OSBORNE BEDS. 151 



The cliffs near Osborne having now been carefully sloped and 

 planted, in this typical locality for the Osborne Series we can only 

 follow Forbes, and the following is his description of the bc'ds. 



Osborne Scries near Osborne. 



" The slips and slopes at the eastern portion of the shore at 

 Osborne* show mottled red and green clays, overlying a limestone 

 composed of broken shells and containing Melania costata and 

 Melanopsis brcvis. On the shore lie flags of 

 xiG. 49. sandstone with fucoidal markings, and blocks of 

 Lliara L,yeUii, ^ greenish sandstone containing casts of Paludina 

 lorbes. lenta, often weathered in high relief, Melania 



cxcavata, and a large-bodied Limncea of consider- 

 able size. Among the marls are layers containing 

 entire shells of Melanopsis carinata, small Palu- 

 dince or HydrohicB, and Chara nucules in abun- 

 dance. This appears to be an excellent locality 

 for fossils." 



" Opposite the lawu that stretches down to the sea in the 

 grounds at Osborne, there are no hard beds or rock masses 

 exposed on shore, but immediately to the west of the landing pier 

 are strata of exceeding interest, for here we see marls and shales 

 belonging to the upper part of the Headon Series. On the shore 

 by the pier outcrops of beds of tenaceous greenish blue clay are 

 exposed, full of Cyrena obovata, mingled with Paludina lenta; 

 and in the clay beds in which the foundations of the sea wall are 

 placed are Cerithia. At a height of about 20 feet above the shore 

 is a stratum of ragstone, an imperfect limestone, 2 feet or more 

 thick, thickening more westward and thinning out eastward. The 

 ragstone makes but bad lime. Higher up is a sandy limestone, 

 and bands of comminuted shell stone, separated from th?. rag by 

 marls. In frag-ments of the limestone I observed numbers of 

 Paludina lenta, accompanied by peculiar large-bodied Limnosos of 

 considerable size, and occasional lines of Uniones, somewhat 

 resembling U. Solandri in outline, but a larger shell. The Palu- 

 dinee were often lying loose in their cavities, and had their shells 

 frequently preserved. I found portions of a large Planorbis, 

 apparently P. euomphalus ; also Planorbis obtusus, and another, 

 P. platystoma, Melania. excavata and lines of broken Cyrena 

 occurred -in a gritty band. Pale blue and purple shales, about 

 10 feet thick, capping yellow sands that become white eastwards, 

 surmount the grits, and are succeeded by ferruginous marly and 

 stony bands containing casts of Paludina lenta, hollow and having 

 their cavities lined with crystals of calc-spar, Lin.ncEa and 

 Planorbis. Dark shales, with partings of Cyrena obovata, form 

 the highest portions of the broken cliff. Tite details of this 

 important section are obscured by land slips and cultivation, but 

 it is evident that here the ground to the surface is occupied by 



* The old name of Osborne, according to Worsley, was Austerborne. 



