on which is
displayed the best section of the Supra-liassic Sands yet visited
by the Club, as they here attain to an estimated thickness of at
least 200 feet. Upon these reposes, well-exposed, the " Cephalo-
poda bed " with all its characteristic Ammonites, with the addi-
tion of many other interesting fossils, of which the following list
was made : —

Ammonites jurensis.
variabilis.

radians and var. Thouarsensis*

opalinus and var : Moorei.

Belemnites irregularis.

abbrieviatus.

Nautilus inornatus.

Trigonia Ramsayi — (Casts).

Opis.

Astarte.

Turbo capitaneus*

Pholodomya Zietheni.

Pecten demissus.

Cucullcea.

Gresslya abducta.

Modiola plicata*

Lucina.

Serpula*

A large Pinna and Ceromya bajociana, with other fossils, were
found in the upper portion of this bed ; but, as at Haresfield and
Frocester, these have all been found only in the upper zone, and
as it was exceedingly doubtful whether they were here in situ, to
say nothing of the very doubtful character of the matrix in which
they were embedded, the Secretary decided upon rejecting them.
While the majority of the party remained here, the President,
Secretary, and others crossed the intervening valley, and made
for Uley-Bury. About half-way up the hill, and at about the
middle of" the Sands "before referred to, the Secretary discovered
an intermittent nodular band of brown stone, similar to that

184

described by Mr. Lycett, as occurring at the base of the same
beds at Nailsworth, and containing a great number of the same
fossils.

This most interesting discovery again raised the moot point
respecting the relationship of these " Sands" to the beds imme-
diately above and below them. The Secretary, in common with
others of our most observant and skilful Paleontologists, deem-
ing that the passage thus traced throughout these " Sands " of
Oolitic forms of lamellibranchiate Molluscs in greatly prepon-
derating proportions, intermingled, however, with true liassic
forms, determines the transitional characters of the beds in ques-
tion, and entitles them to have assigned to them a distinct
position as an intermediate zone between the Lias and the
Inferior Oolite. On the other hand, our learned colleague, Dr.
Wright, arguing from the liassic type of the Cephalopods in the
bed above, allocates the " Sands " with the liassic series below ;
this too being the position now generally assigned to them by the
leading Continental Geologists. It is, however, but just to add,
that English Geologists seem by no means as yet to have made
up their minds upon the subject. It appears to me to be quite
one of those points which a local society like ours may well set
itself to clear up ; though, in doing so, it must be borne in mind
that the facts which we furnish, though most valuable, are strictly
local, and must be considered, not merely with reference to the
phenomena which they more immediately illustrate, but that they
must be compared with facts, from other and more distant
localities, carefully collected by competent observers, and all
bearing upon the same point. Thus, and thus only, can we hope
to arrive at truth, and by degrees to unravel the great mystery of
the succession of life during the countless ages of geological
development.

At this Meeting the question of the Cleeve Hill roadslones
was again brought under discussion, when Dr. Wright fully
assented to the position assigned to them by the Secretary, and
proceeded to explain his views upon the subject by a lecture,
which he illustrated by diagrams with chalk upon a black board.

Dr. Wright has favoured me with the substance of his
remarks in writing, which I deem of sufficient value and import-
ance to embody in this address. They are as follows : —

Remarks, by Dr. WRIGHT, on the " Roadstones " of Cleeve Hill

On leaving the Winchcombe road, about a quarter of a mile
beyond the " Rising Sun," by the new stables, and ascending
the escarpment at this point, the " Pea-grit" is seen in situ near
the wall, containing Terebratula simplex, Pygaster semisulcatus ,
numerous fragments of Pentacrinites and other fossils of this
rock. A few yards above, the Freestone, much displaced, crops

185

out Southwards, and still higher up the bill, we enter the
quarry called by the workmen the " Rolling-bank." In Sheet 44
of the Geological Survey this escarpment is marked " tumbled
Oolite and undercliff," names which alike indicate the disturbed
condition of the beds, produced probably by a slip of the Oolitic
strata over the unctuous clays of the Upper Lias.

The Lower Trigonia Grit, which is seen in situ on the plateau
above, has here rolled over and formed the glacis of the hill, it
has thereby covered the beds of the " Humpbresianus Zone"
which immediately underlie it. Recent workings having more
fully exposed these " Humphresianus" beds than formerly, I
have collected therefrom, a series of fossils characteristic of the
" Fauna " of this zone — and have lately ascertained the strati-
graphical sequence of the beds composing this middle division of
the Inferior Oolite in the northern Cotteswolds.

The " Rolling Bank Quarry " is capped by about 18 inches
of the "Lower Trigonia Grit," composed of loose incoherent
fragments of a light coloured Oolitic limestone, beneath which
are exposed the uppermost beds of the "^Humphresianus" zone,
consisting of

No. 1. — The Phillipsii-bed—is a light buff coloured, compact
earthy limestone. Many of the blocks are composed of tbe
shells of Brachiopoda, of which that of Terebratula Phillipsii
greatly predominates. The bed measures from two to four feet
jn thickness, and contains,

Lima proboscidea — Sow.

Pecten ?

Terebratula Phillipsii.

perovalis,

carinata.

— — Buckmanni.

Rbynchonella spinosa.
— — — tetrahedra.

No. 2. — The Roads tone-bed — consists of a coarse brown fer-
ruginous oolitic limestone, extremely hard and crystalline, in some
parts traversed by sandy layers, in others, containing calcareo-
siliceous concretions, which have a crystalline structure and un-
even fracture ; it forms a durable road-material, and is raised for
that purpose. The bed varies from 10 to 15 feet in thickness,
and contains a small assemblage of Mollusca, which are nearly
all in a state of moulds ; a few species have their tests preserved.
The Trichites are very large, and sometimes well preserved in the
rock, but cannot be extracted entire. Pholodomya Heraultii —
Ag., attains likewise a gigantic size. The following species occur
in the bed :—

Cephalopoda.
Ammonites d'Orbignana—ViT. Brogniarti d'Orb, mm. Sow,

186

Ammonites Humphresiatws — Sow.

Brocchii — Sow.

• — Braikenridgii — Sow.

Gasteropoda.

Chemnitzia Scemanni— Oppel.
Pleurotomaria Jasciata — Sow.

elongata — Sow.

Turbo lavigata.

Conchifera.

Ostrea flabelloides — Lamk.
Uinnites tuberculosus — Goldf.
Lima proboscidea — Sow.

Etheridgii—Wr.

no v. spec. ?

Trichites undulatus — Lye.
Astarte excavata — Sow.
Mytilus explanatus — Mor.
Pholodomya Heraultii — Ag.
Homomya crassiuscula — Lye.
Myoconcha crassa — Sow.
Pteroperna plana.
Trigonia costata — Sow.

striata — Sow.

Brachiopoda.
Rhynchonella subtetrahedra.

No. 3. — The Ostrea-bed, consists of a coare brown ferruginous
sandy marl, interstratified with inconstant layers of ragstone.
The fossils are most abundant in the sand. This bed is about
one yard in thickness, and contains, —

Conchifera.

Ostrea flabelloides — Lamk.
„ var. a.
„ var. b.
„ var. c.

pixiformis — VVr. n. sp,

Pecten demissus — Goldf.

Lima proboscidea — Sow.

Etheridgii—\Vr.

Gresslya abducta — Phil ?
Pleuromya tenuistriata — Ag.
Pholodomya Heraultii — Ag.

— — — ovulum — Ag.

• • media — Ag.

Davalqui — Lye.

Monotis tenuistriata — VVr. n. sp.

187

Annelida.
Serpula grandis — Goldf.

Echinodermata.

Clypeus Michelini — Wr.
Stomechinus germinans.

No. 4.— The Marl-bed. — Beneath a thin band of clay under-
lying the " Oyster-bed " is a soft mud-stone which is only
exposed at one or two points at the south end of the quarry ; it
contains many fossils with the shell preserved, but with the test
in such a rotten state, that only a few species could be deter-
mined. From the position of the bed, and from its organic con-
tents, it appears to be the upper part of the Oolite Marl, as this
rock is in position and well-developed, within 200 yards of the
" Rolling-Bank." The following fossils were there noted : —

Chemitzia sp. Nerincea sp. Modiola plicata Sow

Pecten lens Sow. Cypricardia cordiformis Desh.
Terebratula Etheridgii Dav. Montlivaltia sp.

From this Section it therefore appears that the Humphresianus
beds at Cleeve Hill rest upon the Oolite Marl, and are capped
by the Lower Trigonia Grit. The equivalent of the zone is only
partially fossiiiferous at Charlton Common, Leckhampton,
Shurdington, and Cooper's Hill. Doubtless if the rocks were
worked the characteristic fossils would be found. For the grand
development of the beds composing the zone of Ammonites'
Humphresianus the student must proceed to Dundry Hill where
they are admirably exposed and richly fossiiiferous, being capped
by the beds forming the zone of Ammonites Parkinsoni, and
resting on a thin bed of Upper Lias Sands.

In Somersetshire and Dorsetshire the middle division of the
Inferior Oolite is likewise well developed and exposed.

With these notes by Dr. Wright I will bring to a close the
question of the " Roadstones " of Cleeve Hill, the position of
which may now be looked upon as definitively settled, all our
local geologists having assented to the position laid down by
the Secretary and Dr Wright. This was the problem proposed
for solution at our Cheltenham meeting, and it has drawn forth
an amount of learning and research most creditable to the
Geologists of our Club. It is in the elaboration of such local
details that we can best serve the cause of science ; and it seems
to me most desirable, that keeping that aim in view, we should
direct our attention as much as possible to special points of local
difficulty and interest, whereby we shall be setting before us an
object, the careful elucidation of which cannot fail to stimulate
our individual energies, while at the same time it will secure
well-merited honour to the Scientific Society to which we belong.

188

The next Meeting of the Club was held at Newnham, on the
13th of July.

The first point visited was Westbury Cliff, which has lately
been carefully examined by the Secretary and Mr. Lucy, who
have noted a section differing so materially from those already
published, that by permission I will proceed to incorporate it in
this resume of our proceedings.

Section of Garden Cliff, Westbury, by J. JONES and W. C. LUCY,

Upon the Green and Red Marls of the " New Red Sandstone,"
dipping 2° S.S.E., which are here exposed to the depth of 70 or
80 feet, rest conformably : —

1. — A band of hard black Shale in which we first find
coprolites which appears to be identical with those
of the bone-bed above ... ... ,.. ... 2 feet

2. — A band composed partly of grit and partly of iron
pyrites, its weathered surface exposing many teeth,
coprolites, and shells of Pullastra arenicola ..5 „

3.— Black Shale, like No. 1 2 „

4. — Band like No. 2, with Pullastra arenicola ... 8 inches

5.— Black Shale as Nos. 1 and 2 2 feet

6. — BONE BED, consisting chiefly of Pyrites, contain-
ing fine specimens of teeth, coprolites, palates
bones, &c. ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 inch

7. — Black Shale as before, with coprolites, &c. ... 6 feet

8. — Pecten-bed ... ... ... ... ... ... 2 inches

9.— Black Shale 4 feet

10 Pullastra bed 1 inch

11 Shale 9 feet

12. — Grey nodular limestone of uncertain fracture,

containing abundantly in places Estheria ... I foot

13 Clayey Shale 1 foot

14.— Limestone band containing, at its lower portion, a
Myacites, probably M. liassinus of Quenstedt,
and above Monotis decussata in great numbers. Brodie
says also Cypris plants, Cyclas, and fish- scales ...

15.— Greyish blue Clay 2 feet

16. — Bottom-bed with Modiola and Ostrea minima
Although not traced at this particular spot, from other Sections
in the neighbourhood, it is known that the beds distinguished
successively by Ammonites planorbis and Johnstoni, Ammonites
angulatus, Bucklandi, abtusus, oxygnotus, and raricostatus, and
Pentacrinus tuberculatus, occur in due order, and accompanied to
a great extent by the same fossils which are found in each of
these beds of the same relative age in Germany.

The considerations arrising from an examination of the
preceding Section are of great interest, and suggest a subject for

189

investigation to which the Cotteswold Club may advantageously
apply itself. As we have already seen in the case of the junction-
beds between the Lias and the Inferior Oolite, so we see here
exemplified, those mixed characters partaking of the features of
two contiguous formations, which renders it very difficult to draw
a line of demarcation, and to assign to each its exact share in
the beds in question. Looking merely to mineralogical character,
a casual observer would at once place his finger on the well-
marked line of junction, where the " Red Marl1' is opposed in
strong contrast to the dark overlying clays in contact with it,
nnd would, without hesitation, allot the one to the Trias, and the
other to the Lias. But an examination of the fossil contents of
the beds, as enumerated above, will lead to a very different
conclusion.

The Bone-bed, which occurs about the middle of the series,
is charged with vertebrate remains of a decidedly Triassic
character ; though in many localities the vertebrate remains of
the bone-bed continue upwards in part into Ihe blue stone of
Ammonites planorbis above, and are even found in a separate liassic
bed. Fossil remains of a similar type are met with at Westbury in
the lowest baud of the dark clay in immediate contact with the
" Red Marl," and they are traceable upwards in the beds num-
bered 2 and 7 respectively. With No. 7, which immediately
overlies the Bone-bed, we lose all further traces in this Section
of these peculiar records of vertebrate existence, and after the
interposition of eight feet of clay, the lighter colour of which
may perhaps vindicate a miueralogical change in the circum-
stances of its deposition, we arrive at a very remarkable band
which is characterised by the presence of Estheria, and from that
circumstance is designated the Estheria-bed. This fossil, which
was formerly considered to be a bivalve Mollusk, and as such
received the appellation of Posidonia minuta, is now transferred
to the Entomostraca, though with some doubts as to whether it
be correctly referred to that Order of Crustaceans. Should such
be the case, it may possibly suggest for it a freshwater habitat, a
circumstance in some degree supported by the discovery by Mr.
Brodie of Cypris, plants, and Cyclas in the limestone-band No.
13 which overlies it.

Tn the Journal of the Geological Society for November, 1856,
Mr. Rupert Jones writing upon Estheria minula, observes that,
" Although the recent Estheria is a Marine Crustacean, yet since
very closely allied forms are of fresh water habits, and since among
bivalved Entomostracans, different species of a genus, and even
the individuals of a species, occasionally live either in marine or
in fresh water, there is no certain evidence afforded by the fossil
in question whether the so-called Triassic deposits in which it
is found were formed in rivers, lakes, or seas." According to
Mr. R. Jones different species of Estheria are met with in

VOL. II. T

190

Devonian rocks and in those of the Carboniferous, Liassic,
Oolitic, Purheck, and Wealdeu. Nevertheless he is of opinion
that " Although occurring so constantly in the different geoloical
periods from the Devonian to the Wealden, and again in recent
marine and fresh waters, yet it is in the Triassic deposits of
England and the Continent, and in the plant-bearing beds of
Virginia and Central India, that this little bivalved Entomostracan
appears to be pre-eminently abundant, so as to serve probably
as a faithful index of a peculiar geological horizon."

