G. W. Colenutt—On the Osborne Beds. 361 
served—even the minute rays of the fins and tails being most clearly 
defined. From the fact that the fish are largely impregnated with 
iron pyrites, they present a beautiful golden appearance, especially 
when first exhumed from the clay. The head is not, as a rule, so 
well defined as the other portions of the body, yet it is very often 
possible to see the eye preserved as a black spot, and the discoloura- 
tion of the intestines is sometimes seen in the specimens. It is not 
usual to meet with one fish alone, but they generally occur in small 
shoals—the remains of no less than nine separate and distinct fish 
being imbedded in a small slab of clay measuring two and a quarter 
inches square, which I have in my cabinet. This, however, is an 
exceptionally good shoal. A good deal of iron pyrites occurs in the 
clay in small soft, gritty, dark-grey masses, and some of the larger 
specimens of the fish are much disfigured and spoilt by the iron 
pyrites with which they are encrusted, and into which they are 
transformed. In several other divisions of the clay we find iron 
pyrites matting the shells together into thin slabs, and occurring 
as irregular brown masses in the clays. 
It is always very interesting to endeavour to ascertain from the 
-evidences presented, the origin and mode of formation of a local or 
accidental deposit like the fish clay, and to arrive approximately at 
some idea of the state of things both before and after the occurrence 
happened which gave rise to the deposit. 
In the clays underneath the fish clay we find evidences of the 
existence of a comparatively tranquil lake or river inhabited by 
Puludina, Melanopsis, Cypris, Trionyx, and other similar forms. The 
flora is represented by crushed masses of vegetable remains and by 
plants of which we find the seeds (not yet identified). A few ferns 
existed on the land, but the remains of these are very rare. as also 
are the few remains of conifers. That the area of deposit was but 
little disturbed is evident from the perfect condition in which the 
vegetable remains are preserved, for they show no signs at all of 
having been subjected to attrition. But a change took place in the 
form of a sudden influx of mud and foreign matter. It remains to 
be seen from careful and expert examination whether the fish which 
we find in this clay may be assigned to any genus of fish inhabiting 
the sea, or whether they are clearly of freshwater origin ; and very 
considerable interest attaches to the solution of this question. That 
the fish were smothered by the mud is perfectly clear, for the result 
even of a day’s decay would be to damage and spoil the delicate 
bones of the fins and tails. Then again, these fish are found 
entombed in a perfect state in small shoals, which would not be the 
case had they died a natural death and been drifted together—they 
would be more or less damaged by the drifting process. And I have 
never found vegetable or any other remains mixed up with the fish— 
which one would expect to do in the case of drifted exuvie. In 
several cases the fish have been compressed flat without being laid 
on their sides, and in these cases we see the fish from above and do 
not see the dorsal fin at all, but both eyes are visible in the form of 
two black spots, one on either side of the head. Masses of commi- 
