on the North Coaat of Cornwall. 147 



cliff of tlie southern inlet. Huge blocks of rock fallen from the 

 cliffs above likewise contain numerous fossils. 



BednUhan Steps. — The fossiliferous character of the claret and 

 bluish shaly or slaty beds of this locality has long been known. 

 Mr. S. II. Pattison states that they contain crinoidal remains, 

 n bivalve shell, and impressions of a Trilobite (Trans. Roy. Geol. 

 Soc. Cornwall, vol. vii, 1848, p. 48) ; and in the same volume (p. '4dl) 

 the late Mr. W. Pengelly notes the occurrence in them of the plates 

 of Steganodicti/um, McCoy (Pteraspis), then supposed to be a fossil 

 sponge. The fossils are present, in great abundance, in the lower 

 jiart of the cliff and on the foreshore, and in the large fallen rock 

 inasses. Some years since I obtained here fragments of fish-plates, 

 principally of P^era.s/)js ; Orthoceras'? ; the basal plate of a crinoid 

 resembling Sphcerocriims, and fragments of crinoid stems which 

 may have belonged to Uhodocrians or Melocrinus ; simple cup-corals, 

 apparently zaphruntoid in character; Pleurodictyum and Anioporn? 

 Last autumn 1 further obtained Petraia ; a fragment of a Monticuli- 

 poroid; crinoidal fragments, one of which has been determined by 

 jMr. Bather as the anal tube of a dicyclic adunate crinoid ; and 

 specimens of the peculiar form described below as Pteroconus mirns. 



Watergate or Tregurrian Bay or Beach. — This range of beach and 

 cliff extends about 2^ miles north of St. Columb Porth, and it is 

 noted for the variegated colouring of its slates. Similar rocks occur 

 between Fowey and Polperro, and according to Mr. W. A. E. Ussher 

 they are also present in South Devon, where they are known as the 

 Dartmouth - Kingswear Slate group. Professor Sedgwick states 

 (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, 1852, vol. viii, p. 4) with respect to these 

 rocks, that he found a highly fossiliferous group extending from 

 New Quay to Mawgan Porth and Padstow, and thence to Tintagel; 

 not merely I'anging near the coast, but running far up the interior 

 of the country until, in some instances, it approached a central boss 

 of granite. 



On close examination I found indications of fossils throughout 

 the whole series of the vai'iegated slates or shales of the Bay, though 

 they are, as a rule, so poorly preserved that only occasionally can 

 the nature of the organism be recognized. Fragments of Pteraspis 

 plates are not infrerpient in satiny grey soft shales exposed on both 

 the north and south banks of the small stream running into the sea 

 north of the noted Watergate Elvan ; and also in a bed of soft 

 blue shale the Pteraspis plates, though fragmentary, are in great 

 abundance. 



The fossils mentioned above, which I have obtained from these 

 north coast rocks from time to time, have been submitted to various 

 authorities at the British Museum (Natural History), to whom I am 

 greatly indebted for their efforts to decipher the characters of the 

 forms usually very imperfectly preserved. Dr. A. Smith Woodward, 

 F.L.S., has determined the fish remains, Mr. F. A. Bather, M.A., 

 the Crinoids, and Mr. G. C. Crick, F.G.S., the Cephalopods, etc. 

 Further, Dr. G. J. Hinde, F.R.S., has examined the Coials and 

 doubtful forms. On -the accompanying plate some of the fossils, 