To the Estheria-bed, succeed about four feet of Clayey Shales,
which are followed by the bed known as the Monotis-bed. This
is one of the most remarkable in the district for the number of
shells it contains of this species, in a beautiful state of preser-
vation, with an occasional Modiola minima intermixed. The
prevailing fossil on the under side of the slabs on which Mon&tis
is found, is a Myacites, which much resembles, if it be not
identical with Myacites liassinus of Quenstedt, and is interesting
as being the first of that genus and family subsequently so
extensively developed throughout the Jurassic period. Monotis
seems properly to be considered a sub-genus ofdvicula, differing
no more from the species with prolonged bases or hinge-lines,
which subsequently take its place, than do the Meleayrince from
the Avicula of the present time. Considered then as an Avicula
it is a form which is known to us in the " Caradoc" and probably
lower still.

From a consideration of the foregoing circumstances it will
be seen that in connexion with mineralogical characters entirely
liassic, we have a zone of life which as certainly appears to have
its affinites with the preceding period. How far it may be wholly
assignable to the " Trias " as has been done by some competent
geologists, may perhaps still admit of question. Many regard
the entire zone, comprising on the Continent of Europe a
succession of beds not less than 200 feet in thickness, as repre-
senting a truly transitionary period, and as such entitled to a
separate and distinct rank, having analogies with both the
contiguous formations, yet strictly assignable to neither. Here
at any rate is a field for study and observation which can only be
successfully worked out by a careful comparison of the series of
beds as displayed in our own county at Westbury, Wainlode,
Aust, &c., with the same beds at Binton and other localities in
Warwickshire, at Penarth near Cardiff, at Axmouth in Devon-
shire, and wherever else they may be exposed in the British
Islands ; and these again must be correlated with those on the
Continent of Europe, where a more extensive development
illustrated by a far larger series of fossil remains, will no doubt
eventually enable geologists to determine with exactitude and
correctness, the true value of the beds in the geological scale.

With reference to the upper beds of the " New Red," and in

191

illustration of what may be done by bringing local knowledge to
bear upon particular facts, it may not be out of place here to
introduce to the notice of the Club certain circumstances which
have of late created a great sensation amongst geologists, and
which serve again to warn us against accepting the dicta of even
the most accomplished minds as though they were not only
unquestionable, but as if it were heretical to question them.

The reptiliferous Sandstones of Elgin, in the North of
Scotland, have been long celebrated as furnishing the fossil
remains of certain reptiles of which the Telerpeton elginense and
the Hyperodapedon Gordoni, both highly organised reptilian
forms are the most notable. These Sandstones have hitherto
been attributed to the age of the " Old Red Sandstone " by all
geologists, including Sir Roderick Murchison, Professor Ramsay,
and Hugh Miller. At the same time, however, there have not
been wanting those, who looking to the type of the animal
remains, have doubted their palcaozoic character, though they
hesitated in the face of such concurrent authority to admit their
claims to a place in the mesozoic series.

Previous to the meeting of the British Association at
Aberdeen, Mr. Charles Moore, of Bath, visited the neighbour-
hood of Elgin, and from his knowledge of the palaeontology and
geology of the Liassic and Triassic periods, completely changed
the geologic history of these Elgin Sandstones. He discovered,
by comparison of fossil evidences, that the so-called " Old Red
Sandstones," were in truth attributable with all their contained
reptiles and fishes to the age of the Trias, between which and
the superimposed Lias, the intermediate junction-beds witti the
characteristic " bone-bed " are distinctly recognisable.

Upon the announcement of this discovery, the beds at Elgin
were visited by the first physical geologists of the day, who have
fully recognised and confirmed what the paloeontological know-
ledge and acumen of Mr. Moore, had first afforded a clue to un-
ravel, and I have authority for stating, that Sir Charles Lyell
intends omitting the Telerpeton, and his companions from the
list of Upper Devonian fossils in the forthcoming (6th) Edition
of the "Manual."

The reptiliferous beds of Elgin are considered to be the
equivalents of the Rhnchosaurus " Sandstones" of Greenshill, near
Shrewsbury, and of the " Waterstones " of Red Marley d'Abitot,
and of Ombersley, in Worcestershire.

We will now revert to the proceedings of the Club after leaving
Garden Cliff. The next point visited was a small isolated mass
of " Upper Ludlow Rock/' at the back of Flaxley School, which
constitutes the lowest stratum displayed in that vicinity, of those
beds, by the upheaval of which, the edges of the Forest Coal-
basin have been formed. The " Tilestones " rest upon this boss,
dipping inwards comformably, while the " New Red " rests almost

193

horizontally against their dank, having the same degree of dip
as at Westbury, viz. : about 2° S.S. K. It is to be observed, that
this point is not noted upon the Maps of the Geological Survey ;
it has, therefore, probably hitherto escaped the notice of the staff
of able and lynx-eyed Surveyors, by whoso labours that magni-
ficent national work has been so indefatigably and so successfully
elaborated.

Wednesday, 17th of August. The Club met at Swindon ; the
attendance was, however, but thin, not more than half-a-dozen
presenting themselves at the rendezvous at breakfast ; of these,
the majority proceeded on wheels to Abury, while the geological
Section, represented by the President and Mr. Charles Moore, of
Bath, the well-known palaeontologist, addressed themselves to the
geology of the district, which they traced from the quarries in the
Portland Oolite above the Town, to the summit of the opposite
chalk escarpment at Burdrop Park.

The dirt-bed in the Swindon quarry, which has yielded a very
interesting series of fossils to the persevering industry and in-
telligence of Mr. Moore, was closely investigated ; but it does not
yield up its treasures to every casual explorer ; and one valve of
a Cypris was the sole, yet satisfactory result of much laborious
examination.

In the course of the evening, Mr. Moore exhibited a beautiful
series of minute organisms from this bed, concerning which he
offered some interesting observations.

The band of dark sandy clay, marked No. 4 in the Section
given in the Memoirs of the Geological Survey, Sheet 34, he con-
siders to be the equivalent of the dirt-bed of the Swanage Sec^
tiou, and although he stated that he had as yet found no traces
of Mammalia in it; yet he has obtained teeth of Macelodus
Brodiei, and of other reptiles found in the Purbeck strata of
Swanage. But the remains of greatest interest are some minute
vertebrae and articulated bones, which Professor Owen tias decided
to belong to a perennibranchiate Batrachian, an Order not pre-
viously known below the Tertiary beds.

Cypris is found in the same bed, and one or two species of
Chara, with other fruits, and also a numerous series of Testacea.

This was a Ladies' Meeting, but I regret to say, that the
Ladies did not respond to the invitation conveyed in the printed
circulars, to the extent it was hoped they would have done. One
only gracing the table with her presence. Let us hope this was
due rather to the inconvenience of a somewhat distant locality,
than to lack of sympathy with the object of our meeting. The
occasional presence of the gentler sex at such gatherings of the
Club, as may be favourable to their coming amongst us, should by
all means be encouraged, as tending to exert a humanizing in-
fluence over the rougher nature of even the most intellectual of
philosophers; while the Ladies on their part, cannot fail of

193

imbibiug some portion of the fervour and enthusiasm of the
naturalist, at the same time that they derive benefit from the new
sources of pleasure and interest opened up to them.

The last meeting of the Club for the season, took place at
Cirencester, on Wednesday, 14th of September. The President
was absent through ill-health, and is indebted to Professor Buck-
man for the report which follows : —

The Club met at the " Fleece Inn," Cirencester, but in conse-
quence of the threatening aspect of the weather, few members
were present. After breakfast, Messrs. Stronge and Bowly took
the party assembled, in their carriages, to the old Church of
St. Mary, Ashbrook, where the Norman tympanum of the north
door, and a west window with peculiar flamboyant tracery, at-
tracted great attention. Maiseyhampton Church was next visited,
where the decorated east window, the sedilia and fine architec-
tural morceaux of the early English period, much interested the
ecclesiologists. In the Churchyard, under the south wall, were
pointed out some specimens of the Elder-tree (Sambucus nigrd),
much sought after by the country-folks, for virtues supposed to
exist in them, as set forth in Mr. Jones's paper upon " Certain
superstitions prevalent in the vale of Gloucester/' which was read
to the Cotteswold Club at their meeting at Tewkesbury, in 1854.
Poulton Church was next examined, the east window of which
deserves attention. It is an early English 3-light window, plain
outside, but with an elegant cinque -foiled hood, internally sup-
ported by semi-columns resting upon corbel-heads. A fine
Section of the " Great Oolite " and "Forest Marble " was here
examined, and explained by Professor Buckman.

After dinner Professor Buckman exhibited some fossil reptilian
eggs found in the Great Oolite near Cirencester; and in the
absence of papers gave a lecture upon the growth of Carduus
arvensis, or Field Thistle, setting at rest the disputed point as to
whether Thistles grow by seed, by exhibiting a pot in which
eight seeds had come up out of ten sown. This furnishes us
with some interesting facts in illustration of the history of thistle
growth. It is known that these plants spread themselves below
the surface by means of Rhizomata (underground stems), after
the fashion of Couch-grass ; and the knowledge of this fact has
given rise to the widely disseminated impression that Thistles do
not grow from seed. But this experiment of Professor Buckman
shews that the seeds readily germinate ; and such seeds being
of the pappiform kind, and each flower producing about 150,
while each plant on an average produces 20 flowers, it will readily
be seen at what a frightful rate of increase this plant possesses
the faculty of propagating itself— 150x20=3000 for a single
plant, which if grown on a waste place may readily distribute
seeds over ail entire farm.
It will not be out of place here to notice the valuable results

194

of some further botanical experiments conducted by Professor
Buckman in the Gardens of the Royal Agricultural College at
Cirencester. The first has reference to the mode of growth of
" Flax Dodder " seed, the method of its germination, and how
it attacks its foster-parent and establishes itself. This has been
made the subject of experiment, and a most elaborate article has
been written thereon in the Agricultural Gazette. This, together
with remarks upon about 200 experimental "plots," will be
published in the reports to the British Association, which the
Cotteswold Club may be pleased to know has made a grant of
Ten Pounds towards defraying the expenses of these investigations
in the Gardens of the Royal Agricultural College.

The next experiment by Professor Buckman is one of more
than usual value and importance, as it has had for its object the
ennobling of a wild root ; and its complete success is of the
highest interest, as bearing directly upon the intricate question
of the origin of many of our culinary herbs and fruits, the
descent of which, from their wild congeners, has always been a
subject of doubt and difficulty, it being by many believed that
the wild plant, though cultivated for ever so long, will never
produce an esculent variety. The Wild Carrot — Daucus carrota ;
and the Wild Parsnip — Pastinaca saliva, are amongst those
whose absolute specific identity with the cultivated varieties
appears to be indisputable, having all the characters in common
excepting that of being fit for food. The Carrot, I believe, has
hitherto resisted all attempts at civilization, and continues
obdurate and intractable ; though I do not despair of hearing
that under Professor Buckman's superintendence and persuasive
manipulation, the refactory nature of the plant has been over-
come, and that a new variety of that useful esculent has been
added to our list of culinary roots.

With the Parsnip, however, the learned Professor has been
entirely successful, and the " ennobling " of Wild Parsnips
has this year arrived at such perfection, that a new variety of the
root has been established, and the seed of it can be obtained
from Messrs. Sutton, of Reading, under the title of " The Student
Parsnip," which is reported to be a most compactly formed root,
of a clear unbranched outline, and of a fine flavour.

It will not have escaped observation how large a portion of the
foregoing pages is dedicated to the records of Geology. This is
no doubt a most attractive science. The objects which it embraces
are amongst the grandest and most exciting to the imagination
to which the intellect of man can apply itself. It has been
remarked that Geology ranks next to Astronomy in the sublimity
of the facts of which it takes cognisance. Looking, moreover,
to the almost perfect development of the geological series in
some of its most important epochs, as displayed in this county,
and further at the vast bulk of geological history exposed for

195

investigation, from the " Upper Llandovery" beds at May Hill, to
the Coral Rag and Oxford Clay iii the Deighbourhood of Fairford,
illustrated throughout, in many parts profusely, by a series of
fossil organisms, whose numbers and variety seem to increase the
more the containing beds are examined— looking, I repeat, to
all these circumstances, we cannot feel surprise that so many
labourers should be attracted into such an absorbing and exciting
field of investigation, and that so few, comparatively speaking, of
our number should devote themselves to those other branches of
Natural Science, the study of which, though perhaps yielding
results less specious, yet forms the foundation of all sound
geological learning, and offers to those who will dedicate them-
selves to the work, prizes at least as great, results quite as
important, as those which have conferred distinction upon so
many Naturalists from the days of Aristotle to the present time.

A consideration of the foregoing circumstances, and of
extreme desirability of extending the range of subjects of whiclr
the Club takes cognisance, induces me, whilst urging the increase
of our numbers, to endeavour to establish among us Sections
for the more especial study of Zoology and Botany, by whose
accumulated labours we might hope gradually to amass a fund of
materials, out of which a complete Natural History of the County
might one day be elaborated. Such an aim seems to me a noble
and a useful one, and one to which the Cotteswold Club may
worthily apply itself.

The Botany of the County has found an able expositor in our
colleague, Professor Buckman, who, sixteen years ago, published
a little Handbook to the Botany of the environs of Cheltenham,
which, as the first attempt to tabulate the plants of an interesting
historical district, is of great value, and contains, within a
limited compass, principles of arrangement capable of being
adapted to the illustration of the Botany of the entire County.
This is a study which should recommend itself especially to our
Lady friends, whose co-operation I would earnestly solicit. It
would afford them never-failing interest and pleasing occupation,
while, as fellow-labourers with ourselves in the field of local
science, they might greatly aid in carrying out the objects we
have in view.

The Club numbers amongst its members two or three
Entomologists, to whom we may look for good work among the
Insects. I have already recorded upon the face of our proceed-
ings the occurrence of the rare beetle Platyrhinus latirostris, to
which I desire to add a few more Coleoptara worthy of notice
which have come under my own observation.

Chrysomela distinguenda — Taken in a great Oolite Quarry,

near Sherborne, in this County.

Anobium pertinax — Taken under the bark of a pollard willow
in March.

196

Synaptus filiformis. — Clenonychus hii'siitim, Stev. — Hitherto
esteemed rare ; but taken by me in
abundance on the bank of the Severn,
in June.
Elaler ballealus.
Win us imperialis.
Aslynomus crdilis.
Sciaphilus muricatus.
Grypidius equiseti.

Of the beautiful and favourite order of Lepidoptera, there arc
many more students than of the less showy and more intricate
Coleoptera. From one of these, Mr. Bingham, of Newnham, T have
received the following notice, which I proceed to transcribe : —

" The Sallows last spring were very unproductive, for although
I worked them well, they only gave the common species, such as
-Q%acilis, cruda, sfabilis, rubricosa, &c. In 1858, 1 took two leuco-
*ffirapha, and a friend met with rubiginea. In April, I took
Leiocampa dictcea on a gas-lamp, for the first time in this district.
In June, the woods were full of life. In company with a couple
of entomological friends, 113 species were taken between the 7th
and 1 Ith of the month, of which the names were noted, as well
as many others in the smaller groups of which we had no know-
ledge. Amongst those noted, occurred Eupithecia debiliata,
hitherto supposed to be confined to Devonshire — JJporia cratagi
— Chccrocampa elpenor — Euthemonia russula — Hepialus velleda
(new) — Hadcna thalassina (new) — Hadena W-latinum (new) —
Thyatira bails (new) — Macaria notata — Eupifhecia pulchcllata
and coronata — Acidalia trigeminata — Asthena sylvata — Minoa
euphorbiata — MeJanippe hastata and unangulata — Roxana arcuella
(new) — Sccmasia Wceberana^ fyc. Those to which the adjective
' new ' are affixed, are new to my local list."

