SANDOWN BAY. 137 



It is only after recent slips of the cliffs from the 

 inroads of the sea, that the beds are clearly 

 exposed, and after heavy rains, that the fossil 

 bones are brought to view by the washing away of 

 the clay in which they are imbedded ; but at all 

 times instructive specimens of the strata, and of 

 the usual species of shells, may be obtained. The 

 greensand and gait are not so prolific in fossils 

 as in some other localities ; but the marl and fire- 

 stone contain many organic remains characteristic 

 of those beds. 



Bones of the Iguanodon, &c. — The occur- 

 rence in this locality of bones of the Iguanodon 

 and other reptiles whose remains had previously 

 been observed only in the strata of Tilgate 

 Forest, was first made known in 1829 by the pre- 

 sent Dean of Westminster, Dr. Buckland. An 

 enormous toe-bone {metatarsal), weighing six 

 pounds, and measuring six inches in length, and 

 sixteen inches in circumference at its largest ex- 

 tremity, was found in the ledges of ferruginous 

 sand, a little to the east of Sandown Fort.* A 

 considerable number of bones, comprising several 

 gigantic vertebra?, portions of a femur or thigh- 

 bone, fragments of ribs, &c, were discovered near 

 the same spot, at the foot of the low cliff that 



* Geol. Trans, vol. iii. p 425. 



