CHAPTER II. 

 THE INDIGENOUS FAUNA. 



Of the proper denizens of the Upware and Brickhill Neocomian 

 sea, we number 176 species, of which 151 occur at Upware, and 86 

 at Brickhill. Nearly all of these are well preserved in calcium 

 carbonate, which in the Gasteropodous and Lamellibranchiate shells, 

 and the Echinoderm tests and spines is distinctly crystalline. They 

 are thus readily distinguished from the derived fossils. 



The detailed account of these fossils occupies the greater part 

 of the following pages, just as the work of their comparison, iden- 

 tification and description has formed the principal labour of this 

 essay. We will however here give some general analysis and 

 summary of the occurrences and development of the various types 

 of life which characterise the deposit. 



The most striking features of the bed are the magnificent 

 developments of the Lamp shells, or Brachiopoda, and its exceed- 

 ing richness in large cup sponges, and massive and dendroid 

 Polyzoa. 



The total number of species of Invertebrata is 161, and many of 

 these prove to be new to science, as indeed we should expect to 

 be the case in such isolated areas and such 'episodal' deposits as 

 our Upware and Brickhill phosphatic beds. 



Native Vertebrates. 



The remains of vertebrated animals are not nearly so abundant 

 as in the Potton bed. Two ordinary cabinet-drawers would contain 

 all the vertebrate remains from Upware and Brickhill in the 

 Woodwardian Museum — a meagre series indeed as compared with 

 the rich collections of reptile bones found in the Potton district, 



