434 Dr. T. Wright on the Freshwater and Marine 



wise indebted for much valuable information relative to the os- 

 siferous beds of this locality*. 



The quantity of debris that has fallen and obscured the origin 

 and course of many of the beds will account for the discrepancy 

 which may be found between my notes and those of other ob- 

 servers, who have either previously, or who may hereafter, visit 

 this beautiful section under more advantageovis circumstances. I 

 have given as complete a list of the fossils contained in each bed, 

 as the limited time devoted to the subject would admit of, and 

 feel well satisfied that additions may be made to these lists, espe- 

 cially if a microscopic investigation of the sands and marls was 

 undertaken. The places where the most important beds rise on 

 the slioi'e, and where they make their final outcrop on the cliff, 

 have been noted. This mode appears to be the most natm-al for 

 studying coast sections which are gently inclined at a low angle 

 like the strata of these cliffs ; it has the advantage likewise of 

 assisting future observers to identify the beds and to make fui*ther 

 investigations into their contents. 



It is now nearly a century since Brander directed the atten- 

 tion of naturalists to Hordle and Barton Cliffs, in his work en- 

 titled ' Fossilia Hantouiensia,' dated 1766. The author's in- 

 tention was merely to figure and, with the assistance of Dr. So- 

 lander, to describe the shells found in the Barton clay. The 

 beauty and accuracy of his plates have not been surpassed, but 

 his description of the strata is very meagi'e. " They (the shells) 

 are found," he observes, " in their natural state, excepting their 

 loss of colour, and exceedingly well preserved, below a stratum 

 of sand about 14 or 15 feet thick, in a bluish kind of clay or 

 marl quite down to the level of the sea — how much deeper is not 

 known; the height of these cliffs is in many places above 

 100 feet." 



In 1821 Mr. Websterf gave an account of Hordwell Cliff, and 

 described for the first time its freshwater beds, with a view to 

 show that they were a continuation of the same strata which he 

 had so truthfully figured and described in 1816, in Sir Henry 

 Englefield's splendid work on the Isle of Wight. 



In 1826 Sir Charles Lyell read a paper % on the Freshwater 

 Strata of Hordwell, Beacon, and Barton Cliffs, and gave an ac- 

 count of the beds and the fossils they contained. 



* In the measurement of the beds and in investigating then* fossil con- 

 tents I had the assistance of Henry Keeping of Milford, who has had much 

 experience in exploring the Hampshire section for the pm-pose of collect- 

 ing fossils for the Marchioness of Hastings. From Mr. Keeping may be 

 obtained at a moderate price the fossil shells catalogued in this paper. 



t Trans, of the Geol. Soc. vol. i. p. 90, second series. 



X Trans, of the Geol. Soc. vol. ii. p. 287. 



