59 



shire has yielded such a large and important series of fossil fish and 

 other organic remains to the indefatigable hammer of Mr. Charles 

 Moore, is scarcely less prolific at Alderton and Dumbleton Hills, in 

 this county, where the quarries opened in the " Marlstone" have 

 exposed to a considerable extent the " Fish-bed" and its accompanying 

 fossiliferous shales. The party, about twenty in number, headed by 

 Mr. Charles Moore, of Bath; S. T. Woodward, Brit. Museum; 

 Dr. Wright, Rev. W. S. Symonds, and others, soon got actively to 

 •work at the " nodules" and " shales" of the " Fish-bed," and the 

 click of the hammer laid bare to the eye of day strange forms of fish 

 and saurians, that had lain entombed in their rocky sepulchres 

 Heaven knows for how many millions of ages ! " Leptolepis con- 

 centricus" was found by Mr. Norwood, a fine " Pachycormus" by 

 Mr. Holland, and a seiies of vertebrae belonging to a species of 

 "Ichthyosaurus" by Mr. Moore. 



At Alderton Hill we examined tAvo quarries. 

 Quarry No. 1. 



The Marlstone forms the base of the quarry, and as nearly as could 

 be guessed, the "Fish-bed" is about 25 feet above the uppermost 

 bed of " Marlstone," where it is marked by a chain of nodular 

 concretions projecting from the face of the quarry. In these, scales, 

 teeth, and bones abound, and entire fish are by no means rare, though 

 these seem to be more readily found in the adjacent shales than in the 

 nodules themselves. 



This is a true Upper Lias deposit, characterised by " Ammonites 

 communis"^ and " Lythensis." 



Quarry No. 2. 



The following list of Fossils was made on the spot : — 



1. — «' Acrosalenia spinifera." The hair-like spines of this urchin 

 were very abundant. They belong to the soft shales between the 

 " Marlstone" and " Fish-bed," and are associated with " Upper 

 Lias Ammonites," particularly the characteristic " J. communis." 



2. — " Gresslya unionoides." Marlstone. 



3. — " Nautilus." — Marlstone. 



4. — " Ammanites spinatus." Characteristic of Marlstone. 



5. — " Pecten equivalvis." Ditto ditto. 



6. — " Pecten corneus." Ditto ditto. 



At Dumbleton Hill quarry, Mr. Holland found a good example 

 of Pachycormus in the shales below the " Fish-bed." 



From these quarries the party adjourned to the brick-pits at 

 Dumbleton, which yielded to the explorers a good series of Lower 

 Lias fossils, intermixed with some few of '* Marlstone " type. 



