BRACKLESHAM BEDS. 113 



The fossiliferous beds marked (b), {d), and (/) are very 

 persistent at the various localities where one or another portion of 

 the series is exposed. It is from them that the many splendid 

 collections of fossils have been obtained. Of the well-known 

 shell-beds round the Selsey peninsula, those nearest to Selsey Bill 

 correspond with (b) and (d). The beds at The Park and Thorney, 

 on the east and west of Selsey, correspond with ((/), and those of 

 Bracklesham itself with (k). 



Of the fossiliferous beds near Stubbington, that of Brown Down 

 corresponds with (d), and that at Hill Head with (/). 



Fine collections of fossils, in excellent condition, have also been 

 obtained from the neighbourhood of Brook in the New Forest, 

 from the horizons of (b) and (d). The large collections obtained 

 from these localities by the late Mr. F. E. Edwards are in the 

 British Museum, and those by the Eev. Osmond Fisher are 

 deposited in the Woodwardian Museum, Cambridge. 



More recently (in 1886) clear exposures have enabled Mr. 

 Keeping to fix exactly the junction of the Bracklesham Beds and 

 the Barton Clay.* From the Sandstone or Tellina bed (No. XVI. 

 of Mr. Fisher's section) to the Nummulites elegans zone the distance 

 is 126 feet. This is about 70 feet less than the distance given by 

 Mr. Fisher and would reduce the total to about 580 feet. 



About the same time the measurements given below were made 

 by the Geological Survey of the beds associated with the coal- 

 seam (corresponding with No. VII., VIII., and parts of VI. and 

 IX. of Mr. Fisher). 



Section in fVhitecliff Bay, measured December 1886. 



Ft. In. 



Brown loam, not well seen. 



Black band of powdery lignite and sand - - - 



Laminated beds of loam, sand, and lignite 



Shaly clay, full of slickensides, no fossils observed . 



Worked out [coal, &c.] . - - . - 



Shaly underclay, with roots half an inch thick at the top and 

 dying out below. Some of the roots are casts in clay, 

 some in pyrites ; nearly all have a film of lignite on the 

 outside .--..-. 



Similar clay with pyritous nodules, no roots observed 



* Geol. Mag., dec. III., toI. iv. p. 70. 

 E 56786. H 



