CHAP, v.] SEVERN AND WYE 41 



amount of teeth, also coprolites, the excrementitious matter 

 of the living owners of the bones. These were in great 

 quantity, but I never remember that they were other than 

 irregular lumps, and though some of us were much given 

 to grinding and polishing stones that afforded hope of an 

 ornamental result, it never occurred to us to exercise our 

 talents on these lumps, which might have indicated in their 

 undigested contents some evidence of the diet of their 

 consumers. 



The only valuable or interesting specimen of Saurian 

 remains (that is of an animal in moderate degree of en- 

 tirety) fell from the cliffs after I had ceased to reside 

 there. This was a slab of Lias about 3 feet long by 2 

 feet broad, and about 7 to 9 inches thick (plate XL) The 

 history of its fall, as given to me in a letter from Dr. John 

 Yeats, F.R.G.S., then residing at Chepstow, dated September, 

 1882, was, that " From one of the ledges, or from the top 

 of a slip or subsidence, a fir tree was blown down during 

 the autumn of 1882 . . . The fossil was found beneath 

 the roots," and "the fossil remains were laid bare by a 

 conchoidal fracture." A few detached vertebrae were col- 

 lected, but unfortunately no part of the head was secured. 

 Of this specimen Professor Richard Owen was good enough 

 to report to Dr. Yeats on the 24th of May, 1883, as 

 follows : " From the concavity of the articular surfaces 

 of the vertebrae, I infer it to be part of an ichthyosaurus, 

 and the number and character of the ribs agree with that 

 deduction. If any part of the jaws or teeth should be 

 found near the locality it would decide the matter." 



This fossil is now in the possession of Sir William H. 

 Marling, at Sedbury. 



The surface of the cliffs was of a very mixed nature, with 

 ledges of stone projecting slightly in places, and from the 

 effect of weathering, landslips, leading at times to incon- 

 venience, were not infrequent. As we knew the nature of 

 the ground we were careful about going near the edge of 

 the top of the cliff, where a precipice or a crack showed 

 danger, but it happened more than once that a bullock or 

 calf, attracted by food to be found amongst the trees or 

 bushes which in some places clothed the slanting upper 

 part, was tempted beyond safe footing, and toppled down 

 to the bottom to its own destruction. On one occasion, on 

 returning from a walk, my sister Georgiana and I, not 

 having noticed a fall from the cliffs, were cut off by one of 

 these slips from any comfortable advance. It was not a 



