230 GEOLOGY OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 



foliage of a fern that abounds in the Wealden 

 {Lonchopteris Mantelli, lign. til), were discovered by 

 Mr. Morris in many of the strata at Atherfield ; 

 and the Messrs. Gladstone have since found 

 several leaflets of the same species associated with 

 trigonise, &c. in ironstone nodules at the foot of 

 Shanklin Cliff. This interesting fact we shall 

 have occasion to notice in a subsequent chapter. 

 Of the poriferae and corals but few species occur. 

 Traces of bulbiform Siphonia, (apparently S. pyri- 

 formis, Dr. Fittoris Memoir, PL XV.), are some- 

 times displayed on the waterworn surface of fallen 

 blocks of sandstone. A small elegant coral, a 

 species of Astrea, is not uncommon in the Cracker's 

 Rock at Atherfield. 



The lowermost beds at Atherfield Point being 

 very fossiliferous, the collector will have but little 

 trouble in obtaining good specimens of the shells 

 distributed in those strata : the perna mulleti 

 {PL IV. fig. 6) may generally be extracted toler- 

 ably perfect.* From the nodular masses of the 

 Crackers with which the shore at low water is 

 often thickly strewn, an abundance and variety 

 of shells may be procured ; and that part of the 



• It is necessary that the geologist should so arrange the time of his visit 

 to this coast, as to arrive at Atherfield at the beginning of the ebh of the tide, 

 that be ma) be able to examine the cliffs and collect specimens at leisure. 