" During the five years that I have imperfectly worked this dis-
trict, I have taken, within walking distance of Newnham, about
500 species of macro-lepidoptera, including the Tortricina, but ex-
clusive of the Crambidtf."

Procris globularite.
Sphinx convolvuli.
Acherontia atropos.
Stauropus fagi.
Pterostoma palpina.
Leiocampa dictaa.

dictceoides — (larva).

Notodonta ziczac — (larva).
Trichiura crattegi.
Pacilocampa populi.

Prodelia liter alls — An extremely rare insect, only the
second instance of its occurrence
in Gloucestershire, the other oc-
curred at Bristol.

197

Geomctra papilionaria.

Ennomos tiharia.

— — — fascantaria.

• erosaria.

Macaria alternata.

— notata.

Tephrosia extersaria.

Acid alia fumata.

Harpalyce — All except picaria and sagittaria.

Collix sparsata.

Asthena Blomeri.

"These are among the more noticeable insects that have
come under my observation ; and I have no doubt that where the
Dean Forest well worked, it would rank with any district in
England or Scotland as respects the number and variety of the
' Lepidoptera' indigenous thereto."

I have now, I believe, Gentlemen, touched upon all those
matters which seem to me to require notice ; and in concluding
this address, I will repeat my thanks for the support and assist-
ance so freely accorded me, while at the same time I urge a
continuance in that course of energetic perseverance, united
with good feeling and brotherly kindness, which has so long
characterised the proceedings of the Cotteswold Naturalists'
Field Club.

VOL. n.

Annual Address to the Cotteswold Naturalists' Club,
January 27, 1857.

By Professor JAMES BUCKMAN, F.L.S., F.G.S., F.S.A., &c.

IN order to account for my presence before you at this period,
it will be sufficient for our members to be told that, the President
had requested me to prepare the annual address for this meeting.
We all know how his slightest wish is law, and how attention to his
laws has usually resulted in benefit to our community ; if there-
fore the present instance of obedience to, and respect for, his high
commands should end in disappointment, pray cut me up as much
as you please — but, for our President, I only hope he may con-
sider me a sufficiently juvenile offender to warrant him in extend-
ing towards me his philanthropic support and protection, when,
in all probability, I shall by next year be so far reclaimed as not
to venture upon the like offence again.

Before reviewing the proceedings of our past session, I would
call upon you to pay a tribute of respect to our departed associate
the Rev. H. J. Bolland. I need not speak to you of his goodness
of heart, of his kind and gentle manners, of his keen perception
of natural beauties, qualities for which he was endeared to every
one who had the good fortune to know him ; yet I may say that,
though no professed natural historian — no classifier of genera or
species — yet was he a naturalist in the best sense of that term,
as he was a lover of nature, who could draw from tier contempla-
tion abundant proof of God's Wisdom and Power, and the book
of Creation was, in his hands, not a hindrance but a graceful help
to the lessons drawn from the one he was ordained to teach.

The few secessions of the past session have been filled up by
the election of Mr. Pierson, of Cheltenham, who will long be
remembered for the active part he took (in conjunction with our
talented associate Dr. Wright) in supplying and arranging the
beautiful Geological Museum to which the British Association
was welcomed at the Cheltenham meeting. An addition has also
been made to our ranks by the election of Mr. G. F. Newmarch,
solicitor, of whom it may be said that although his profession obliges
him to pore over other deeds, even drier than the species list of
the geologist or botanist, yet he chooses the study of nature as his
relaxation, and to this end we hope he will frequently join the
ranks of our field ramblers.

In reviewing the field proceedings of the past session, I shall
have to refer you to our places of meeting, premising that in no
former year have we experienced a more regular attendance of
members ; and if, on review, it be found that our papers have not
been so numerous as on former occasions, it could only arise from
the always too brief interval between dinner and the departure of
the train being amply and profitably filled up either in comparing
notes of the ramble of the aay, or in the discussion connected with
some matter or object introduced by the members.

To begin with our annual meeting in this place, on the 29th of
January last year. I find it recorded that after partaking of the
hospitality of the Principal of the College, in the shape of a
hearty breakfast, the Antiquarians visited the Corinium Museum,
the tessellated floors of which had just been laid. On this occa-
sion a hearty cheer greeted the noble Earl Bathurst, as a sponta-
neous thank-offering for his liberality in rearing so substantial a
building for the protection and preservation of these works of the
past. To-day you were again invited to visit this Museum, and I
feel sure again to pay the tribute of respect, as since last year his
Lordship has liberally allowed me to furnish the Museum with
the necessary cases, &c. ; and at present we have seven handsome
oak and glass cases, in which are arranged upwards of a thousand
objects relating to the Roman occupation of the antient Corinium
and its neighbourhood ; these I feel assured you were struck with,
not from their intrinsic value, nor from their beauty of form,
though there is much that is striking in this respect, but from
the many articles they contain of domestic use ; a circumstance
which you will understand if you examine a plan (suspended on
the walls) of the dwellings which I excavated in 1852, as in these
rooms were found the Statue of the Deity and his Altar. The
living room with its valuable fictilia, some so prized as to have
come down to us with the rivets by which its antient possessor
had kept together its fractured portions ; its ornaments of armill<e
and fibula, as perfect in form as when they first formed a tribute
of affection or a sign of ostentation. The dividers (compasses) of
the draughtsman — the shears, which did duty as scissors to the
Roman matron — and the oyster knife, so like our own as to show
us that we have now no better mode of opening the " refractory
bivalves," as Albert Smith calls them, than was to be found as
much as 15 centuries ago. These, with cutlery, together with
the hone-stones upon which it was sharpened, have only here been
referred to, to show that the Collection of Antiquities in the Cori-
nium Museum is particularly valuable as explaining to us some
facts connected with the inner life of this interesting people,
whilst, at the same time, we should feel thankful to them for
having introduced to, and left among us, so many articles tending
to advance our civilization.

Pardon this digression — if, as Mr. Bowly would say, we have
been pursuing the wrong fox, we were soon led in the right direc-
tion by the Noble Proprietor of Oakley Park, who headed us
through the park glades until we joined the Agricultural party at
his Lordship's new farm buildings ; here the whole machinery
was set in motion by the powerful engine completed last year,
and the Geologists examined the well-sinking through the Great
Oolite into the Fuller's Earth, a depth of 140 feet. The whole
of this shaft was carried through beds of a more or less porous
oolite, without a break either lithological or palseontological, a
circumstance which gave rise to some discussion between Mr.
Hull, of the Ordnance Geological Survey, and the Secretary — the

Ill

former gentleman considering a large portion of the shaft as
representing the Forest Marble, the latter considering it as
wholly belonging to the Great Oolite, and contending that certain
clay bods, which occur higher in the series, where the true Brad-
ford Clay is absent, present a natural division and one which can
bo carried out through a wide extent in this district. At a later
period of the meeting, the Secretary presented a section of this
well \\ith others of the neighbourhood, and read a paper on the
Geology of the water-bearing beds about Cirencester.

HuviMg transacted the usual business of the Club, the members
and friends, to the number of 40, sat down to a substantial dinner,
which, from its abundance and small cost, was certainly a convinc-
ing proof that our dinner bill need not be extravagant when we
have a liberal landlord to deal with; at the same time we must
bear in mind that our long rambles make us good trenchermen,
whilst our moderation in imbibition tends much to limit the usual
profit, so that we may not wonder in these days of dearness that,
even at the Lamb at Cheltenham, a petition was preferred after
our last dinner there for additional pay.

Well, dinner over, after the usual toasts, and one to the health
of the re-elected President and Secretary, followed by that of
Professor liamsay, the "Director of the Ordnance Geological Sur-
vey, who honored us with his presence, a paper was read by Dr.
Wright, on the section of Frocester Hill, the object of which was
to show that a certain bed at the base of the Inferior Oolite, and
formerly referred to that rock, should, in the Doctor's opinion, be
held as part of the Lias ; th;s view was supported by a reference
more particularly to various Cephalopoda, (principally Ammonites
and Belemnites,) most of which are peculiar to the bed itself,
whilst others are such as belong to the Upper Lias, and at this
meeting was introduced the Ammonites lifrons, which was trium-
phantly pointed out as proving the case ; and indeed so startling
was the production of this shell, as I understood from the bed in
dispute, as in a great measure to stifle discussion upon the subject
until the matter had been further looked into ; and herein we
have much to thank the learned Doctor for in directing our more
particular attention to one of the most interesting sections in our
county. The result, however, of my own labours at Frocester
Hill, leads me to conclude that the Ammonites lifrons in question
was obtained from a bed nearly 80 feet below what has been held
to be the basement bed of the Inferior Oolite (the Cephalopoda
bed of Dr. Wright), and as much as 20 feet from the top of the
Upper Lias, and consequently that distance below the Inferior
Oolite Sands of the Ordnance Surveyors. However, as this
subject came before us at the Pains wick meeting and again at
Cheltenham, I shall shortly refer to it in another part of this
address, only pointing out that the mistake is easily made, inas-
much as the steep scarp at Frocester has long been exposed to the
action of the atmosphere, and hence its included iron has become

IV

so oxidised as to render the clays and sands much of the same
colour, and besides the upper sands have slipped down the slopes
and become intermixed with the upper beds of the Lias.

The business, then, of our last College meeting concluded with
the Secretary calling attention to a Section extending from the
Yale of Gloucester, below Birdlip, along the Roman Road to
Stratton St. Margarets ; this, which was the result of the joint
labours of our then Professor of Engineering, Mr. Armstrong,
with a Class of Engineering Students, and myself with a Geolo-
gical Class, had been carefully worked out in an Easter vacation ;
and I have at this meeting the pleasure of introducing to your
notice another section, done in like manner, extending from the
College through Moreton- in- Marsh to Shipston-on-Stour, in
Worcestershire. The great interest of these Sections is that they
have not been made hypothetically, but are the result of a syste-
matic and combined survey, the Engineers taking the levels of the
country surveyed, whilst the Geologists marked the strata, col-
lected fossils, noted facts connected with quarries, wells, and the
like, so that we hope these Sections may be satisfactorily appealed
to for settling some important practical questions.

I cannot conclude my remarks upon matters connected with
this meeting, and more especially in the presence of ladies, with-
out referring to the charming wind-up of the day — and a most
agreeable one too— afforded by an invitation to Mrs. Haygarth's
tea-table. This kind lady evidently understands the natural
history of naturalists, a fact which you will recognise more keenly
when you know that the meeting of to-day resulted in the wish
of Mrs. and Mr. Haygarth.

May 20. — The first summer meeting was appointed for the
Painswick district, and we have to thank the managers of the
Great Western Railway for depositing us at Haresfield, from
whence we took the ascent of Beacon Hill, carefully examining
the section there presented ; ascending to the quarry we pass over
an interesting fault, and at the very brow of the hill the strata have
been washed away and the chasms filled up with oolitic debris
and shingle, the former offering an example on a small scale of an
undercliff, caused by subsidence resulting from the wearing
away of the Oolitic Sands and Upper Lias by the Severn Sea, and
the latter the result of that shingle deposit which may we traced
along the Cotteswold scarps, as so cleverly pointed out by Mr.
Hull. During this ramble we examined all the beds of the Infe-
rior Oolite, being much assisted herein by the use of a beautifully
detailed Section, worked out by our accomplished associate, Mr.
Jones, and which, with his permission, I hope to publish in our
proceedings.

June 17. — Mitcheldean was the place appointed for this month's
meeting, and as I could not attend, I have to thank Mr. Jones,
not only for making the necessary arrangements, but for a full

and most comprehensive report of the proceedings of the day, which
I ain sure you will thank me for giving you verbatim et literatim.

" Leaving Gloucester at 10.24, the party, consisting of Lord
Ducie, J. H. Elwes, W. V. Guise, D. Bowly, and myself, and
J. K. Wilton as a visitor, receiving the welcome addition of the
Eev. W. S. Symonds, at the Grange, duly arrived at the Mitchel-
dean Road Station.

" The ascent of the Lea Bailey was immediately commenced,
and the upturned edges of the Carboniferous Limestone, with its
shales speedily found exposed for examination in the most satis-
factory manner, and dipping from this position towards the centre
of the forest basin, 8.S.W., at an inclination of about 20 degrees.
The Limestone appeared to contain very few fossils, but the
shales yielded some slabs of a thin band of stone composed almost
entirely of the shells of Serpula and Spirorbis, and of Murchiso-
nia, and other small Gasteropods, interesting from the very great
abundance in which they occurred. From this point the same
stratigraphical line was followed to the neighbourhood of the
Hawthorns, where, in a deep road cutting, may be seen the finest
section of the transition beds between the Old Eed Sandstone
and the beds above mentioned, to be found in the district ; no
better could, in fact, be desired, from the high angle at which the
beds are exposed. Descending the hill from the cutting to Dry-
brook, where the innermost of the two seams of coal laid down on
the maps of the survey as below, or rather, at this point, outside
the Grits which form the basin bed of the true coal measures is
worked, the shale was found to be particularly rich in well pre-
served coal plants of the usual character. The vein of coal, locally
known as the Coleford High Delf, was described by the miners
as about five feet in thickness, of a quick burning quality, con-
taining much sulphur, and therefore principally used for lime-
burning and like purposes.

" The shaft open before us, was stated, upon the same authority,
to be carried about seventeen hundred yards under the Grit which
forms the bulk of the hill above it. Some sixty to seventy feet
of this stone, which is familiar to all of us under its economic
aspect of ' Forest paving,' is well exposed in a quarry immediately
above the shaft, but the entire thickness of the stratum must be
very much more considerable. These slabs, throughout their
whole depth, as far as my observation extends, are more or less
rich in impressions of Cnlamites and other plants, although these
are probably more abundant in the lower than in the superior
layers. An old quarry man here took some kindly interest in us,
though manifestly sorely puzzled what to make of our pursuits
and designs. He appeared finally to conclude that we were railway
men, and was at some pains to point out to us the precise direc-
tion in which a certain projected ' stem road' was to go, and which
has progressed to the point of having been, in Forest phraseology^
' dialled and pegged off.' (I consider the quaint conversion of

VI

'theodolite' into 'dial' worthy of passing mention.) Discovering
at this point that dinner, according to time, must be nearly ready,
all faces were turned towards Mitcheldean, where at the George
it awaited us.

" So much for the Geological section ; and much it rejoiceth
me to say, that I can upon this occasion refer to another which
has not been heard of in the annals of the Club for many long
clays. Mr. Guise and your unworthy scribe, assisted by Mr.
"Wilton, devoted themselves principally to the entomology of the
day, and verily their exertions were not all unrewarded. The
Fern-chafer (hiatus for swell name, which escapes me at the mo-
ment), which is, like all his tribe, in some years exceedingly rare,
and in others exceedingly ' de trop,' is this year very abundant.

