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at Netlierfield, iu Sussex, where the boiiugs head reached a depth 

 of more than 600 feet, a fact which would give some idea of the 

 vast time this deep sea deposit had taken in forming. Never- 

 theless the thickness here was very considerable. The fauna was 

 of great importance, for in addition to the moUusca found (a proof 

 of their abundance was at that moment given in the spit turned 

 up by one of the workmen which gUttered with the iridescent 

 shells oi Astarte, Ammonites, &c.), this was the great Saiuianhome 

 — a paddle alone of a Pliosaurus from Kimmeridge measuring 

 8ft. in length. From the clay before them several bones had 

 been dug at a depth of some 15ft. from the surface, e.g., those 

 of Bothrijosi)ondylus stiffosus, Plioscmms hrachjdeinis and the 

 celebrated Omosaurus, all described and figured by Professor Owen 

 in the publications of the Paloeontographical Society. Mr. Bowly, 

 one of the managers of the works, evidently quite aUve to the 

 importance of watching excavations of a like character in the 

 interests of science, stated that he was present when Mr. Davis, 

 of the British Museum, took away the pelvis of the latter Saurian 

 to London, together with the bones of other reptiles, and corro- 

 borated Mr. Moore's remark with regard to the depth of the clay, 

 by stating that the thickness in one portion of the pit had been 

 proved by sinking to 400 feet. Pieces of fossil wood assuming the 

 appearance of jet were picked up by some of the members, indi- 

 cating that an ancient tree had in past ages been stranded here 

 and had probably grown on or near the same place frequented by 

 these huge reptiles. A heap of Se^jtaria, rejectamenta from the 

 clay owing to the lime which they contained, attracted attention, 

 but nothing of any importance was found in them ; and the next 

 halt was called at the end of a cutting iu the north face of the 

 lill, where a good section of the topmost beds of the Kimmeridge 

 clay was pointed out at a level of about 70ft. above the brick pit 

 .and at a distance of about a quarter of a mile. The top beds here 

 consist of large rounded concretionary and apparently bouldered 

 rimuBses of sandstone, upon which the Portland sands rest, but the 



