432 EOCENE. 



Mr. H. M. Klaassen from the railway-cutting at Park Hill, 

 Croydon : ^ this bird was as large as the Dinornis of New Zealand. 

 The Mollusca include Ostrea Bellovacina, Pcctunculus terebratularis, 

 Corhula Regulbietisis, Cyi'eiia cuneiformis, C. Dulwichiensis, Unio 

 stihparallela, Paliidina, Piihanlla, Melania inqumaia, etc. 



Among Plants, Pinites and ' Ca?-poIithes' have been recorded. 

 The Flora indicates a climate whose temperature was gradually 

 increasing towards the tropical conditions that prevailed during 

 the deposition of at least a part of the London Clay." Plants have 

 been obtained near Reading, Croydon, Dulwich, and Newhaven ; 

 and more recently Mr. Whitaker has discovered Plant-remains 

 (derived from Woolwich and Reading Beds) in the Basement-bed 

 of the London Clay at Colden Common, between Bishopstoke and 

 Winchester. 



The large pits by the Medway at Upnor, near Rochester, show 

 the following strata : ^ — 



London Clay. 



Oldhavoi Beds. — Buff sand, shells and flint pebbles, 4 to 8 feet. 

 Woolwich Beds. — Sands and shelly clay, with bed containing small flint- 

 pebbles at base, 50 feet. 

 Tlianet Beds. — Light buff and grey sand with shells, 23 feet. 

 Chalk. 



At Loam Pit Hill, near Lewisham, the Woolwich Beds have been 

 well exposed ; indeed the succession shown is as follows : * — 



London ( Brown clay 15 feet. 



Clay. \ Basement-bed i ,, 



Woolwich Beds 50 ,, 



Thanet Beds 40 ,, 



Chalk. 



The Woolwich Beds here comprise light-coloured sand, laminated 

 clay, a shell-bed with Ostrea and Cj-rena, and a pebble-bed 12 feet 

 in thickness. At Peckham a Paludina- or Cockle-bed, a thin layer 

 of grey clayey limestone, occurs near the top of the Woolwich 

 Beds ; it contains PaJiiduia hnla in abundance. Mr. C. Rickman 

 obtained a number of fossils during sewer-excavations, under the 

 Five-fields at Dulwich ; these included Pitharella Rickmani, Cyrena 

 Di/hv/c/iiefis/s, etc.^ The Woolwich Beds are also exposed at 

 Charlton, near Woolwich, and at Sundridge Park, near Bromley. 

 In the Isle of Wight the beds consist of mottled clays and sands. 

 (See Fig. 73, p. 428.) Mr. T. Codrington has shown that while the 

 subdivisions of the Lower Eocene beds in the island vary much in 



1 E. T. Newton, G. Mag. 1SS5, p. 362 ; and Trans. Zool. Soc. ; see also P. 

 Geol. Assoc, viii. 226, 250. 



^ J. S. Gardner, P. Geol. Assoc, viii. 305. 



•* Whitaker, Mem. Geol. Surv. iv. 144. 



■* Whitaker, Mem. Geol. Surv. iv. 127 ; H.J. Johnston-Lavis, P. Geol. Assoc. 

 iv. 528 ; Buckland, T.G.S. iv. 290, Plate 13. 



5 Q. J. xvii. 6 ; P. Geol. Assoc, i. 106, 336. 