"While halting in one of the openings in a woody hine, to
admire the novel scenery — the Malverns, the Clee Hill, the Sugar
Loaf, the Black Mountains, and other distant and unfamiliar
eminences, which stood out in the distance with truly remarkable
distinctness of outline and feature, an insect of unusual style of
flight suddenly attracted the attention of scribe, and disappearing
was by him, asserted to have taken refuge with Mr. Wilton, who,
on his part disclaimed all knowledge of the stranger, or any desire
to be converted into a sanctuary, nevertheless scribe was right,
and detected in a fold of his coat a fine specimen of Silplia
quinque-costata, the third he had seen in our district,both the others
having been taken on May Hill. It here occurs to me 'passim'
that this is the only Silpha I have ever taken upon the wing, and
all three specimens known to me were so taken, while all its
cousins must be sought for under stones, carcases, or other
effluvious matter, although there can be no more doubt of the
necrophagous scavenger habits of the species in question than of
those of its congeners.

" Another beetle of the same tribe was very shortly afterwards
taken, which is also not very common in our vale, Oiceoptoma
ruJlcoUis and Cteniceras pectinicornis.

" I leave Mr. Guise to give his own account of the moths and
other insects captured by him. On the summit of Mitcheldean
Hill, in the attempt to capture some water beetles, it was found
that the shallow mud of a small pond was literally one living
mass of the Pisidium pulchellum. Cioindela campestris was here
found in great force.

" The dinner was such as to call forth special encomium, and I
really think would have contented, whether for variety, quality, or
cost, any member of the Club, which is paying Mr. Yearsley, the
host, no mean compliment.

"The Earl Ducie, in the absence of our President, took the
head of the table, confronted by W. V. Guise, Esq. The Queen
having been duly honoured, the Rev. W. S. Symonds read a paper
iu part explanatory of the Geological sections examined during
the day, and called attcution to the discovery iu strata of the

Vll

Alps, of presumed Triassic age, of Orthoceratites and Belemnites
together, forms hitherto supposed to have been widely separated
in time and distinctive of systems, of which each was considered
to be one of the most remarkable organisms.

(See President of the Geological Society's anniversary Address,
in the Geological Quarterly Journal, May, 1856, page Ixvi-lxviii.)

" These are ' hard lines' for those who will persist in drawing
them, particularly when taken in connection with a proposition of
Mr. Alfred Wallace (referred to in the same Address, page cxiii.)
' That every species has come into existence coincident both in
space and time, with a pre-existing closely allied species.' Al-
though Mr. Hamilton, the President, remarks that he thinks ' It
may be doubted whether this assumed law can be maintained as a
universal generalization,' this is a question which has not been
and must be fairly worked out, and must therefore long remain an
open one amongst Geologists and Palaeontologists who are worthy
Members of such Associations as ours, who humbly, reverently,
and conscientiously, venture to approach the veil of the Shrine of
the Great Designer, as nearly as the traces of His presence in His
works, as revealed to their limited capacities may lead them, how-
ever distasteful the attempt may be to those, with whose little
theories (the inflating power of their ' bubble reputations') it may
interfere.

"'Let us pray' that we may be enabled to attach less import-
ance, in all our undertakings as a body, to the gratification of
petty conceits and personal vanities, the exhibition of mere low
cunning and grumbling astuteness, than to the philosophical con-
templation, the truthful appreciation, and thankful admiration of
the works of the Creator.

" I fear I have somewhat Germanized some of my sentences,
but really have not time to revise them, which pray excuse.

" At the dinner table our members were augmented by the pre-
sence of Mr. Lysons and party, who had met us at Drybrook.

" After the usual amount of pleasant discussion and interchange
of ideas, a delightful day closed, and each one ' went to his place.'

" I ought, perhaps, to have inserted elsewhere in my report, but
mention here, that an exceedingly good specimen of an Astacus,
found by Miss Slatter, in the Great Oolite, of Stratton, near
Cirencester, was exhibited by myself. "

July 15th, 1856. — Journey to Avebury. — A small party, includ-
ing the Rev. Canon Powell and Mr. Thomas Warner, met to
breakfast at the Swindon Station Hotel, whence proceeding to the
hospitable residence of the Kev. H. Light, after inspecting the
many objects of interest he so kindly introduced to our notice,
we wended our way to the far-famed Avebury Circles. Here Mr.
Light having first made a ground plan of the Circles, marking
both the existing stones and places of the absent ones, we were
by this — assisted by the Kev. Gentleman's tact and local know-

Vlll

ledge — enabled most clearly to make out the form of this ancient
monument.

Silbury Hill, said to be one of the largest artificial mounds in
the world, was then ascended by most of the party, and on return-
ing to the village, the church — in which the rood-screen is
the most interesting work — was carefully inspected, by which
time it was found that the dinner hour had arrived.

After partaking of a well-served repast, Mr. Light offered some
conjectures as to the manner in which the Avebury stones had
been placed in position, which brought on a most animated con-
versation.

The Secretary then explained their Geology, and showed how
portions — boulders — of the same rock had overspread the country
nearly as far as Cirencester ; in his short exposition he also took
occasion to point out the physical features of the Upper Oolites
and the succeeding Chalk Terraces, at the same time explaining the
different agricultural practices to which these had given rise ; and
thus concluded a most pleasant and interesting day, which was
rendered all too short in order to be in time for the inexorable
train.

It may be interesting to know that the Avebury mounds
afforded, among others the following plants : —

ttippocrepis camosa, Horse-shoe Vetch.

Asperula cynancliica, Quinsey Wort.

These plants are interesting as electing to grow on lime rocks,
making however no distinction between Oolite, Chalk, or Moun-
tain Limestone.

Orobanclie major, Tall Broomrape, an interesting plant, here
mostly parasitic on Thistles.

Cnicus acaulis, Stemless Thistle, with — anomalous as it ap-
pears— stems several inches high, and presenting complete bunches
of flowers. This is one of the forms which has given rise to the
many synonyms by which the true species is surrounded.

Whilst on the subject of plants, I may mention the discovery
of Anacliaris Canadensis, in Cirencester Canal. I saw the first
specimen of this plant in the fresh-water Vivarium of the Rev. J. C.
Thring, and on recognising it I was informed by him that he got
it from our canal ; here I went in search of it, and succeeded in
finding a large patch about 200 yards from the Cirencester head
of the canal.

August 15th, Meeting at Cheltenham. — A party of 16 gentlemen
met at the Old Imperial Hotel, from thence adjourning to the
temporary Geological Museum, at the Philosophical Institution,
when having examined the beautiful series of fossils — mostly of
the district — therein contained, they wended their way to the
great scarp at Leckhampton Hill.

Here they were enabled to make out the following section of
the basement beds of the Inferior Oolite : —

IX

Feet.

1. Eoestone (Buckman), Shelly Oolite of Brodie

2. True Pisolite, Pea-grit ... about 10 0

3. Coarse-grained Oolite, containing much Silicious

matter ... 13 0

4. Foxy^ coloured Ferruginous Oolite, very Silicious to

bottom of quarry ... 20 0

43 0

This, which I had then no means of accurately measuring, I
find to approximate so nearly with Mr. Strickland's detailed sec-
tion, as given in the 6th vol. of the Journal of the Geological
Society, that I am induced to think the section as now exposed
reaches very nearly to the Lias ; at all events when I saw the
Lias and Oolite in contact at this very spot there was a sudden
and abrupt transition from the Oolite to the Lias, there being at
this place none of the Inferior Oolite Sands of the Ordnance
Surveyors.

In reference to the basement bed of the Oolite, I quote from
Mr. Strickland's paper the following remarks : —

" (7) Ferruginous beds, consisting of coarse Oolite in the upper
part, and of a very peculiar large-grained Oolite or Pisolite
('Pea-grit') in the lower. A few miles to the south the Pisolite
disappears, and is replaced near Painswick and at Haresfield
Hill by strata containing ferruginous oolitic grains in a brown
paste. This is the precise equivalent of the well known Oolite of
Duiidry, near Bristol, which may be recognized as far off as
Bridport, on the Dorset coast. At Leckhampton the Pisolite
rests upon a few feet of ferruginous Oolite and Sand ; the total
thickness of this portion of the series is 42 feet."

The observations here made, coupled with a somewhat length-
ened examination of these lower Oolite beds, both north and south
of Leckhampton, induced me to venture to suggest to the meeting
of the Geological section of the British Association, and again to
our Cotteswold brethren at Leckhampton Hill, an opinion that
the Silicious oolite, by which the Pisolite at Stow, Winchcomb,
Leckhampton, and Crickley is underlaid, was the representative
in time of the Oolite Sands of the Stroud and Painswick districts,
an opinion which I am still inclined to favour; however, the
details of this matter would be much too long for an address like
the present, but I still hope to be able to find time to arrange the
material I have got together on this subject before the close of
the present session.

To recur to the doings at this meeting. At Leckhampton the
party was joined by two ladies who kept up well with the field
Naturalists along the top of Leckhampton Hill to Hartley Bottom
and the Seven Springs.

Returning by way of Charlton Common and the Sandy Lane,

the agricultural gentlemen expressed themselves highly delighted
at the improvement made in the Southiield farm by Sir William
Russell, Bart.

It should be mentioned that on the top of the hill was found
for the first time the CaucaJin dtnicoides (Bur Parsley), probably
introduced with foreign seeds in the cultivation now so rapidly
spreading in this direction.

At Hartley Bottom the Tlirxium Unoplii/Uum (Bastard Flax),
was met with in its old habitat, but it appears^to be getting more
scarce year by year.

The dinner was served at the Lamb, in good style, and our
always loyal Club having done honor to the health of the Queen,
next followed that of the strangers, which was responded to by
Mr. Babington, the eminent botanical author.

The Rev. P. B. Brodie read a paper on the comparison of the
Upper Lias Fish bed of Warwickshire, with that of our own
county, which will be published in the next fasiculus of our pro-
ceedings.

A paper followed by the Secretary, on an abnormal growth in a
Cedar tree from Oakley Park, which gave rise to an interesting
discussion, in which the President took occasion to notice other
curiosities in the growth of trees that had come under his notice.

Dr. White introduced to the attention of the meeting a curious
ball which had been discovered some years since at Slymbridge,
and figured and described in the Journal of the Archceological
Institute ; this it is proposed to further describe in the proceed-
ings of our Society, to which end Dr. White promised to obtain
the engraving if possible. An interesting discussion took place
on the probable use and meaning of this curious relic, in which
the President, Mr. Babington, Mr. llumsey, and the Secretary
took part, and with this terminated a most agreeable meeting.

Sept. 9th. — The last meeting of the past session took place at
Stroud, when a large party of the members and friends accepted
the kind invitation to breakfast of our much respected and hospit-
able associate, J. G-. Ball, Esq., and if a kind welcome, good cheer,
and hearty greeting of field companions, be capable of doing good,
each must have felt himself better for that morning spent with
Mr. Ball and his amiable family ; the " sweet sorrow," however, of
"good bye" became imperative, as an omnibus was announced to
be in readiness to convey us to Frocester Hill — up hammers,
bags, and vasculums, and the party is off. Arrived at this famous
section, the Geologists gathered new stores to back their discus-
sions, and though one might imagine that they are going to
fight, from the strange words they make use of in their arguments,
yet we need never be afraid, as after all they do not throw the
fossil itself into your teeth, but only its name.

The section at this place, which is an exceedingly interesting
one, I hope to publish at some future time, but do not give it here

as I have not yet made an admeasurement with instruments,
which I expect soon to do.

Advancing into the wood at the top of the hill, our President
observed on the scrubby oak trees some galls, which proved to be
those of the (.'i/nijn* quercus petiolata, which could not have beeii
introduced into our county more than two years. A few weeks
after I found the same thing very sparingly in Oakley Park, and
perhaps at present the park is the furthest easterly limit to which
it has attained.

In the arable on the same hill was found several specimens of the
Ai'i-iHifatita (Wild Oat), which were taken to the hotel for com-
parison after dinner with specimens introduced by the Secretary
from the College Botanical Garden, when he announced the fact
of having produced two types of cultivated oats, viz. the Potatoe
and Tartarian forms from the A.fatua, the result having been
attained in five years, a circumstance of great agricultural interest,
inasmuch as farmers had long maintained that in some land
ctdticatedy degenerated in the wild, oat, which is one of our most
troublesome weeds. Upon this matter experiments are still going
on, and no doubt further facts of interest will be elicited in
another season.

The dinner at the George was a nice affair, no paper however
followed, as the time was fully occupied in discussing the Frocester
Hill section, and indeed the proceedings terminated all too soon,
train time obliging us to close the meeting somewhat abrubtly.

And here, too, ends the resume of our proceedings for the past
session, from which, I think you will agree with me, we may
safely conclude that in no former year have we had to record
better meetings, they have been uniformly characterised by a
good attendance, in which kindly feeling and earnest work have
ever prevailed.

I cannot conclude this Address without referring to the im-
portant scientific gathering which took place in our county during
the past year — I refer to the meeting of the British Association
at Cheltenham— and while it must be gratifying to our Club to
know how successful that meeting was, being indeed one of the
best of this important scientific body, it will be doubly so to find
the marked respect shown by that august assembly to our little
band of naturalists ; for while many of our members held important
posts in the different committees, for which they were so well
thanked both by the Association and the Town of Cheltenham.
The Museum of Geology, got together by Dr. Wright, Mr.
Pierson, and the Rev. R. Hepworth and others, will long be refer-
red to as the best of its kind to which the British Association was
yet ever welcomed.

It was my intention to have given an analysis of the different
Natural History papers read at the Association, but I find that
this Address is even now sadly longer than usual, and I shall
therefore only just mention a few with which we arc more
immediately concerned.

Xll

Experiments in the Botanic Garden of the Royal Agricultural
College.

Paper by Dr. Lankester on the Water at Cirencester.

Geological papers, by Messrs. Wright, Ramsey, and Hull (of
the Ordnance Survey), Brodie, Etheredge, Moor, and myself; these
will be fouud reported in the Transactions of the British Associa-
tion ; and as regards the experiments in the College Garden, they
are being continued in an augmented and careful manner, and in
obedience to the recommendation of the Committee of Section C.,
will be duly reported upon at the request of the General Com-
mittee of the Association at the forthcoming Dublin Meeting.

Brief Notes on Cirencester High Cross.

Read at a Meeting of the Cotteswold Club, Sept. 16th, 1856.
By CHARLES POOLEY.

As recently as the year of our Lord 1800, there existed, in the
town of Cirencester, the vestiges of no less than six ancient
crosses.

These structures, I have ascertained, were distributed over the
town, and occupied the following positions : —

One stood in the open part of Dyer-street, where the pig-market
is now held ; another was placed in the Churchyard ; a third,
occupied the point where Sheep-street crosses Castle-street ; a
fourth was built near the southern extremity of the borough, hard
by a stream of water running at the end of Dyer-street ; a fifth
marked the spot where Cricklade-street crosses Leuse-lane ; and
a sixth, called the High Cross, and which is the subject of this
paper, was erected opposite the Earn Inn, in the Market-place.

