5*20 EASTERN COUNTIES' RAILWAY. 



broad, and weighed nearly 5 tons. The liver filled a beef- 

 tierce, and on opening the body we found several eggs, the 

 size of 18-lb. carronade shot; these the negroes craved as a 

 great luxury. The only part which I retained was the head, 

 which I cut off below the lower jaw ; it is now in a fine state 

 of preservation, and the largest, I should say, in the world. ■ 

 Wm. K. J. Wilson , Commander ', Halifax Packet. — Lombard 

 St. Chambers, Ylth Sept. 1839. 



Cuttings of the Eastern Counties' 1 Railway, at Stratford, 

 Essex. — The eastern counties' railway passes near to the 

 church, where there is a deep cutting, and on the east side of 

 the bridge, on the road to Laytonstone, is a stratum of gravel 

 ten feet thick, containing chiefly chalk flints. Below the 

 gravel is a bed of sand, two feet in thickness. 



There is a second bridge about a hundred and fifty yards 

 to the east of the first, and at this second bridge, and on the 

 east side of it, in September, 1838, when the sections were 

 fresh, the strata were to be seen more fully developed, being 

 there sixteen feet deep. The upper stratum is the gravel, be- 

 low which is a yellow and greenish sand, and low r er still is a 

 mixture of sand and blue clay, being together the upper part 

 of the London clay formation. 



In the bed of sand were many shells, most of them crushed 

 and in fragments, and in some places in great abundance. — 

 Occasionally the sand was consolidated into sandstone, and 

 in the pieces of sandstone the shells were well preserved, and 

 many very perfect specimens were obtained. Immediately 

 under the sand is a mixture of sand and blue clay, in which 

 are masses of shells, some crushed, others entire. 



In some places the bed of crushed shells was two feet thick, 

 in others, not six inches. There were also pieces of blueish 

 sandy limestone, in which were masses of shells, and sharks' 

 teeth were also found. 



The shells are recognized to be, Rostellaria Sowerbii, Na- 

 tica glancinoides, Ostrea Bellovacina, Pectunculus breviros- 

 tris, Citherea Morrisii, Cardium Plumsteadianum, Melania 

 inquinata, and a Tellina. The Ostrea Bellovacina is the 

 same as Ostrea pulchra, also called Ostrea variabilis. This 

 shell, as well as the Cardium Plumsteadianum and Melania 

 inquinata is found on the opposite side of the river, in the 

 Blackheath district. The London clay at Stratford is about 

 200 feet deep. — James Mitchell. — June, 1839. 



1 The head is now being prepared in London for the Wisheach Museum. 



