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drain, instead of which it was allowed to pass behind the timber- 

 ing to the bottom of the well, to be brought up again in the 

 bucket, whilst week by week the men were working in a slimy- 

 bottom under the idea that the water was coming from the 

 bedding passed through, and the result to my own examinations 

 unfortunately was that owing to the muddy surfaces of all the 

 blocks many of the smaller or more delicate forms of life were 

 unrecognisable. 



Under any circumstances it was a pleasure to me to recognise 

 the faces of my West of England Upper Lias forms in Bath. 

 But on the whole nature has not been generous to many of them, 

 for before they were finally covered up they were so tossed 

 about as to be in a very dilapidated condition. A list of species 

 will be given below, all of which are already in my museum. 

 Belemnites are most plentiful, and in best preservation. Am- 

 monites are always imperfect, and usually flattened ; all their 

 outer shells, except in the case of Ammonites Bechei, have 

 perished, but in this case the outer epidermis has been left in 

 such a condition as to enable me to remove it, and even to bottle 

 samples for microscopical study. 



Three genera of fish come from the well, Hybodus, Lepidotus 

 and Leptolepis — of the latter I found a very perfect example and 

 several detatched heads— this fish is very plentiful in the upper 

 lias fish bed and there are numerous examples in my museum. 

 Next there are traces of shrimps and lobsters, though not well 

 preserved — scarcely more than impressions on the marl. One of 

 the latter is the Eryon Moorei, named after myself, from the 

 upper lias of Ilminster. In addition to the above, Lima punctata, 

 Pecten, Inoceramus, Pentacrinites, &c., are not uncommon. The 

 tests of most of them are converted into iron pjTites. The 

 Brachiopoda yield the genera Terebratula, Rhynchonella, and 

 many examples of the little Discina Moorei, Dav., but the latter 

 shell being very thin, is always crushed. Considering the dis- 

 advantages under which these gleanings were made there is no 



