202 W. IT. Hiidleston — Creechharrow in Pnrbeck. 



Do we obtain a better clue either from the lithology or the 

 palaeontology of the limestone ? I fear not. The two species of 

 Gasteropoda, which may be regarded as fairly well identified, viz.- 

 Paludina lenta and Melanopsis brevis, are certainly Bembridge 

 species, but the former occurs in the Woolwich Beds, and we may 

 well believe that the latter also had a long life as a Lower Tertiary 

 fresh- water species, so that its presence must not be taken as 

 indicative of any special horizon. The lithology is equally uncertain. 



So far as I am acquainted with museum specimens of the 

 Bembridge Limestone, it has a somewhat different aspect to that 

 from near the summit of Creechharrow, and is, on the whole, 

 non-pisolitic. Yet there are in the Bembridge Limestone some very 

 enigmatical bodies. Amongst these are the supposed ' Cocoons ' 

 referred to by the late Mr. F. E. Edwards as possibly being the eggs 

 of fresh- water tortoises, or even snails. These bodies are said to 

 possess no internal structure. Not having any of these ' Cocoons * 

 by me at the present moment, I am unable to give any further 

 description of them, although I strongly suspect that they are not 

 organic any more than our ' horseshoe ' pisolites, but most 

 probably the result of concretionary action. Hence there would 

 seem to be established a certain degree of analogy, qua lithology, 

 between the Bembridge and Creechharrow Limestones, although this 

 can scarcely be allowed to outweigh the stratigraphical inferences to 

 be drawn from the bulging of the Pipeclay series. 



Thus, on summing up all the evidence hitherto available, I rather 

 incline to the view that the Creechharrow Limestone and associated 

 beds are of Lower Bagshot age, yet at the same time I am bound to 

 admit that it is a point which can only be decided with certainty by 

 further investigation. 



Postscript. — Since the article on Creechharrow was completed 

 there are two points on which a certain amount of additional 

 information has been received. 



(1) A deep boring south of Mr. Bond's brickyard is thought by 

 Mr. Leonard Pike to indicate the presence of Pipeclay at a considerable 

 depth within the area hitherto regarded as sterile. If the clays : 

 in this boring represent the great mass of Pipeclay such as has 

 been excavated from the ' Old Clay Pits,' then the theory that 

 Creechharrow bulges the Pipeclay series can scarcely be main- 

 tained any longer. But if, on the other hand, the material lately 

 discovered is merely a local manifestation of Pipeclay such as might 

 occur to a small extent on almost any Bagshot horizon, the recent 

 discovery cannot be regarded as contravening the general impression 

 which has hitherto prevailed. 



(2) On referring to Edwards' monograph of the Eocene Mollusca. 

 (Pal. Soc, 1852), I perceive that he describes with considerable 

 detail the bodies regarded as the casts of eggs which were found in 

 the Bembridge Limestone. Those most commonly found, he says, 

 present a close resemblance both in size and shape to the eggs of 

 several of the fresh-water tortoises, and may be casts of the eggs of 



