REMAINS OF AN ICHTHYOSAURUS. 391 



Sir E. Belcher has kindly forwarded the following note on 

 the locality of the above-described fossils : 



" The position on which these remains were found is situ- 

 ated in latitude 77 16' K and longitude 96 W., 570 feet 

 above the level of the sea. The base of the island is a friable, 

 disintegrating sandstone, which has been worn away on all 

 sides, leaving the concentric elevation, equal to one-third of 

 its original diameter, rising abruptly from its base, so much 

 so as to be accessible only on its western end. 



" The summit is capped by a limestone formation of about 

 one-fifth of the entire height, say 114 feet, resting on the 

 sandstone, and having a dip at its western end (as may be 

 noticed in Plate IV.) of seven degrees. 



" It was at the right-hand pile marked on the Plate that, in 

 the construction of the cairn, fossils were noticed ; and at the 

 last moment, on finishing the pile, two specimens were pre- 

 sented by one of the men, apparently fossil bones, but, from 

 anxiety to proceed and save the season, were hastily thrust 

 into the pocket, and consigned, with others, for future scru- 

 tiny. This happened at the end of the season in 1852. In 

 1853 no opportunity offered for revisiting the island ; but, from 

 specimens found on Table Island and on the main, the sole 

 range of fossils was found to run in the assumed oval curve 

 which would be formed by the dotted line connecting the 

 Exmouth, Table, and Princess Royal Islands, continued by 

 the mainland up to Cape Briggs. 



" It is remarkable that no fossiliferous limestone is met 

 with on the westernmost pile of Exmouth Island, nor on any 

 of the lands outside of this oval space ; and, excepting very 

 rare specimens, no fossils of any kind reappear until reaching 

 the entrance of Cardigan Strait, in 76 38' N., where it only 

 occurs in boulders on the beach, and in the next position 

 southerly, Cape Eden, in 75 30' N., where the ' Assistance' 

 wintered in 1853-4. Between Cape Eden and Beechey Island 

 fossils again become rare, and in the latter region do not 

 appear to extend much beyond Cape Riley easterly. All the 

 iiitervening localities seem to furnish the magnesian lime- 

 stone or the old greywacke formations." 



