WIIITECLIFF BAY. 129 



size.* Shells of the genera Nummulites,f Venus, 

 Ancillaria, Voluta, Cerithia, &c, occur in im- 

 mense numbers ; J and in the greyish blue clay 

 are myriads of minute species. Teeth and 

 bones of fishes, and of reptiles, and remains of 

 crustaceans (crabs, lobsters, &c.) are occasionally 

 found. In the upper beds of the London clay 

 lignite t (carbonized wood), and shells of certain 

 genera which inhabit estuaries (Melanopsis, PI- 

 II. figs. 3, 6,) and some freshwater species are 

 met with, indicating that the strata were de- 

 posited in brackish water. These are the upper- 

 most of the highly inclined marine beds at 

 Whitecliff Bay. 



* At Bracklesham Bay, on the western coast of Sussex, the clay, at low 

 water, is in many parts literally paved with these shells, and great numbers 

 may be collected in a very short space of time. Bracklesham is also prolific 

 in numerous other fossils of the London clay. In 1821, I made a considerable 

 collection of the organic remains of this part of the Sussex coast, and pub- 

 lished a list of them in the " Fossils of the South Downs," and a more 

 extended one in the " Geology of the South-East of England." But of late 

 years diligent research has brought to light numerous fossils of great interest ; 

 and besides many new species of shells, vertebrae and bones of fishes, ser- 

 pents, turtles, and crocodiles, have been collected. For an excellent notice 

 of this locality by Mr. Bowerbank, see "Medals of Creation," vol.ii. p. 903. 

 Mr. Dixon has a splendid collection of the Bracklesham fossils, comprising 

 several new species of Miliobatis (eagle-ray), A'etobatis, and other genera of 

 the Rays. Spines of these fishes, and of a species of Silurus, have also been 

 discovered. 



t Nuninutlites, a fossil polythalamian shell, ofadiscoidal flattened form, 

 resembling a coin, hence the name. See " Medals of Creation," p. 242. 



X A chisel as well as a hammer, and a pickaxe to break up large masses 

 of the stiff clay in which the shells are imbedded, will be required to extract 

 perfect specimens. 



