150 GEOLOGY OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 



of Palceotherium minus ? This rock was formerly referred to the 

 Bambridge Limestone, but both its lithological character and its 

 continuity with the concretionarj- limestone of the coast show 

 that it ought to be referred to the Osborne Series. 



Between Headon Hill nnd Linstone Chine as will be perceived 

 by Forbes' sketch (Fig. 48, page 1 49) the Osborne Series has been 

 removed by denudation, and the cliffs consist of the subjacent 

 Headon Beds. At Cliff End it reappears beneath the battery, 

 and can then be traced at short intervals along the coast nearly to 

 the river Yar. 



The Osborne Beds in this locality were examined by Professor 

 Forbes and H. W. Bristow in 1852. Forbes revisited them twice 

 in the spring and autumn o£ the following year (1853), and in 

 the present year (1888) they have been re-examined and partly 

 re-measured. Owing to the constant landslips considerable 

 difficulty attends the determination of the relative importance 

 of the several beds. The increased thickness here accepted for 

 the lower part agrees so well with what has been obtained at 

 other sections, and was proved so carefully by levelling, that some 

 of the original measurements must evidently have been taken from 

 a slipped mass. 



Oshorne Beds at Cliff End. 



Feet. 



Bluish sandy and marly clays. Cyrena obovata (this bed is now 



invisible) .---.--- About 10 



Red and blue marls, with lines of nodular concretions of agillaceous 

 limestone in which fossils occur occasionally - - - 25 to 30 



Dark-grey shales, with an ironstone band in the centre. Leaves, 

 Insects, and Fish ; Candona, Paludina lenta, Melanopsis carinata, 

 Melania costata, Lepidosteus, Alligator. (Probably the equivalent 

 of the Fish Bed.) -..--. 7 



Reddish and bluish clayey marls, with greenish nodules containing 

 shells ; turtle; himncea longiscata, Hydrobia, and Paludina 

 globuloides ..-..--40 



82 to 92 



Following the Osborne Series eastward, we can detect inliers of 

 mottled clay in the plateau formed by the Bembridge Limestone 

 south of Wellow, but no measurements can be obtained. 



Returning to the coast, we find these beds to be concealed for 

 four miles by newer formations which occupy the whole of the 

 cliff. However red and green clays reappear from under the 

 limestone on the east side of the Newtown River, and can be 

 examined for a depth of about 30 feet in the cliff and in a 

 brickyard. No fossils were seen. Half a mile further east the 

 Osborne Beds again sink beneath the sea-level and are lost for 

 two and a half miles. 



At Gurnard Ledge the mottled clays reappear, but between this 

 point and Cowes they c;dl for no detailed description, being 

 almost unfoesiliferous and generally much obscured by landslips 



