ON THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF 



particular districts. On this account, " the terms ' clayey loam/ 

 and ' sandy loam/ as the sand or clay predominate, are the 

 most accurately descriptive of the Cheshire soils. Sandy loam 

 is met with in Wallasey, West Kirby, and the estuary of the 

 Dee, but clay abounds in every part of Wirral. The soil is 

 very thin in most parts, with a substratum of rummel or clay." 

 — (Mortimer.) 



"This district/' remarks Mr. J. Cunningham, F.G.S., to 

 whom we are so much indebted for our knowledge of the 

 Geology of this locality, " has become celebrated in geological 

 records, in consequence of impressions of a huge Batrachian, 

 called by Professor Owen the Labyrinthodon, having been 

 found at Storeton-hill, at a depth of between thirty and forty 

 feet from the surface. The impressions were found in the 

 clay, in five different Superimposed beds, occupying a depth of 

 from five to six feet, and were associated with impressions of 

 tortoises, lizards, and crocodiles, and of that singular and ex- 

 traordinary animal called the Eynchosaurus, which Professor 

 Owen has shown, was a creature having the body of a reptile, 

 with the beak and feet resembling those of a bird. This 

 animal was pronounced by that distinguished comparative 

 anatomist, to be one of the most extraordinary that he had 

 ever investigated. 



" These remains, however interesting to the geologist, were 

 superseded by the novel discovery of impressions of rain-drops 

 which were found in three different beds. These indicated 

 different meteorological conditions of the atmosphere; one 

 showing a heavy shower, accompanied with a high wind, the 

 two others, from the smallness of the pit marks, and the more 

 superficial depths to which the drops have penetrated the clay, 

 were apparently more gentle in their character. The impres- 

 sions of gigantic Eucoidese have also been found in the rock, 

 and at different depths : one at Woodside was exposed for 

 several years on the margin of Wallasey Pool, now occupied 

 by the new docks. Several were found on a bed in Storeton 

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