The march of improvement, which has destroyed many of the
picturesque gables of the old town, has also swept away these
ancient relics, one after another, and with the exception of the
last, not a fragment of either remains to reward the search of the
archaeologist. For the High Cross, however, though removed
from its former site in the Market-place, a better fate has been
reserved, a pretty situation having been found for it near the
Wood-House in Oakley Park, the seat of the Earl Bathurst,
where it forms a worthy object of attraction to visitors.

In Rudder's History of Cirencester is the following description
of this cross : — " The High Cross stood upon a base of about ten
feet square, with four steps on each side gradually diminishing
from the lower to the uppermost. From the middle of the base
rose an octangular column or pillar, supporting a capital which
was much defaced and broken, but it appeared to have been orna-
mented with carvings, of which the subject could not be distin-
guished. It is supposed, however, to have been a very curious
piece of workmanship, as more than ordinary care had been taken
to preserve what remained of it. It was encompassed with an

Xlll

iron collar, from the side of which four bars proceeded to the
upper steps, and thus it was supported on the column or pillar
01 the cross. Over this capital the cross was fixed. The whole
In-iiiL,' in ;i very mutilated state, and occupying a large space oppo-
witr the Jiain Inn, it was taken down about the year 17b-V

Brief as this account is, it obviously refers to the cross now
standing in Oakley Park, and although since that period it has
become still more mutilated, it fortunately retains, in its principal
features, sufficent evidence to prove its identity. Assuming it to
be a work of the fourteenth century, this cross affords a good
illustration of the style of decorative art expended upon these
ecclesiastical monuments. It is however by no means perfect.
The only part of the original structure which has survived the
ravages of time, being the more solid portions, such as the pedes-
tal, shaft, and fragments of the capital.

Differing from the ordinary road-side, or churchyard crosses,
which are so numerous in this county, it will be seen that this
cross possesses an architectural beauty not at all common in such
edifices.

The pedestal is hewn out of a single
block of stone, three feet square by two
feet six inches in height, and presents on
each of its sides, a facade, ornamented witli
four deeply chiselled gothic arcades, sur-
mounted by pannelled quatrefoilg, which
are overhung to the extent of some inches
by a deep moulded coping. It rests on a
plinth which is placed on a heavy basement
step, too heavy to be in character with the
rest of the building. From the centre of
the pedestal springs a remarkably fine octagonal shaft, a solid
stone six feet four inches in height and one foot in diameter,
having rounded flutings at the angles, and the remains of four
broaches at the socket. It is conjectured, by the presence of
these broaches, that originally the shaft was set in a smaller block,
thus bringing the termination to a square ; which supposition
would render the design more harmonious, by taking off the ap-
parent abruptness of so small a column rising from so large a
pedestal.

With reference to the capital, what remains of it is too much
broken and obscured by the growth of
patches of moss, to allow the observer to
do more than distinguish the mere rudi-
ments of the carvings alluded to by Rudder.
But I may remark, by way of example, that
on the under side of, and as it were sup-
porting the abacus, there are distinct indi-
cations of well-executed carvings of angels'
heads and wings, of which the wood-cut gives a good idea ; also in

XIV

the spaces between the corbels, which project at the four angles
of the capital, the remains of escutcheons
mav be seen, but no trace is left of the
emblazonments with which they were
doubtless originally enriched. Judging
from analogy, and after comparing the
Cirencester High Cross with similar struc-
tures, I have come to the conclusion that
the corbels once supported slender buttresses, which, being arched
at the top, formed light canopied niches, in which figures were
placed. The ponderous stone in the shape of a cross, now sur-
mounting the capital, is no part of the original design, having
been put up some few years ago.

"We may infer that in its integrity this cross could not have
stood much less than twenty feet in elevation, from the ground to
the summit; and some idea may be formed of its handsome cha-
racter, from the general effect of the chaste proportions of its
remains, which are beautiful even in their decay. I have been
unable to discover any record from which to determine that this
cross was set up to commemorate a particular event.

There is a deed extant, dated A.D. 1413, in which it is called
NOVA CRUX, which would approximately fix the date of its erec-
tion at a period corresponding with its architectural character,
which, as before stated, is that of the fourteenth century. Pre-
suming it to have been built just prior to the introduction of the
perpendicular style in architecture, or towards the end of the
reign of Richard II., we are carried back to the period of the abbacy
of Nicholas d'Ameney, or about twenty-six years before Abbot
Best procured the mitre for the Abbey of Cirencester, and a seat
among the barons for himself and his successors.

List of Birds seen in Siddington, Gloucestershire, with Remarks.
By EDWARD BOWLY.

This List is strictly confined to the Birds seen in the Parish of
Siddington ; many other varieties have been observed in the imme-
diate neighbourhood. Nearly the whole of the common Birds of
prey have been shot in LORD BATHTJRST'S Woods, where also the
Crossbeak and the Greater Red Pole have frequently been seen.
A Hoopoe was shot this summer in the adjoining Parish of South
Cerney. Phalarope has been shot at Bibury, and the Bittern at
Latton within a few years. Some years since the Royston Crow
was always to be seen at Aldsworth, as you travelled from Ciren-
cester to Burford ; they are now extinct in that neighbourhood.
I have shot the Short-eared Owl when Partridge shooting.

RING DOVE. — Common. Always build in the avenue of lime trees close to the
house. Often very numerous in winter.

IV

TURTLE DOVE. — Always to be seen in summer. Breed in our hedges; nest con-

sists of a few twigs, barely sufficient to confine the egg».
— Occasionally seen flying over.

( i:u\\ . — Common, Breed in the trees adjoining the house.
I • , „ . K —Abundant. Build at the Rectory.
JACKDAW. — Always build in the elm tree opposite the Mill.
MAGPIE. — (icm rally hived in the coppice adjoining Cerney road.
JAY. — 1'ivi-d in the coppice beyond the Windmill.
STARLING. — Very numerous.
Hi MING. — Common.
Ki 1. 1 • HUNTING. — Ditto.
Yi:u.ow BUNTING. — Very abundant.
CIRE BUNTING. — Very rare, never saw but one specimen.
CHAFFINCH. — Very numerous.

BULLFINCH. — Common. Often build in the thickest part of the Scotch wild rose.
GOLDFINCH. — Common.

GREENFINCH. — Very numerous in winter ; a few breed here.
CROSSBEAK. — Sometimes seen in winter.

BRAMBLINO. — Not uncommon in severe winters ; never breed here.
BROWN LINNET. — Common. Breed in the groves, and we have immense flocks

in winter.

SISKIN.— Only once seen.
MOUNTAIN LINNET. — I have shot some of these in the flocks of the common

Linnet in winter.

HOUSE SPARROW. — Very numerous.
TREE SPARROW.— Not uncommon in the winter, but they are principally male

birds. I generally shoot some cocks, but very rarely a hen.
NUTHATCH. — Not often seen. I frequently see one running up the trunk of a

lime tree close to my dining-room window.

CREEPER. — I may apply exactly the same remarks as to the Nuthatch.
WRYNECK. — Constant summer visitant, arriving about the time of the Cuckoo,

thence named by the country people the Cuckoo's Mate.
GREEN WOODPECKER. — Common.
CUCKOO. — Numerous ; the trees above my house a favourite spot with them ;

during the breeding season they sing the whole night, in all kinds of

key.
GOAT-SUCKER. — I have seen them two or three summers, but do not regularly

visit us.

SWIFT. — Common.
MARTIN. — Ditto.
SWALLOW. — Ditto.
SAND MARTIN. — Seldom seen.
PIED WAGTAIL.— Plentiful.
YELLOW WAGTAIL. — Ditto.
HEDGE SPARROW. — Abundant.
ROBIN. — Ditto.

REDSTART. — Summer visitant, not so abundant as formerly.
BLACKCAP. — Same remarks apply.
STONECHAT. — Always to be seen.
W i IINCHAT.— Sometimes seen.
WHEATEAR. — Although a constant frequenter of the Cotteswolds, I have never

seen but one specimen in this parish.
GRASSHOPPER LARK. — Once heard in Furzenlease Coppice.
SEDGE WARBLER. — Not uncommon.
NIGHTINGALE. — Formerly abundant at Furzenlease, where many were snared

and kept the winter in cages ; we now have scarcely one in the parish.
WHITE-THROAT. — Very numerous.

CHIT CHAT. — Frequently heard.

XVI

Wur.N. — Abundant.

GOLDEN CRESTED WREN. — Frequently seen in the larch close to the house.

SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. — Always breed close to my house.

SKY LARK. — Very numerous.

TIT LARK. — Common.

WOOD LARK.— Sometimes seen.

LONG-TAIL TIT.

<.KI.ATTlT.

BLUE TIT. ^ All inhabitants of our parish ; the Blue Tit most numerous.

COLE TIT.
MARSH TIT.

.:;IKI>.

SONG THRUSH. > All inhabitants.
MISTLE THRUSH. )

Numerous in winter.

LAND RAIL. — Breed here.

WHITE OWL. — Bred in the large elm near the Mill for upwards of twenty years,

but have left four or five years, I believe from the Jackdaws having

also taken possession of the tree ; we often hear the young Owls trying

to hoot, which is amusing.
BROWN OWL. — Often seen.

KESTREL. — Breed here, and is almost the only Hawk we have left.
SPARROW HAWK. — Rare.
HOHBY. — Once seen, some years ago.
(TREAT BUTCHER BIRD. — Sometimes seen.
LESSER BUTCHER BIRD. — Generally have two or three pairs in the neighbour-

hood.
HERON. — Common. I have often seen eight or ten rise in the coppice near the

"Windmill, and they have occasionally bred here, my man once caught

a young one unable to fly far.
LITTLE GREBE — Breed here.
CRESTED GREBE. — One caught alive on the ice on the canal in the winter of 1854

and 1855 ; this specimen is now at Overthrow's.

STORM PETREL. — One seen in the Canal after two days of tremendous wind.
GREEN SANDPIPER. — Formerly to be always seen in one spot in the meadows,

now not so frequently.

KITTY-WAKE. — Not unfrequently seen flying over. I once shot one so doing.
COMMON GULL. — Occasionally seen flying over. One shot last month, Feb. 1857.

WOODCOCK. — Always at Furzenlease after the first autumnal rain, and continue

the winter.
LAPWING. — Breed here : collect in immense flocks in the autumn and disappear

in very severe weather.
GOLDEN PLOVER - Seldom seen.
COMMON CURLEW. — Three once seen.
KiM.riSHER. — Common on the banks of the Churn.
WATER RAIL. — Breed here ; not so common as formerly.
BALD COOT. — Only once seen. One caught alive on the Canal, April, 1857.
MOORHEN. — Breeds here, and is abundant in some of our meadows.
WILD SWAN. — Often seen in severe winters ; several have been shot.

WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. } Often seen in severe winters ; several have been shot.
TEAL. — Not uncommon in winter.
WILD DUCK. — Breed in our meadows.

Address read to the Cotteswold Naturalists' Club, at their
Winter Meeting, held at the Royal Agricultural College,
Cirencester, January 30th, 1856.

ByT. BARWICK LLOYD BAKER, Esq., of Hardwicke Court,

President.

FOB ten years, now, my friends, you have borne, without any
serious resistance, the tyrannical sway of your President. During
ten years the Club has increased in size, strength, and importance,
and has seen others and similar clubs rise on all sides around it.
But while you have grown from infancy to strength, your Presi-
dent has grown from strength to — if not absolute weakness — at
least to considerably less strength, and feels not unfrequently so
overwhelmed by his work (which would be mere play to many
men) that he has this year paid far less attention than ho was
wont to the duties of his office ; and had it not been for the zeal
and attention of the Secretary, the business of the Club would, I
fear, have been altogether neglected.

Do not, I pray you, misunderstand me, and suppose that my
interest in the Club has diminished — on the contrary, there is
hardly a day in the year that I enjoy so much as that of our
Cotteswold meetings. But work of a most engrossing and
absorbing interest has so much increased upon me of late, that
my study of nature in general has of late contracted almost
entirely to that of the genus puer — species fur.

Still, unfit as I am for the task, I cannot refuse at our annual
meeting to give such account as I can, either — from what I my-
self had the happiness of seeing, or, far better for you — from the
descriptions given by others who were present when I was obliged
to be absent.

On Jan. 30, 1855, such members of the Club as did not object
to early hours were hospitably entertained at breakfast, by the
Principal of the Eoyal Agricultural College, at Cirencester, who
has so often and so hospitably entertained us before. Having
examined the Museum of the College, and been much gratified by
the additions which we found, we adjourned to the Library for
our business — discussion incident to this one meeting ot the
year.

The following resolutions were then passed, and wo hope they
may have resolved themselves ere this into facts. We will
" pause for a reply," after reading each resolution, to enquire how
far this may be the case.

It was resolved, then, first, that Messrs. Jones and Buckman
should be deputed by the Club to examine Deerhurst Priory, and
make a report on the remains of that most interesting relic of
antiquity, to be printed at the expense of the Club.

Resolved, secondly, that Messrs. Lycett and Buckman be re-
quested to examine into the present mode of the publication of

11

the proceedings of our Club, and to report on the best plan to bo
adopted for the future.

I trust we may be fully assured that both of these matters have
been fully considered, as the first is a point almost touching the
honour of our Club, while the latter touches its private interests.

The President and Secretary were then re-elected, and the
meetings for the ensuing year were fixed.

A paper was read by Mr. Lycctt, on the Perna Quadrata ; and
another on the bones of Beaver, Deer, &c. found in Nails worth
valley. And by Professor Buckinan, " A notice of the Oxford
Clay, as found near Cirencester."

After dinner, in the hospitable Hall of the College, an animated
discussion on that most interesting of topics — which has the great
advantage of being an unceasing ground of battle, inasmuch as no
two people can ever be brought to take the same view of it — viz.
the nature and value of species — would no doubt have lasted till
the crack of doom, had it not been far more agreeably cut short
by a summons to tea.

On May 1st, although we make a general rule not to accept
the hospitality of any of our members, further than an occasional
and rare invitation to breakfast, yet we made, I may almost say,
our one exception, and spent most of the day at Apperly Court,
the seat of our kind friend, Henry Strickland, Esq.

After examining the beautiful specimens illustrative of different
branches of natural history, and looking over the exquisite draw-
ings of plants, by Miss Strickland, the members proceeded to
Deerhurst Church, both to enjoy again the beauties of the Nor-
man— or in part, as some hold, Saxon — architecture ; and also to
see the window of stained glass (by O'Connor; which our Club has
been allowed to assist in putting up, in commemoration of our
sincerely lamented friend and associate, Hugh E. Strickland, Esq.

Much satisfaction was expressed by the subscribers who were
present at the manner in which their wishes had been carried out.

On returning to Apperley, the Club was entertained at dinner
by Henry Strickland, with his usual hospitality; and if some sad
thoughts intruded, we at any rate felt thankful to be allowed to
meet again the family of one whom we had so loved and regretted.

June the 12th was appointed for a meeting of the Worcester,
Mai vena, Woolhope, and Warwickshire Clubs, with our own, at
Malvern.

Yeomanry duties prevented my attendance, but, as I learn, the
geologists, under the distinguished guidance of Sir Roderick Mur-
chison, and the botanists under that of Mr. Lees, proceeded to
the Warwickshire Beacon, where Sir Roderick delivered a most
eloquent lecture on the geological formation of the country
around that magnificent spot ; after which Mr. Lees explained the
principal features of the botany of his own loved hills.

