CETIOSAURUS REMAINS. 403 



Cetiosaurus Remains. — Report of the Committee, consisting of Professor 

 A. H. Green (Chairman), Mr. James Parker (Secretary), the 

 Earl of Ddcie, Professor E. Ray Lankester, and Professor H. G. 

 Seeley, appointed to examine the Gh'ound from ivhich the Remains 

 of the Cetiosaurus in the Oxford Museum were obtained, with a 

 View to determining whether other parts of the same Animal remain 

 in the Rock. 



The Committee have to report that from unavoidable circumstances no 

 satisfactory conclusion has as yet been arrived at. 



During the Easter vacation, when excavations might have been made, 

 their Chairman, Professor A. H. Green, was prevented by illness from 

 taking any active part, and therefore no orders could be given for actual 

 operations in the way of digging. Several visits, however, have been 

 made to the spot and information obtained ; and, further, full permission 

 has been obtained from Lord Valentia, the owner of the land, to make 

 such excavations as are required, and co-operation from his agent has also 

 been promised. 



The quarry where the bones were found is in a slope facing the north, 

 and to the south of the spot where it has been ascertained they lay, further 

 excavations would be attended with much difficulty, as the ground I'ises 

 rapidly some 20 feet and is surmounted by a wall, on the other side of 

 which there is a high road, and excavations might endanger its stability. 



On the western side, where it was thought most advisable to excavate, 

 it was at the last moment discovered that some two or three years pre- 

 viously some excavations had been undertaken with the same object, but 

 without success, and then tilled up again. As to reopening ahd extend- 

 ing these, a decision cannot be come to till further particulars as to what 

 was done are obtained and the men found who were employed. On the 

 eastern side there is perhaps more chance of success, but the ground here 

 also has at some time been evidently much broken up. 



Meanwhile, however, the opening of a quarry about 350 yards to the 

 south has disclosed the circumstances that the sandy bed, which contained 

 the bones of the Cetiosaurus and which also contains much carbonaceous 

 matter, is continued in this direction. The pit where the bones were 

 found is on the northern edge of a promontory round which the Cherwell 

 river runs, and the quarry lately opened is practically on the south edge of 

 the same promontory. The bed is of the same thickness, namely, from 6 

 to 12 inches, and appears from the measurements at present taken to be 

 almost exactly at the same level in each spot, and in each case resting upon 

 some 20 feet of limestone beds belonging to the Great Oolite. Most of 

 these beds are very hard and more or less fossiliferous, but one or two 

 very soft. One soft bed, about 6 feet below this sandy parthig, is crowded 

 with Terebratida maxillata. This bed is found in one or two other 

 sections not far distant, and forms a definite datura line in the several- 

 sections for comparison. 



Above the sandy parting, in both the Cetiosaurus pit and the newly 

 opened pit, there is a bed of about 4 feet of shale, immediately followed 

 by the hard slabs and slaty beds of the Forest Marble. 



This 6 to 12 inch sandy bed, with the carbonaceous matter in which 

 the bones were found, may be certainly taken as the line of demarcation 



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