1824.] below the Chalk, %c. 373 



found in it, besides those contained in that list, the follow- 

 ing :— 



A crustaceous animal, about the size of a small shrimp; near 



Atherfield. 

 Serpula, two species ; from the same place. 

 Corals; probably of different species. 

 Ostrea Bellovacina? (Min. Conch. Plate 388, figs. 1 and 2.) 



East of Shanklin. 

 Terrebratula, two species ; Atherfield Point, 



Gervillia ? Shanklin. 



A murex. 

 Another univalve. 



Weald Clay. — The clay of this formation, both at the top and 

 bottom, seems to be mixed with a considerable portion of sand. 

 It contains within it at the upper part an insulated bed of green 

 sand ; and, about an equal distance from the bottom, a bed of 

 sand rock, which may be considered as the forerunner of the 

 Hastings sands: but the central portion is very well charac- 

 terised, and the formation may be traced distinctly in its pro- 

 per place, all along the southern coast of the Isle of Wight : 

 nor does any clay, at all approaching to it in characters or 

 thickness, occur between the Gault and the Purbeck series. 

 The first beds appear to rise on the east of Sandown Bay, 

 about 1000 paces from the junction of the chalk with the 

 firestone beds ; the formation occupies a considerable space in 

 the ruined cliffs which succeed the precipice of Red-Cliff; but 

 the land-falls at this place render it difficult to trace the beds 

 in continuity, and on the shore below the clay is in general con- 

 cealed by the gravel of the beach : — nor is it again visible till, 

 after giving place to the small portion of the Hastings sands 

 disclosed there, it recurs in the flat space to the west of the fort ; 

 where, at very low tides, beds of clay may be seen upon the 

 shore beneath the inn at Sandown village, sinking to the west- 

 ward under the prolonged cliffs of the green-sand between 

 that place and Shanklin. The clay rises again from beneath 

 the green-sand on the west of Whale Chine, between Ather- 

 field-high-cliff and Atherfield Rocks, — where the bed of green 

 sand included in the upper part is very distinct, and rich in 

 a great variety of fossils : and from thence for about a mile 

 westward, the cliffs afford a most instructive section of the 

 weald clay, — perhaps the best that can be found in England ; 



moulds of several of these shells (and, perhaps, others) which appear to have been occu- 

 pied by pyrites, occur together, in remarkable ferruginous nodules, which are found in 

 the upper part of the cliff immediately on the west of shanklin Chine, and in the corre- 

 sponding place within the chine itself. 



