246 The New Forest : its History and its Scenery. 



a loamy sand, measuring 3 feet, and then came upon 19 inches 

 of gravel, where at the hase stretched the half fossilized trunk 

 of an oak, and a thick drift of leaves mixed with black peaty 

 matter, the remains of some primaeval forest. Three feet of 

 light-coloured clay, unfossiliferous, succeeded; and then came 

 the Corbula Bed, with its myriads of Corbula pisum, massed 

 together, nearly all pierced by their enemies, the Murices. Stiff 

 light - coloured clay, measuring 18 inches, followed, revealing 

 some of the shells, which were to be found so plentiful in the 

 next stratum. Here, at the Pleurotoma attenuata Bed, our 

 harvest commenced, and since Mr. Keeping has worked these 

 beds, no spot has ever yielded such rich results. Every stroke 

 of the pick showed the pearl and opal-shaded colours of the 

 nautilus, and the rich chestnut glaze of the Pecten corneus, 

 whilst at the bottom lay the great thick-shelled Cardita plani- 

 costce. Inside one of these were enclosed two most lovely 

 specimens of Calyptrcea trochiformis. Mr. Keeping here, too, 

 found a young specimen of Natica cepacea (?), and I had the 

 good fortune to turn up the largest Pleurotoma attenuata ever 

 yet discovered, measuring 4J inches in length, and 3^ inches 

 in circumference round the thickest whorl. 



"We were now down no less than 8 feet. And at this stage 

 the water from the brook, which had been threatening, began 

 to burst in upon us from the north side. We, however, with 

 intervals of bailing, still pushed on till we reached the next 

 bed of pale clay, measuring from 7 to 8 inches, containing 

 Cassidarice highly pyritised, and sharks' teeth, amongst which 

 Mr. Keeping discovered an enormous spine, measuring at least 

 10 inches in length, but we were unable to take it out perfect. 

 The water had all this time been gaining upon us, in spite of 

 our continuous efforts to bail it with buckets. We, however, 



