60 



cutting a rather stiff piece of leather into an oval shape, making a 

 liolc in it for the liandlc of the haui'iier to pass through, the larger 

 side is then folded over the iron portion, and fastened vrith a stud or 

 button. Two holes cut in the back, or leatlier loops sewn on, will 

 enable the fossil hunter to suspend it over the shoulder or trom the 

 waist by a strap. A smaller hammer with a large knife or flat 

 trowel carried in a similar manner are also well adapted for the work, 

 and may be worn underneath the coat. Mackie, who wrote a very 

 charming account of this part of the coast, published in 'i he 

 Grcologist for 1860, recommends a fishing basket for the specimens 

 obtained A bag is certainly ill-adapted for the very fragile fossils 

 of the Gault (!lay. I have made use of a Avooden box carried in a 

 brown bag, which not only protects the delicate specimens, but the 

 geologist too, by serving as a seat when nothing more inviting pre- 

 sents itself than damp stones or blocks of clay. A glass bottle and 

 other commissariat arrangements I leave to individual taste. Grood 

 fossils can seldom be obtained from the dry hard clay, they must be 

 sought for in those parts where the clay is still moist. The lower 

 and darker beds exhibit the forms of Ammonites, Inocerami, llostel- 

 lariae, &c., in striking contrast, their colour frequently assuming the 

 appearance of copper when freshly deposited by a galvanic current. 

 The suri'ounding clay has to be very carefully removed with a knife, 

 the specimens then folded in paper, the better and rarer ones even 

 packed in cotton wool, and allowed to dry slowly, lest the clay in 

 drying should crack and fall to pieces. Some of the fossils are, 

 however, not so fragile ; their organic matter having been replaced by 

 pyrites, they are exceedingly hard and durable, large quantities of the 

 latter kind may be found on the beach, principally in the beds of the 

 small streams of spring water that run across the sandy shore of the 

 landslip. Most of these are the casts of the interior of ammonites, 

 with the mother-of-pearl lining of the shells still adhering to them, 

 and consequently appearing on the outsides of the casts, causing 

 them to shine in the clear running water of the springs, with the 

 most beautifully iridescent lustre, like opals in a setting of gold 

 Coloured bronze. I have observed few people pick them up with- 

 out some expression of admiratiom and delight. Their form is not 

 less beautiful than the brilliancy of their colouring. The contained 

 animal as it grew added fresh chambers to its shell, forsaking the 

 oilier ones near the centre of the volute, but afterwards holding 

 communication with them by means of a tube called a siphuncle, so 

 by that controlling the quantity of air contained ■within them, it 

 vras enabled to rise to the surface or sink to the bottom like the 

 nautilus of the present day. These chambers with their partitions 

 were formed like the groined roof of a cathedral, exhibiting a com- 

 bination of symmetry with strength, that points to the great archi- 

 tectural triumphs of mankind, being the effect of the human mind 

 working on matter, to bring about similar results to the Divine 