Ill

The dinner, under the presidency of Sir Roderick, was most
numerously attended, and the guests speedily adjourned, by the
invitation of the ladies, to coffee, after which Mr. Buckinau read
a paper on one of the forms of Terebratula (T. perovali* var.
ampla).

I do not know whether I may have been much to blame on

many former occasions, for promoting discussions between the

members of the Club. I certainly have often done so, and Imvo

greatly enjoyed the exhibition of the talent and knowledge that

discussions have called forth. Alas ! must this pleasure

cease — must we check at once all shew of a difference of opinion,

for fear that it should degenerate into animosity ? Can we not

:ii opinion, even contrary to our own, expressed, without

imputing an intentional wrong ?

Tlio meeting, alas, terminated with a feeling that a somewhat
uncomfortable had occurred, and with an idea that for such small
and unpretending affairs as ours, meetings of a moderate size
were preferable to very large ones.

August 28th, the Club should have met at Berkeley, (so says
Mr. Jones, to whose kindness I am indebted for the following
able report,) but Purnell B. Purnell, Esq., having invited the most
constant attendants of our meetings to Breakfast at his residence,
the "venue" was laid at Stancombe Park, instead of the Berkeley
Arms, whither, accordingly the Club repaired. Antecedent and
posterior to, the usual commencement of the proceedings, that is
a hearty and well-provided breakfast, in which Ladies were allowed
to participate, some of the treasures of that Gentleman's collection
were thrown open to inspection, the variety and costliness of which
surprised many. Although not a professed geologist, rare speci-
mens varying from all the specimens in his neighbourhood to the
Mammalian Crag, invited the attention of the geologists of the
party ; and although not a professed antiquarian, the collection of
personal ornaments of the Egyptian, Etruscan, Greek, Eoman,
and Medieval periods will not soon be forgotten by those who
gazed with interest only, upon relics connected with the social
progress of the human species.

The delight with which the party traversed the tastefully laid
out grounds, can only be indicated, but not conveyed. Here a
subterranean passage, opening out into one of those bursts of
sylvan scenery which the " cwms" of the Cotteswolds alone can
parallel. There a small classical building, replete witli treasures
of ancient art, derived from all the people already alluded to, and
not excluding the wonders of Nineveh and Babylon. Here a
pond, dilated by the exquisite taste which dictated its construc-
tion into all the landscape effect of a lake ; there a receptacle of
the rarest stuffed birds, paintings, models of fishes and fruits,
from the universal Exhibition of 1851, and paintings of esteemed
old masters, which divided attention with the artfully set scenery

IV

revealed through the narrow strips of pure crystal in the stained
glasa windows. In various paddocks wero seen Kangaroos, the
Apis Deer, and other rare creatures disporting themselves, while
in the park itself, enjoying perfect freedom, and upon terms of
the most perfect familiarity with their visitors, ran a small herd
of Llamas.

After spending some hours most agreeably in the contemplation
of this beautiful spot, the Club adjourned to Berkeley, whither its
members were conveyed and accompanied by their kind enter-
tainer, and where dinner was served. After dinner Dr. Wright
read a paper upon some unique Echinoderms of the Oolites, of
which he exhibited specimens. Mr. Lycett had brought with
him an exceedingly interesting series of Qryplicea dilitata, for the
special purpose of correcting certain heretical opinions of our
Secretary, Professor Buckman, but it appeared from the reports
of some of his Cireucester neighbours that he was " not in con-
dition," and consequently Mr. Lycett did not bring his paper
forwards, and, much to the regret of " the fancy," there was " no
fight."

In the absence of the President and Secretary, the chair was
taken by the Rev. J. S. Haygarth, who, in addition to the usual
toasts, proposed the health of the President and Secretary of the
Club.

Those members who were dependant upon the train for home
transit, were kindly driven there by their host of the morning,
P. B. Purnell, Esq., thus terminating one of the most delightful
days of which record has hitherto been placed upon the annals of
the Club.

Sept. 25th, at Birdlip, as usual, a large meeting took place, a
great point of attraction being Crickley hill, the interesting fossils
of which locality, though picked up for the thousandth time, seem
never to tire. Here the great height to which the Upper Lias
creeps up the scarp, which latter bears such evidence of ancient
water action, was commented upon by the Secretary, by whom
the following section of Crickley hill was taken : —

ft. in.

1. Soil ... ... 0 8

2. Kubbly oolite (debris) 40

3. lied incoherent calcareous sands ... ... ... GO

4. Hard freestone in large blocks (building stone) ... 15 0

5. Pisolite, with but a slight admixture of oolite ragstone 5 0
G. Freestone, including pisolite & parted by seams of do.. 9 0

7. Hard block of oolite, consisting in part of "very indu-

rated pisolite ... ... ... ... ... ... 35 0

8. Sandy oolite, contaiuining large blocks of ragstone,

occasionally very piaolitic, as traced to the outcrop.. 25 0

Total... 99 8

Note. — Twenty foot of bed 7, consists of 7 layers of hard stone,
some of which are as much as 3ft. Gin. in thickness, these are
parted by thin seams of oolite sand. This rock presents also a
fine example of the smooth-faced " lissens " of the quarrymen.
The blocks of stone include largo specimens of Lima, Gervillia,
Belemnites, &c.

It will be seen that here is nearly 90 feet of rock more or less
pisolitic at the point where the section was taken, namely, nearly
in the centre of the Crickley hill scarp, below the Koman en-
campment.

Along the line of the slight dip of these beds, below the " Air
Baloon" public-house, these are superimposed by a corralline bed,
which has been erroneously pointed out as oolitic marl.

After partaking of alas ! too sumptuous a dinner, at the Black
Horse, the health of Dr. Lanza, of Spalato, was drunk with cordi-
ality, when a paper was read by Dr. Voelcker, on the Chemistry
of ffcecent Eoman and Fossil Bones, with an addendum on the
Mineral Apatite, which has lately been largely imported from
Norway, and was referred to as likely to become of importance to
agriculture, from the large percentage of phospJwrus which it con-
tains. Any discussion, however, upon this valuable and interest-
ing paper, so nicely illustrated with specimens of fluoric acid
etchings, together with all chance of any other paper, was at once
put beyond all hope by a debate upon the dinner bill, which,
alas, somewhat abruptly terminated our Summer Meetings.

Inundations in Antient Corinium.
By Professor JAMES BUCKMAN, F.L.S., F.G.S., &c.

" "When found, make a note of."

Tins injunction of the worthy Captain Cuttle, as its frequent
quotation testifies, is capable of most extensive application ; and
if it be made to apply to our ordinary discoveries, where we find
out a use for this or that, or indeed to any truth that is patent to
us, to make a note thereof, not only fixes the matter in our
memory, but it furnishes us with a storehouse of knowledge for
frequent examination and comparison, like that which is presented
in a Geological Museum or in the ILprtus Siccus. In all cases these
scraps are so many specimens, which in their single selves may
tell us much, but conjointly may add to our knowledge in an
ever increasing ratio.

It often happens with our notes as with our specimens, that a
few slight conclusions may at one time bo drawn from them,
when suddenly, from the addition of a now truth or a new speci-
men, things that before were nearly idle, assumed a new life and

VI

shape; and so, instead of acquainting us merely with the power
and functions of A and Z, arrange for us all the letters between,
and thus make out for us a consistent alphabet.

We have been led to make these remarks from having made
extensive notes upon Eoman remains in Corinium, during the
progress of which appearances were observed, and methods of
construction were demonstrated to have been adopted, for which
there presented itself to us, until within the last few months, no
sufficient solution. However, recent atmospheric phenomena
have of late supplied the required note — the connecting link ;
and though the resulting conclusions are not perhaps of grave
importance, — yet, as they not inaptly show the value of our friend
the Captain's dictum, we shall at once give them a place in our
proceedings.

In all the diggings yet made, proximity to our Eoman pavements
is at once manifested by a thin stratum, varying from three to
six inches, of fine well washed gravel. Sometimes this gravel is
hard and compact ; partially cemented together, it would appear,
by lime either in solution or suspension in water, or perhaps
both ; and the walls of the chambers have occasional markings
around them, which seem to indicate the presence of standing
water, at different periods, to different heights.

Now, this gravel is for the most part that which entered into
the composition of the wall cement, added to which the finer
particles of stone in the soil would have a tendency to sink lower
and lower until arrested by a hard impassable stratum.

In many instances where rude concrete pavements have been
formed, plastered walls have been noticed even below the bottom
of the floor ; while in the more general examples the concrete for
wall and floor is continuous.*

In another case we had an arrangement in which the floor — a
tessellated one — was raised on a solid concrete foundation, consi-
derably above the bottom of the plastered and even frescoed walls,
leaving what appeared a deep channel or drain all around the
room.

Again, in digging the foundations for the houses at Watermoor
(Chesterton Terrace), Eoman masonry and a vast mass of reliquia
of the same period was arrived at, much of which has been care-
fully preserved, and is now in the Corinium Museum.

It was on account of the loose materials collected here that the
new foundations were dug to a considerable depth, during their
whole progress exposing work of perhaps sixteen centuries
previously ; and in this digging, at the south end of the Terrace,
two distinct floors were exposed, one above the other, in the
section, at a distance of as much as four feet apart. Between the
upper and lower floor was a filling up of rubbish, of which broken

* In this, the other examples adduced, we are sorry we cannot introduce our
sketches, as these would doubtless explain the matter better than words.

Vll

bricks, bits of pottery, and gravel, formed the general mass. This
is by no means uncommon here, as it often happens that one floor
has been formed on the top of another, and at varying distances
apart.

Now the season of 1852 was one of unusual wet, and Cirences-
ter, like other places, was then inundated with water, and an
examination of Human sites in this place demonstrates that the
a iiient floors, like too many of our modern ones, was just then
below the water level, and even at Chesterton Terrace there was
nearly a foot of water in the cellars, the floors of which are a little
below the level of the lower Roman floor just adverted to ; so that
the upper floor would be entirely out of the way even of a much
higher inundation than the present one, whilst a few inches more
ot water would have also covered the lower one. Prom these
notes, therefore, we seem justified in drawing the following con-
clusions : —

Firstly — That Corinium, like Cirencester, suffered from occa-
sional inundations, and that the occurrence of one floor above
another in our Roman works, show how the antients remedied
the inconvenience,

Secondly — That these inundations were even deeper in antient
than in modern times. This we shall have no difficulty in under-
standing, if we consider the greater facilities these days offer for
carrying off water by draining and other improvements.

And, lastly, many of the appearances about our Roman sites
seem to show that excess of water has been ofttimes repeated
during the last fifteen hundred years, though at very distant and
irregular periods.

NOTE. — The Notes upon which the above Paper was founded
were principally made in the wet season of 1852.

Address read to the Cotteswold Naturalists' Club at their
Annual Meeting, April 2?> 1858.

By T. BABWICK LLOYD BAKER, ESQ. of Hardwicke Court,

President.

AGAIN, my friends, have we met for our Annual Meeting, to
review the pleasant gatherings which many of us at least nave
enjoyed during the last summer, and to plan the excursions which
we hope to enjoy in the present year.

Much do I, for my own part, regret that I have been able to
attend so few of those of tne past season, for slight as may be my
knowledge of the sciences so ably followed by many members of
our Club, I can safely say that few days in the year afford me so
wholesome or enjoyable a relaxation from the work which more
and more engrosses me, as the gatherings of the Cotteswold Club.
My own lack of knowledge, however, I must supply from the
accounts given by others of the meetings, I would fain have
described as an eyewitness.

On Jan. 27th, a party of Ladies and Gentlemen met at what
we may term our most hospitable head-quarters, the Royal Agri-
cultural College of Cirencester, where, as always, we were most
kindly received, took a walk to the Corinium Museum, Water-
moor Church, and the City Walls, and returned for business to
the College.

The said business consisted of the re-election of the President
and Secretary, till such time as fitter men could be persuaded to
take the offices ; and the election of Edward Holland, M, P., of
Dumbleton, and David Nash, Esq. the eminent scholar of Syro-
Egyptian literature.

At the dinner (happily we had many good things to counter-
balance it) was exhibited a jar of the Anacharis alsinastrum, that
most to be dreaded of water weeds, which threatens, if all we hear
be true (fortunately for us, little more than half we hear is so) to
choke every stream, navigable or not, and every canal in the
kingdom, in a very short space of time. This fearfully rapid weed
had been found only the day before in the Canal, near Cirencester,
and now at the end of fifteen months (which brings us to the pre-
sent time) we anxiously ask our friends from the neighbourhood
of Cirencester, Is the Canal yet passable ? Happily, for us, many
evils which appear dreadful at first sight, are more bearable when
we come to closer terms ; and I trust we may find this the case
with the Anacharis alsinastrum.

The Eev. P. B. Brodie also read a paper which we trust to see
recorded in our transactions, and the party separated with much
gratitude to Mr. and Mrs, Hay garth.

11

On May 26th, a meeting did take place at Chipping Campden,
but, alas, it could hardly be called a meeting of our Club, inas-
much as our only members who met there were our worthy
Secretary and the Rev. P. B. Brodie, who came less as a member
of the Cotteswold, than as President of the Warwickshire Club,
who had agreed to meet there on that day. Never mind. While
we can boast to have sent out so notable a scion from our Club to
found another Club elsewhere — though we may regret that we
meet him less often than heretofore — we count him anything but
lost.

It appears that the party visited first the Church, and then the
mounds left from the working of Mickleton tunnel, where a large
collection of fossils were found — indeed most of those described
in Mr. Gavey's work — with the addition of a fine specimen of the
Hippopodium ponderosum (whose existence was questioned by
Mr. Gavey), found by the Secretary of our Club, and presented
by him to the Natural History Society of Warwick.

On June 23rd, a meeting had been fixed for Winchcombe. A
small party met at the Bam, at Cheltenham, to breakfast, and
proceeded in flys to the Eising Sun, the summit of the hill on the
Winchcombe road. Here they separated : one section proceeding
under charge of the Secretary, exploring the earth, found speci-
mens of Mytilus jurensis* Ter. Phillipsii, and T. Buckmani,
amongst other shells of the inferior oolite ; while another section,
under the charge of W. Y. Guise, Esq. searching the air, appear
for some time to have caught no species except certain Diptera —
a race of diminutive Tartars, the catching of whom is neither pro-
fitable nor pleasant. After a time, however, on the eastern slope
towards Postlip, Mr. Guise had the satisfaction of taking the
somewhat rare and local Procris statices (Green forester), with
the Pyrausta purpuralis and punicealis, and found dead in the
road (the coroner happily not having sat upon him) a fine speci-
men of the Sphinx ligustri, or Privet Hawk moth. After dinner,
a paper was read by Mr. Guise, " On some rare Bats discovered
in the county," the specimens illustrative of which were kindly
presented by him to the Royal Agricultural College.

In July, a meeting, honoured by the presence of a large number
of ladies, again took place at Cirencester, and again formed two
sections. The one, under the charge of the Secretary, explored
Oakley Wood, where they found specimens of Epipactis grandi-
flora, E. latifolia, Convallaria majalis in fruit (this locality for the
Sweet Lily of the Valley was discovered by Miss Hay garth), and
other plants ; while others of the Club, under the direction of
Mr. Pooley and Mr. Jones, went first to a cornbrash quarry at
Siddington, where a very satisfactory series of fossils of that bed

* Dr. Wright maintains that he knows no such species as the Mytilus jurensis,
but the Ammonite Jurensis does not exist in the Inferior oolite.

