168 j. l. lobley — the eocenes of england 



The Uppee Eocenes. 

 To the marine Middle Eocenes succeed a series of strata, partly 

 marine and partly freshwater, and called from this the Fluvio- 

 marinc Beds. These are quite local, being confined in theu* ex- 

 tension to the Isle of Wight, if we except a fragment at Brocken- 

 hurst in the New Forest. 



The lowest group is named the Headon Series, from Headon 

 Hill, near Alum Bay ; but these beds are also well seen in White- 

 cliff Bay, at the east end of the Isle of Wight. They consist of 

 sands, marls, and bands of limestone of, as their fossils indicate, 

 fresh-water, estuarine, and marine origin. The lowermost of the 

 three divisions into which the Headon Series has been divided is a 

 fresh-water and brackish-water deposit. The Middle Headon is 

 marine and brackish-water ; and the Upper is like the Lower, fi-esh 

 and brackish- water. The three divisions are all highly fossiliferous, 

 and the fossils are in a beautiful state of preservation. Amongst 

 the fresh-water species the Planorbis euomphaliis and Limncea 

 longiscata are perhaps the most abundant. Cythcrea incrassata 

 distinctly characterizes the marine beds, and in the brackish- 

 water deposits Ostrea flalelhda and Potamides oinctus are abundant. 

 The Osboene or St. Helen's Seeles, seen at St. Helen's and 

 along the shore in front of Osborne House, succeed. These beds 

 are largely composed of green clays, with bands of red and green 

 mottled clays. Bands of limestone, sandstone, and sands arc 

 interbedded with the clays. The Osborne Series is evidently a 

 fresh-water deposit, abounding, as it does, with such shells as 

 Limnma, Melanopsis, Paludina, and Planorbis. 



The Bembeidge Series, considered cither palo^ontologically or 

 economically, is more important than cither the Headon or the 

 Osborne Series. It forms the greater portion of the Tertiary area 

 of the Isle of Wight, and affords the chief building stone of the 

 island, while the organic remains include, besides sixty species of 

 Mollusca, the bones of the earliest large Mammalia yet found. 

 The lower division is the well-known Bcmbridgc Limestone, which 

 has for ages been quarried at Binstead, near Ryde ; and the upper 

 consists of marls and clays. Although the limestone is certainly 

 fi-esh-water, the Bcmbridgc beds yield, some at least, estuarino or 

 brackish- water genera, as Ostrea, Mytilus, and Cythcrea. Of the 

 fresh-water species Planorhis discus and Lymncca lovyiscata arc the 

 most abundant, and PiuVimus vUiptictcs, Cyrcna ohovata, C. tenuis- 

 triata, and Ccrithiuin viiitahilc, arc common. It was in the 

 Binstead quarries that the mammalian remains were discovered. 

 These, on examination, were found to correspond with the bones 

 obtained by Cuvier from the gypseous beds of IMontmartro at 

 Paris, which were determined by that great naturalist to be the 

 remains of tapir-like animals, having a short ])roboscis, but with 

 teeth resembling those of the l^liinoi'cros. The following species 

 have been detenuined : — ANoplothcrixin commune, A. sccundarium, 

 Chwropotamus Cuvicri, Dichohnnc Vcrvineum, Palaotherium crassum, 

 P. may nam, P. medium, P. minus. 



