36 Lincolnshire Notes & Queries. 



Saurians which are so characteristic of the Lias and higher 

 formations ; and we are indebted to Mr. Montagu Browne, of 

 the Leicester Museum, for an account of several new species, 

 which he recorded at the recent meeting of the British 

 Association at Oxford, as well as on two former occasions. 

 Remains of Saurian life occur also in the Rhoetic strata at Lea, 

 near Gainsborough. 



AND now we pass on to the Lias, the lower beds of the 

 Jurassic system, in which the ironstone bands of Frodingham 

 and Appleby are found, and change to a deep sea ; the remains 

 of which, beginning a little way to the east of Gainsborough, 

 extend right across to Lincoln, and form the material of the 

 Cliff there to within 20 feet of its summit. 



This sea is one of great interest j it covered a great part 

 of England, with a portion of Ireland, and ran up far north 

 into Scotland, having rivers to feed it from the adjoining lands 

 around ; while to the south it extended down towards the 

 tropics. Its depth was considerable, and, as its strata show, 

 its waters teemed with life. Fish, reptiles, molluscs of many 

 kinds, echinoderms, insects, wood and corals are met with in 

 its layers. The insects, which, according to Westwood, 

 belong to no less than 24 families, and comprise both wood- 

 eating and herb-devouring beetles, grass-hoppers, dragon-flies, 

 and may-flies, together with the wood, were doubtless 

 brought down by the rivers which flowed into the sea ; while 

 the corals owe their presence to the extension of its waters 

 southward, enabling the products of warmer climes to push up 

 towards the north. 



Amongst the mollusca the Ammonites hold the first place. 

 Chambered shells of great beauty, which have their counterpart 

 in the Nautilus of the present day ; they vary very much in 

 shape, and are so distinct that they have been used to designate 

 zones of life in describing the Liassic strata, each zone having 

 its distinct Ammonite as a characteristic feature ; and although 

 this cannot altogether be relied on, some Ammonites being 

 found in more zones than one, and not always in the zones 

 to which they give their name, yet the fact of different 

 species being found in succession one above the other, as the 

 higher beds appear, bears strong testimony to the vast period 

 of time that must have elapsed during the formation of these 

 strata. We have only to call to mind how slowly forms of 

 molluscan life, (and we may say the same of life generally), die 

 out now, and are replaced by others, to appreciate this. 