Ill

were found. Thence to South Cerney, the Church Steeple of
which had been seriously damaged by lightning, the repairs of
which, we trust, may spare the very curious Norman carvings (so
resembling those of Quennington as to appear to have been the
work of the same artist) ; and returning by Siddington, where
the attention of the section was called to a Norman font, a memo-
rial window of the Langley family, and to the very recent, but, to
us who knew him, not less interesting object, the memorial win-
dow to the late Eector, the Kev. Henry J. Bolland.

I am glad to avail myself of Mr. Jones's Report of this section.

" Despite the combined attractions of the society of the ladies,
the far-famed beauties of Oakley Park, and the botanical* eloquence
of a Buckman, certain members there were who decided upon
visiting other localities. Mr. Pooley kindly took these individuals
under his charge, and drove them to a Cornbrash quarry, at Sid-
dington, in which a very satisfactory series of the fossils common
in the bed were obtained by all — Acrosalenia hemicidaroides by
Miss Slatter, and a fine fish palate by Mr. Jones. Two pits in
which the Oxford Clay was worked for brickmaking were then
visited, but both were found to bo exceedingly unfossiliferous,
furnishing only young specimens of Q-ryphaea dilatata, Ammonites
Lamberti, fragments of another small Ammonite too imperfect for
identification, and one good specimen of the upper valve of Ostrea
deltoidea. One of the workmen exhibited two good specimens of
Ammonites macrocephalus, hitherto supposed by English geolo-
gists to be a Cornbrash form, but maintained by Dr. Oppel, in
his work on the Juraformation, now in course of publication,
to be distinctive of the Kelloway group, and not to occur below
the grey clay which rests upon the Cornbrash, and, according to
his view, forms the basis of the Calloviau.

In the ponds formed by the excavation of the brick-clay, the
common Stickleback Q-asterosteus aculeatus abounds, although no
connection with any stream or watercourse could be discovered.
It was suggested that some ingenious member of the Club might
favour it with a paper upon this subject, not a whit inferior in
interest to the celebrated treatise on the origin of tittlebats in
the Twickenham ponds, by the renowned Mr. Pickwick. LymnsBus
auricularius was there also in great force, appearing upon the
Cotteswolds to take the place of L. pereger in similar situations
in the vale.

" Proceeding to South Cerney, Mr. Pooley called the attention
of the party to the Church Steeple, which had been recently dam-
aged by lightning, so much as, in the opinion of the incumbent, to
render it unsafe for the performance of the usual services, and he
is now in consequence seeking funds for its due restoration. It
appears that the electric fluid first put to flight the weathercock
from his proud position ; so alarmed old Time in the personality of
the clock that it retreated about four inches downwards; displaced
* Substituted

IV

most of the boarding of the clock-case, dislocated about twenty
feet of the upper portion of the spire, finally passing out of a
Norman window in the basement of the tower, driving out the
glass and decently interring itself in the churchyard, first enliven-
ing possibly some of the long smouldering ashes with * unwonted
fires.' The double arches which support the tower are interesting
examples of the transitionary style from the Norman to Early
English, the shafts of the columns being lighter than usual in
proportion to the mass supported, nearer together at the base
than at the mouldings of their capitals, us at Klkstone, and the
arches lanceolate though ornamented with patterns of the most
distinctive Norman character. Over the doorway, also Norman,
which so much resembles the south entrance 'of Quennington
church as to suggest the probability of both being the work
of the same mason, is an artistic version of the same legend
which forms the subject sculptured in the tympanum of the north
entrance arch at the last named place, exemplifying the power of
the patron saint of the church to deliver souls from the evil one,
combined with the representation of the Trinity, &c. occupying a
similar position in the south doorway. The symbolical forms
adopted in both cases so entirely correspond as to warrant the
conclusion above indicated.

" Returning through Siddington the section was met by Mr. D.
Bowly, who ' prevailed on it to stop,' not a la Turpin, but by the
very acceptable offer of some lunch. The curious Norman font
here is a prize for those who study such special features of eccle-
siology, but the attention of all appeared to be for a while concen-
trated upon the newest in the ancient church — the window in
stained glass to the memory of its late rector, and our late associ-
ate, the Rev. Henry John Bolland. The subjects treated are
illustrative of the life of St. Peter, to whom the church is dedi-
cated.

" The memorial windows of the Langley family, which was long
settled here, and of which Geoffrey was seneschall to Edward the
First, have been removed to Cirencester. The brasses which were
once inserted above the canopied altar tombs in their chantry
have met with even a worse fate than the glass, having long since,
doubtless by the cupidity of some ignorant curator, been consigned
to the common limbo of old metals, though their outlines are still
sufficiently well preserved to convey to the instructed eye their
form and character.

" Portions of inscriptions still remain in the heads of the win-
dows, though in so mutilated a state as to be unintelligible;
monograms, also, of the family are upon the walls and the span-
drila of one of the arches dividing the chantry from the nave, but
our only information respecting its rank and status is to be derived
from the almost obsolete art of the herald, whose hieroglyphical
contributions to the history of an ancient race are still perfect,
except that whitewash has eclipsed all the once varied tints of

blazonry. The principal quarterings are those of Acton of Iron
Acton, and Tame of Fairford. Members of this family were
sheriffs of Gloucestershire in 1294, 1303, and 1477, and Huntly
of Boxwell is its present representative in this county. It may
be remarked here that the arms given by Fuller, in his list of
sheriffs belong to a very distinct family, long settled in his time
at Bristol, and, as appears from the Visitation of 1621, in the
Huntley pedigree should be corrected as follows : Arg. afess sable
in chief three pellets.

" Here the section subdivided, the majority going on to the
quarries at Furzen Leaze, in search of " tracks** on the Forest
marble slabs, which were found in abundance : the minority to
Preston church, to sketch the campanile for three bells, of elegant
proportions and arrangement, so unusual as to be almost unique.

"All arrived at the College in time for dinner, from which
period their proceedings were precisely identified with those of
the general meeting."

In the evening, papers were read by Mr. Brodie, " On the Lias
of Burrow-on-Sour, and the Inferior Oolite and Lias of Northamp-
tonshire and Gloucestershire." Mr. Lycett also read a paper,
" On the Inferior Lias and Oolite of the Cotteswold Hills, com-
pared with similar deposits on the coast of Yorkshire."

On August 25th a very small party, consisting of the President,
the Rev. S. Lysons, and Mr. J. Jones, with Mr. — Lysons as a
visitor, met at Beckford Inn to breakfast.

As Dumbleton hill has become, through the labours of Buck-
man and Strickland, classic ground to the Jurassic geologist a
great increase in number was only waited for by the next train,
but to no purpose. The time, however, was not ill spent in an
inspection of the Church and Beckford Hall.

The former presents many features of Norman architecture in
a good state of preservation, which would lead us to place the
date of its foundation in the reign of Stephen, the ornamentation
and the legendary subjects represented in the tympanum of the
doorway arches being precisely those described at Quennington,
but more coarsely executed.

Beckford Hall is a seat of a branch of the Worcestershire
Wakemaus, long settled here, of which the last Abbot of Tewkes-
bury was a member. It is interesting from the fact that it does
not appear to have been improved or added to since the period of
its erection. In the cellars are some arches which probably
formed part of a Priory founded here in the Saxon times, of which
the revenues were estimated in the taxation of Pope Nicholas at
£32. 16s.; and in the garden is a fine avenue of box trees. The
thanks of the Club are due to Mr. Woodward, who now resides
here, for his kindness, in anticipation of its visit, in providing
vehicles to convey its members to Dumbleton.

At the base of Dumbleton hill, apparently turned up in the

VI

course of draining operations, were found fragments of a white
band of lias claystone, full of a small trochiform looking univalve,
apparently unnamed.

On the summit of the hill was obtained a fine series of charac-
teristic Marlstone and Upper Lias fossils, already enumerated by
Buckman and Strickland.

The day was one of excessive heat, and never was proffered
refreshment more willingly accepted than that at the residence of
Edward Holland, Esq.

A brief visit was paid to the Church, in consequence of a won-
derful account of the antiquity of the bells, upon which were said
to be inscriptions in characters so ancient and difficult as to have
perplexed all the literati of the vicinity. As the honour of the
Club was somewhat at stake, an attempt at the solution of the
mystery was hazarded, and one bell which was pointed out as a
test was examined. It bore the well-known name of Rudhall, of
Gloucester, with the date of 1729, and the following inscription: —
" I to the church the living call,
And to the grave do summon all."

How often do difficulties of much more serious import to us
vanish upon being boldly confronted !

Messrs. Woodward, of Bredon, with Mr. Woodward of Beckford
Hall, joined the Club at dinner at Beckford Inn.

On September 15th, the Club met, after various alterations of
the fixture, at the Tetbury Eoad Station, whence they proceeded
to Sapperton tunnel, pausing for a while to examine and speculate
on the interesting fault at Hailey Wood. At this point I parti-
cularly regret my own absence from the party, inasmuch as the
origin of various faults (at least in the human race) has of late
years formed the staple of my studies ; and among so many
learned men discussing the origin of one " very interesting fault,"
who knows what valuable lights might have been thrown on my
own studies ? As far, however, as the Chronicles of Buckman
inform me, no suggestion was made as to that point of principal
utility in searching into faults, viz. the best mode of amending
them ; he tells me that even the faults of the geologist are inte-
resting.

And here, my friends, while we end our account of the summer
gatherings of last year, I have unintentionally given an instance
of the mode in which a mind is always apt to return, in season or
out of season, to the subject which usually engrosses it. Shall I
cry peccavi, and promise not to offend in a like manner again; or
shall I brazen it out, and maintain that I was right and my re-
marks not alien to our Club ? I'll take the latter line. I regret
to say that but few days ago, a member of our Club intimated to
me that he thought that an antiquarian subject, (he did not mean
himself, for he is comparatively a young member,) was foreign to

vii

the pursuits of a Club of Naturalists. Gentlemen, I stood aghast.
I did not think that there had been one of our members so igno-
rant of the principles of a Naturalist's Club as not to recognize
the fact that even all art is only founded on nature — that nature
must be the base of operations in art — and that, therefore, the
studies of a naturalist comprehend all possible studies.

On this view, forgive me if I touch for a few minutes on those
studies which have of late called my attention from the pursuits
which more commonly bear the name of nature, but whicn I find
so cognate that I constantly trace how the thoughts on the one
subject have fitted me for action on the other.

You, gentlemen, know the work on which I have been engaged,
and which I have closely watched for some years. I will not
attempt to give you an account of the spread of Reformatory
Schools throughout England, (still less of their immediately ex-
pected rise in Ireland, Scotland, and Jamaica,) but I will simply
state, as a matter, hard indeed to be believed without examination,
but of which the hope appears more strong the eloper we search
into it, that — so fast and so surely is Juvenile Crime decreasing,
in all places where the Reformatory System, as it is usually called,
has a fair trial, I have great hooe and trust that by Christmas,
1859, all, even the large cities of England, with the exception only
of London, will be cleared of all regular habitual premeditating
thieves under sixteen years of age ; and if this be the case, I have
no doubt that three years more will clear London. I grant that
this appears so wild a hope as to be classed with impossibilities.
What of that ? Is it more impossible than the electric telegraph
was twenty years ago ? or than railroads were thirty-five years
since ?

No, my friends — when we have completed our studies, when we
have worked out all the laws of nature, and can put definite
bounds to them all — then may we be justified in saying that a
thing is impossible — but, at present, so far is this from being the
case, that the greatest glory and charm of our studies of nature
consist in the fact that, deeply as we may search, and far as we
may see, any increase of our knowledge only enables us to see
more clearly the existence of farther fields beyond us, and thus
proves the eternal truth of our studies, by shewing that they are
blended with the Infinite.

Vlll

Notes on Bisley Cross ; also a Communication on Friar Bacon.
By CHARLES POOLEY.

As no record has been preserved of the ancient crosses that are
so numerously scattered over this county, it seems desirable that
this department of the Archaeology of Gloucestershire should not
be left entirely unrepresented. Having had my attention called
to the subject, I shall be happy to supply this deficiency by occa-
sionally contributing papers to the Transactions of the Club,
which shall embody as much information respecting them as I
have been able to accumulate ; at the same time I may state that,
in many instances, the paucity of materials at my disposal will
oblige me to be content with a bare enumeration of the measure-
ments of these monuments, and probable dates of their erection.
This is the more to be regretted because an interest attaches to
these crosses that enhances their value in the eyes of antiquarians.
Many of them are the standing witnesses of events which at the
period of their occurrence exercised a powerful influence over the
destiny of this country ; while others, as in the case of the Cross
of Amney Holy-Rood, illustrate in a remarkable manner the
ancient custom and practice of ecclesiastical tenure.

The subject of the present paper is Bisley Cross, or, as it is
sometimes spelt, Bislye, Biselie, and Bisleigh, which stands at the
west end of Bisley churchyard, where it forms rather a striking
object, and may be mistaken for a handsome sepulchral monument.
Lysons has figured it as a cross of the 13th century. Why it
should be called a cross, it is difficult to say, as an inspection must
convince any one that the term is misapplied. The buildiDg
consists of a circular basement, on which is erected an upright
hollow hexagon, formed by six three-centred arches, supported on
round columns with beaded capitals and square plinths. On this
tier rises a hexagonal pyramid built on a corresponding number
of smaller open arches, with very deep scolloped mouldings. A
thick fillet runs half way up the pyramid at each angle and
terminates by bevelling. The small Greek cross of modern date
which surmounts the summit, I suspect has no business there, as
it certainly is not in keeping with the rest of the building : its
place was formerly occupied by an equally incongruous object,
namely, the baptismal font which now stands in the church. The
total elevation of the whole building, from the ground line to
the apex, is about twelve feet six inches. In the absence of any
definite information, we may conjecture that this is a specimen
of a detached bell-tower or turret of the thirteenth century,
but it is difficult to conceive on what grounds it claims to be
called a cross. Not only is the style of architecture in nowise
analogous to that seen in the remains of any of the early

IS & IE

II

churchyard crosses of this county, but it does not possess even
a single member in common with them to indicate that it ever
was intended as such, or was erected for the purpose to which
churchyard crosses were dedicated. There is a tradition amongst
the common people, who have nick-named it the "bone-house,"
that it leads by a subterranean passage to the interior of the
church. Tlu; existence of some sort of chamber, communicating
with the interior of the building, has been partially confirmed
by the assurance of an old man whom I met there, that some
years ago he " went down," and at the bottom found a large
number of bones, and an excavation like a tomb " which ran some
distance under ground." Should this prove to be the case, it
would illustrate in some degree the ground plan of this mysterious
building, and would dispose of the idea that the structure was
ever intended for a cross. Where the excavation led to, and
what was its purport, are questions for future explorers to decide.
Mr. Ball says that a tradition exists that a person was drowned
in a well in the churchyard, that the well was ordered to be
closed, that persons were forbidden to be buried in the church-
yard, and that this erection was built over the spot.

Friar Bacon.

