G. W. Colenutt—On the Osborne Beds. 309 
and of fossil contents as do the Osborne Beds at their various out- 
crops; and at the three places where they are most usually examined 
—at Whitecliff Bay, at St. Helen’s, and at Alum Bay—they yield 
few fossils, and there is nothing extraordinary about the composition 
of the clayey strata. On the contrary, at several places between St. 
Helen’s and Osborne these beds crop out from underneath the 
overlying Bembridge Limestone at places which might easily be 
overlooked, and present very remarkable features both as to their 
composition and as to the fossils which they contain. Some descrip- 
tion of these strata, and of the organic remains contained in them, 
may be of interest, as so little is known of them; and the more so 
as it has been my good fortune to discover in some of the clays 
organic remains which there is reason to believe are quite new, if 
not to science, at least to our English strata. 
The Osborne Beds in the Hast Medina may be examined on the 
shore at several places, more especially below Chapelcorner Copse, 
between King’s Quay and Wootton Creek: just to the west of the 
boathouse on the shore below Binstead House: on the shore below 
Ryde House: and immediately to the south-east of Sea View Pier. At 
all these places the most interesting clays are exposed not in the cliff, 
but on the beach itself; consequently the strata are not very often 
seen, being usually covered up and hidden by the shingle and sand 
of the beach, and more especially so at the last three of the above- 
named places. At Chapelcorner Copse, on the contrary, the section 
is generally fairly well exposed, as there is comparatively but little 
shingle and sand to the west of Wootton Creek; and, as they are 
practically identical, it will be well to take the strata here as repre- 
sentative of those at the other localities. 
It is very difficult to get exact measurements on account of the 
cliff for some distance inland being covered by a sliding talus of 
grey and yellow clays thickly covered with underwood. The 
Bembridge Limestone will, however, be observed in the top part of 
the cliff and under this we find the following approximate section :— 
(In the cliff.) Ft. 
1. Marls and yellow-grey and dark red and mottled clays ... ... .. ... about 40 
(On the beach.) 
2. Grey clay with scattered fish bones, scales, etc. .. NCCC HPN Nice 
3. Hard blue and grey shaly clay with small perfect fossil fish . , sah ee 
4. Hard grey clay with matted masses of leaves and lenticular masses of 
* _cement-stone ... . SS. 
5. Blue clay with many seams of crushed Paludina lenta and Melanopsis 
carinata .. ecules AN 6 
6, Unfossiliferous soft green clays extending to low-water mark. 
The clays numbered 2, 3, 4, and 5 in the above section are the 
most important, and afford valuable information as to the flora and 
fauna which flourished when they were deposited. 
In number 2 thin lenticular masses of crushed fish bones occur, 
with many ganoid scales and fish vertebra (Lepidosteus): teeth, 
bones, and dermal plates of Alligator Hantoniensis (?): bones and 
plates of Hmys, Trionyx, and Chelone: incisor and molar teeth and 
