Rev. Canon Crewdson — Coniston Grits of Windermere. 169 



It has been suggested that the beds in question contain a mixed 

 collection of fossils derived from deposits of different ages, but this 

 explanation seems to me improbable. They all have a similar 

 appearance, and their mineral condition and conservation are the same. 

 Furthermore, as specimens of the older type are found in areas so 

 wide apart as Wexford and the north of the Isle of Man, one may 

 fairly ask why no traces of such shells have been found in undoubted 

 Pleistocene deposits on either side, or in the deep borings at the Point 

 of Ayre in the north of the Isle of Man beyond the edge of the 

 Shellag Sands, where the fauna is certainly of Pleistocene age. 

 Another feature of the Wexford-Manx fossils may be worth notice, 

 that is, the local abundance of certain species, such as Buccinum, 

 var., Purpura incrassata, or a strong form, now lost, of P. lapillus and 

 Neptunea contraria, whose "extinction as a race" Forbes referred to 

 the upheaval of the Irish sandy beds. Of the latter species I have 

 had as many as thirty at a time sent me from Blackwater, 

 co. "Wexford. 



To my mind, we have on this western area several different stages 

 in later geological history, of which this is one of the oldest : the 

 admixture of Mediterranean Pliocene forms with those of Iceland 

 justifying Forbes's suggestion of a former communication. The later 

 deposits being of Pleistocene age are usually believed to have been 

 brought into their present position by the action of the great Irish 

 Sea glacier. However this may be, with many apologies to those 

 who differ from me, I am not prepared to admit that the Wexford- 

 Manx beds originated in the same way, differing as they do in their 

 specific contents, method of distribution, and condition. 



In conclusion, I desire to offer my best thanks to the Rev. S. N. 

 Harrison and Mr. Kermode, of Ramsey, Isle of Man, and the 

 Rev. Father Codd, of Blackwater, Wexford, for the loan and gift of 

 many specimens ; to the officers of H.M. Geological Survey, London, 

 to Professor Cole and Mr. Hallissy, Dublin, and to Dr. Cowper Reed, 

 Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge, for the opportunities of examining 

 the various collections under their charge ; and, not least, to my 

 friend Mr. F. W. Harmer, for his kindly help, assistance, and 

 suggestions for this paper. 



The physical and local stratigraphical details I hope to be 

 permitted to deal with later on, as seen from my point of view. 



"VIII. — New Fossiliferous Horizon in the Coniston Grits of 



Windermere. 

 By the Eev. Canon Crewdson, M.A. 



FOSSIL remains in the Coniston Grit Series in the Lake District 

 are generally so scarce, except in the flaggy beds exposed in the 

 quarry near Latrigg on Applethwaite Common, that considerable 

 interest attaches to the discovery, made in January of the present 

 year, of a bed which is highly fossiliferous, in a quarry recently 

 opened in connexion with the drainage works of Bowness and 

 Windermere. The quarry is close to the shore of the lake, near the 

 south-west corner of the Calgarth estate. 