As an appendage to this note, but unconnected with the sub-
ject, I beg leave to lay before the meeting a copy of a letter I
have received from Mrs. Clutterbuck, of St. Mary's Mill, Chalford,
in reply to my enquiries respecting the tradition, that her house
was formerly tenanted by no less a personage than the famous
Friar Bacon.

The statement is to be found in Sir Eobert Atkins's History of
Gloucestershire, wherein it is related that " Friar Bacon was born
at Todgmore Bottom, about a mile from Bisley, and that he was
educated at St. Mary's Chapel, now St. Bury Mill, on Stroud
river ; where a room at this day is called Friar Bacon's study."
The historian then goes on to state that " he was a very learned
person, and wrote eighty books, and for his skill in mathematics
was reputed a conjuror in those ignorant times," &c. "He died
A.D. 1284."

Now all authentic English historians agree that Friar Bacon
was born at Ilchester, in Somersetshire, about A.D. 1214, and that
he was educated at Oxford, where he took the vows of a Francis-
can in a convent possessed by that order at Oxford, and that he
was buried in the church of the Franciscans about A.D. 1292.
Nevertheless it is remarkable, that the traditional evidence which
Mrs. Clutterbuck has obligingly furnished me with, corresponds
with the statement of Sir Eobert Atkins, and therefore will be
read with interest.

Mrs. Clutterbuck says, " The house formerly had simk into the
name of Saiutbury, but it has gone by the original name of St.
Mary's for more than forty years. The account handed down to
her thirty years ago, was, that Friar Bacon's room was the one
which she made the nursery, and that that room and the closet
adjoining, said to be his cell, has always borne the name of Friar
Bacon's study. She also perfectly remembers that she was told,
there had been a flight of steps, which communicated with the top
of the house, but which were taken down when the house was
altered, where there is still remaining a walk on the leads with a
stone balustrade, which tradition said was that he made use of as
a place for his astronomical observations."

It may be remarked that Sir Robert Atkyns makes Friar
Bacon's death to have taken place A.D. 1284, which corresponds
to the date given by some foreign writers, but our historians place
the event eight years later.

The above communication I deem sufficiently curious to be
preserved in the archives of our Club. C. P.

XI

Notice of some rare Bats, from the neighbourhood of Glouces-
ter and Cheltenham.

By W. V. GUISE, F.L.S., F.G.S.

I have the pleasure of bringing to your notice to-day three
Bats, which are deserving of registration upon the records of our
Society, not only inasmuch as they may serve for the commence-
ment of a series illustrative of our local Cheiroptera, but because
they are all of somewhat unusual occurrence, and one, V. mysta-
cinus, is amongst the rarest of our indigenous species.

The three examples to which I allude are Vespertilio nattereri
and mystacinus, and Rhinolophus hipposideros. For the first-
named species I am indebted to Nathaniel Skelton, the well-known
taxidermist, of Cheltenham, who procured it in the neighbourhood
of that town ; while I had myself the good fortune to obtain the
two others at Elm ore, about five miles from Gloucester. Of these
V. mystacinus is by far the rarest ; and as but little is known of
its habits, the story of its capture may not be without interest.
In the beginning of the last month (May), I had for some days
observed a small bat to issue from between the fissures of some
old masonry which surrounds a pool in my garden, at Elmore,
and, in the full blaze of the mid-day s-un, to hawk over the surface
of the water, flitting backwards and forwards with all the restless
activity of its race. After several ineffectual attempts at captur-
ing the little animal, I at length succeeded in enclosing it in my
insect-net. A careful comparison with the descriptions and plates
in Professor Bell's work on the British Mammalia seemed to
justify me in referring the bat to the rare V. Daubentonii, of which
only four examples are recorded in the above-named work as hav-
ing been met with in this country. Being desirous, however, of
obtaining the opinion of some naturalist more competent to form
a correct judgment upon the matter than myself, I availed myself
of the opportunity presented by a meeting of the Linnsean Society
to submit my specimens to the inspection of Professor Bell him-
self, who returned them duly named and labelled, and accompanied
by a note in which occurs the following passage : — " I have ex-
amined your bats with care, and feel confident I have rightly
named them; they are not common. I was a little doubtful
at first about Mystacinus, but I feel now almost certain that I am
right in so naming the specimen — this is the rarest of them — but
in so many respects it resembles Daulentonii, that, but for its
smaller size, it might be mistaken for it."

Now, having regard to the advantage attaching to the identifi-
cation of these bats by so eminent an authority as Professor Bell,
and at the same time, keeping in view the object towards which
it especially behoves us as local naturalists to direct our attention,

Xll

namely, the collecting and systematising facts in illustration of
the Natural History of our own county,.! propose to place these
specimens in the hands of our able friend and Secretary Professor
Buckman, for deposition in the Museum of the Eoyal Agricultural
College, at Cirencester, where they may serve as a nucleus for
the gradual accumulation of the entire series of Cheiroptera
indigenous to the county of Gloucester.

ON

RHYNCHONELLA ACUTA

AND ITS

AFFINITIES.

BY JOHN JONES, ESQ., GLOUCESTER.

LONDON.

1860.

PRINTED AT THE "GEOLOGIST" OFFICE, 154, STRAND, W.C.

ON

RHYNCHONELLA ACUTA

AFFINITIES.

ONE of the most remarkable fossils assumed to be distinctive of a
particular geological horizon, and which, from its very striking out-
line, most readily impresses itself upon the mind, is the RhynchoneUa
acuta of the Lias-marlstone, a Brachiopodous shell common at
Stinchcombe, Churchdown, and other localities of this district, and
well known elsewhere. Having paid considerable attention to the
class to which it belongs, I have long abandoned the common practice
of placing in the cabinet only those specimens which chance to accord
with the forms figured and described as typical. Instead of doing
this, I have selected, as good examples, those which manifestly have
not been crushed or injured prior to their entombment and petri-
faction ; and these I have arranged in series illustrative of specific
development.

This mode of procedure has taught me that the species under
consideration assumes forms varying from, that under which it is most
generally known ; and it has led me to believe that several so-called
species of various authors are, in reality, mere varieties of this.

All who have attentively studied the numerous Terebratulidee of
the Cotteswolds will have experienced the difficulty of assigning
satisfactorily certain anomalous forms, occuring in beds ranging
vertically from the Pisolite, or even lower, to the Cornbrash, to such
well-established species as Terebratula maxtilata, T. perovalis, T.
globata, or T. intermedia, and will remember the remarkable
varieties of individual character presented by other species, as,
for example, T. plicata, T. simplex, T. fonbria, and T. carinata,
sufficiently striking when studied in solitary examples, but, in an

4 ON RHYNCHONELLA ACUTA AND ITS AFFINITIES.

extensive series, not suggestive of good and stable specific differences.
The variability of character within recognized specific limits, then,
being well known, I proceed to lay claim for Rhynchonella acuta to as
great an amount of indulgence, in this respect, as for any of its con-
geners, referring in evidence to the specimens figured with this paper.

Its most common form is indubitably that figured by Sowerby
and other authors, which occurs in the Lias-marlstone of Glou-
cester and Somerset, in the Lias-marlstone and ironstone-series
of Yorkshire, in France, part of Germany, in the Macigno
d'Aubange, the equivalent of those deposits in Belgium, &c. ;
but this I shall endeavour to show in the sequel to be an immature
form, and that, in the succeeding stages, the species to which it
belongs attains much larger dimensions, and a higher degree of
development, than in the marlstone, although in that stratum it
occasionally assumes characters of importance, as regards our present
inquiries, which have not hitherto been formally noticed.

For example, it sometimes presents two mesial folds, as in PL I.,
Fig. 3, from Churchdown ; and three mesial folds, as in PL I., Fig 2,
from Stinchcombe. The scarcity of similar examples is, probably,
not so much attributable to their rarity as to the intractable nature of
the matrix in which they are imbedded, which renders the extraction
of its most simple organic forms sufficiently difficult and laborious,
and that of the more complicated still more so. A cursory examina-
tion will suffice to show that the examples referred to cannot be
assigned to any other species than R. acuta, as they agree perfectly
with the typical form in lateral outline, and differ from it in no other
respect than in the number of mesial folds.

1. Rhynchonella acuta. 2. Rhynchonella bidens. 3. Rhynchonella triplicata.

(Copied from Plate XTTT., Phillips' Geology of Yorkshire.)

On comparing these with the figures of E. acuta, R. bidens, and R.
triplicata, of Phillips, from the marlstone and ironstone-series of

PLATE I.

S. J. Mackie Del.

RHYNCHONELLjE
In the Collection of J. Jones, Esq., of Gloucester.

Figs. 1—3. Rhynchonella acuta, from the Lias Marlstone.

Figs. 4— '). Rhynchoneila cynocephala, from the " Cephalopoda- bed. '

Figs. 10— 14. Rhynchonella cynocephala, from the Upper Lias Sand.

ON RHYNCHONELLA ACUTA AND ITS AFFINITIES. 5

Yorkshire, it appears to me that the author has merely represented
more aged examples of the two varieties before us as species distinct
from the first named.

Professor Morris, in the last edition of his " Catalogue of British
Fossils," treats the difference of a plication, more or less, between
R. bidens and R. triplicata as unimportant, although, instead of
uniting these to It. acuta, and assigning to the three forms one specific
name, he records them as synonyms of R. variabilis, one of the most
widely-diffused brachiopods of the Lower Lias, and of which I doubt
the occurrence in the marlstone of England at least.

In certain localities, as at Frocester, a young or dwarfed form of
It. tetrahedra constitutes the principal bulk of large masses of marl-
stone, and has, I think, been mistaken for R. variabilis ; but in neither
of these species can I discover any features at all suggestive of affinity
with that under consideration. That Professor Morris may be mis-
taken is not improbable, from the fact that the two most recent writers
on the Jurassic formations of England and the continent, Oppel and
Quenstedt, have both found themselves somewhat perplexed as to
the true affinities of these forms, perhaps, to some extent, in conse-
quence of having adopted, without due examination, his views.
Oppel, in his observations on R. variabilw (" Juraformation," p. 187),
after stating that it is found in the Middle as well as the Lower Lias,
remarks, pertinently enough as regards the object of the present
paper, that, " in Suabia it occurs particularly under the form of the
biplicated variety (R. bidens of Phillips), which is found also at the
base of the Middle Lias at Boll, Metzigen, Hinterweiler, and Balingen,
with specimens possessing a greater number of folds (R. variabilis of
Zieten, p. 42, f. 6, and R. triplicata of Phillips).

Bearing in mind the fact that R. variabilis of Zieten is not the
typical form recognized by Schlotheim or Davidson, it is clear that
Dr. Oppel considers the forms just described as belonging to one
species, and, in his observations on R. variabilis of the Lower Lias
(p. 121), he appears disposed to limit its stratigraphical range to the
Lower Lias only, in which case, of course, they are not varieties of
the latter.

Professor Quenstedt, in like manner, in his recently-published
" Jura," treating of R. bidens, Phillips, seems disposed to consider it
and R. triplicata as varieties of R. acuta, distinctly pointing out their

6 ON RHYNCHONELLA ACUTA AND ITS AFFINITIES.

general resemblances ; although German authors generally agree in
stating that this species does not occur in the Suabian Alps.

Not to needlessly multiply quotations, I may yet briefly state that
Davidson, in his Monograph on British Jurassic Brachiopoda, figures
what he considers to be the R. bidens and R. triplicata of Philips as
varieties of R. variabiliSj which he believes to range through the
Lower and Middle Lias ;* but, unless his figures are taken from the
original specimens of Professor Phillips (and these" were very ill
drawn by the last-named gentleman), I discover nothing in his obser-
vations upon either species to modify the conclusions at which I have
arrived from a comparison of the observations of all these authors.

Labyrinthine as appears to be the confusion of ideas in the state-
ments cited, the clue appears to me to lie within grasp. Let us re-
member that the three forms, in one case, occupy the same zone,
occasionally occurring together, at other stages or places one or other
numerically preponderating ; that the difference between R. acuta
and R. bidens , in the opinions of authors and observers in every way
entitled to respect, is no greater than between the latter and R. tripli-
cata, being one of degree only and not of kind. The suggestion,
therefore, naturally arises that they may really pertain to one species.
Assuming that we are justified in arriving at this conclusion, all
difficulties vanish. We simply learn the not uninteresting facts in
its natural history — that the geographical distribution of one of the
most characteristic shells of the stage to which it belongs was co-
extensive with that of many of its usual companions, from which it
would otherwise appear to be somewhat unaccountably separated ;
and that, in particular portions of the area which it occupied, it at-
tained to degrees of development denied to it in others.

Having pointed out instances of the confusion of these varieties
with species of lower stratigraphical range, I will now direct atten-
tion to one instance of R. bidens having been recorded as occurring in
a bed higher than that in which it is usually looked for.

In Phillips' " Geology of Yorkshire," this marlstone shell, there
first figured and described, is stated, at page 157, in the list of or-
ganic remains of the Inferior Oolite, to have been found by Mr.

* In this monograph, Mr. Davidson gives his reasons from considering R.
bidens and its synonym R. tmplicata, as specifically different from R. acuta. His
statements on this subject should be referred to.

ON HHTNCHONELLA ACUTA AND ITS AFFINITIES. 7

Ripley in the Dogger, at Glaizedalo. I have little doubt that, had
Mr. Ripley's specimens been submitted to Cotteswoldian geologists,
they would have been named E. cynocephala, and the close resemblance
of certain forms of this shell to the former, which induced a practised
observer to consider both specifically identical, suggests the ex-
pediency of inquiring whether they may not really be so.

Mr. Lycett finds R. cynocephala in the marly beds lying at the
base of the sands which, in this district, usually rest upon the upper
Lias, as at Nailsworth and elsewhere, although it has long been con-
sidered peculiar to the " Cephalopoda-bed" above those sands. It
abounds at the Horsepools, Haresfield, and Frocester, where it pre-
sents three similar degrees of variety, attained to by those R. acuia
in the marlstone. From the thin ferruginous earthy band dividing,
at Haresfield, the " Cephalopoda-bed," into two portions, they are
most readily extracted ; the specimens are all more or less stunted in
growth as compared with those from above or below; and there
principally I have found the acute variety. The only recognizable
feature of distinction between this and R. acuta is, that in the former
the apex is not so much elevated, and is formed by a less acute angle
than in the latter, approximating more nearly to its younger forms ;
although this difference of outline may partly be accounted for, by
the fact that the marlstone, in the one case, only affords us casts,
through the intractable nature of the matrix, while in the other the
shells are exceedingly well preserved, exhibiting clearly Lines of
growth and perfect details of the states of maturity at which they
had arrived.

With so great a constancy of form to a limited set of specific types
as to perplex us, and to render essential the considerations of strati-
graphical position in separating them, and with these derived from
beds almost immediately following each other, it is not clear that
valid grounds exist for their separation. All these forms indisputably
have the same vertical range ; they differ in no greater degree from
each other than do the varieties of other universally acknowledged
species. They appear and disappear simultaneously in strata of
which they are everywhere some of the most remarkable fossils, and
in which they are not associated with others that resemble them so
much as to justify the confusion of nomenclature which has hitherto
prevailed with regard to them. Why, then, should we make four, if

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