FOSSILS OF THE CORNBRASH AT SCARBOROUGH. 57 



knowledge is most imperfect ; since, by one party it is refer- 

 red to the Mammalia, by another to the insectivorous mono- 

 delphs, or the Amphibia ; and by a third to the didelphs al- 

 lied to opossums, or to a genus representing the seals, in the 

 sub-class of Marsupialia ; whilst others make a saurian, or 

 even a fish of it ; which, it may be remarked en passant, ap- 

 pears much more in accordance with the age and the geolo- 

 gical character of the formation which contains the fossils in 

 question, as well as with the organized bodies with which 

 they are associated. 



Art. II. — A Catalogue of the Fossils found in the Cornbrash Lime- 

 stone of Scarborough : ivith Figures and Descriptions of some of 

 the undescribed Species. By William Bean, Esq. 



The cornbrash limestone on the Scarborough coast is a " thin 

 and unimportant rock," which cannot be applied to any use- 

 ful purpose : it has certainly been sometimes injudiciously 

 used to repair our highways, a practice we hope will be dis ■ 

 continued, as much better road-stone may be more easily ob- 

 tained. But that this " thin and unimportant rock " is not 

 deficient in interest to the enquiring geologist, the following 

 catalogue of its organic remains will amply testify. Com- 

 mencing at Gristhorpe Cliffs, and, with some interruptions, 

 terminating at Ewe-nab, (a wider range than Mr. Phillips has 

 assigned it), we meet with little to reward our labours ; the 

 stone is of a bluish grey colour, and rises in shapeless masses, 

 full of shells laid in every direction, and strongly cemented 

 together, so that it is almost impossible to obtain a perfect 

 specimen. A blue shale covers this rock, and may be met 

 with four or five times within the above-named limits. It 

 contains several fossils rarely found in the bed below, parti- 

 cularly Sanguinolaria parvula, Cardium latum, Isocardia 

 triangularis, Belemnites tornatilis, Astacus rostratus and^.s. 

 Birdii ; the two last are in nodules which occur in the great- 

 est abundance. Proceeding onwards we again meet with the 

 cornbrash on the north side of the Castle Hill, and it finally 

 disappears before reaching Peaseholm Beck. To the left of 

 the bathing-place the same blue shale occurs as at Mill Bay, 

 containing the same fossils ; but our favourite locality is op- 

 posite Harland's cottage, where most of the fossils recorded 

 in the following pages have been obtained : the stone is here 

 of a reddish colour, not so coarse-grained, contains fewer or- 

 ganic remains, but in a better state of preservation. The mi- 

 Vol. III.— No. 26, n. s. G 



