135 



given, but which the Germans call " Nagel-Kalk," are found here in 

 ^•eat numbers, varying in size from that of a small belemnxte, to that of 

 a man's head, or even larger. 



No difference in the texture of the stone of the separate portions can be 

 distinguished by the eye, yet we know that there must be a sufficxen 

 cause for their being so acted upon by exposure to the atmosphere. We 

 are not acquainted with any theory a. to their origin or nature, and 

 therefore wonder what they might have been. We observe that orgamc 

 remains, such as the fragment of an encrinite, or a broken shell xs mox. 

 frequently imbedded in the central, than in the outer portion, of such as 

 we meet with, and the question suggests itself-can they have been 

 sponges, bm-ied in the thin band of fine mudstone in -^^^^^^^ ^^^ 

 If so, there is an indefinable kind of consolation m the thought, that 

 though the body have enth-ely perished, the fa.t of the Divme gift of bfe 

 having once pervaded this apparently purposeless concretion, has left 

 its own testimony in the partial outlines here exhibited. 



We have obtained from the beds described the foUowing fossils :- 



Belemnites 



Ammonites Conyheari Lima gigantea 



ohtusus var.namma 



NautUus lineatm i>«7ictoto 



Gryplwea incurva, with all its antiqwa 



varieties Cardinia 



Ostrea, covering the larger Unicardium cardioides 



Ammonites, in great per- Spirifer Wallcottn 

 fection, of large size, and Terehratvla numismcdis 

 covered again themselves Ehynchonella variabilis 

 by Serpid<B and Placunopses And several small Cerithiform 

 Pecten, two species univalves 



We have now arrived at the end of the cliff near the second break- 

 water Higher up the vale of Gloucester, it is difiicult to obtam a 

 clear idea of the coxTelation of the va.st beds of gravel composed of the 

 detritus of the liassic and ooUtic beds of the neighboui-ing hills, contam- 

 ing elephant and hippopotamus remains, occasional chalk-flints, &o., with 

 what is popularly known as the NortJ^m Drift, (but to which appella- 

 tion we conceive that there are substantial reasons for objectmg.) Be 

 that as it may, the order of superposition is well shown, in a small 

 excavation within a few yards of the breakwater upon the edge of the 

 cliff, where a bed of the gravel above-mentioned has been worked to a 

 small extent. 



