527 
@B 
rine shells of a single species now unknown upon the present coast, 
accumulated in large quantities at various heights above the level 
of the sea, e.g. on Flagstaff Hill at 1900 feet, not imbedded in 
stratified limestone, but lodged upon projecting flats on the sides of 
the hills, and in one instance on an extensive plain. 
In a large amphitheatre near Prosperous Bay Hill, at the base of 
perpendicular precipices nearly 1000 feet high, and now frequented 
by birds, they find, buried at various depths in the detritus of tor- 
rents, innumerable skeletons of other birds, now unknown in the 
island, e. g. the Phaéton ethereus and. Diomedea exulans. This bone- 
bed extends a mile in length, and from-1 to 350 yards in breadth, 
and is from 10 to 90 feet deep. Similar remains are found also at 
the base of another hil! called Sugar-loaf Hill. 
In the southern quarter of the island the limestone hills give ori- 
gin to inexhaustible springs of the purest water. In the whole 
island, he notices. the occurrence of 245 springs; whilst in the 
barren island of Ascension, which is composed entirely of volcanic 
rocks, he says there is but one diminutive stream of fresh water, 
and he attributes the superior fertility of St. Helena to the abundant 
presence of limestone and calcareous substances. 
In 1830, Mr. Seale arranged and prepared a printed catalogue of 
a large collection of the minerals, rocks, shells, and miscellaneous 
articles in the Deadwood Cabinet at St. Helena, which shows him 
to have possessed considerable knowledge in mineralogy and con- 
chology. 
Sir JEFFERY WYATVILLE, R.A., F.R.S., F.S.A., F.G.S., born Au- 
gust 1766, was the son of Mr. Joseph Wyatt, an architect of consider- 
able ability at Burton-on-Trent, and received his professional edu- 
cation under his uncles, Mr. Samuel Wyatt, a man of great. skill 
and knowledge, and the more celebrated Mr. James Wyatt, who 
was for some time Surveyor-General of His Majesty's Works, and 
President of the Royal Academy*. 
In the year 1799 Mr. Jeffery Wyatt had obtained such knowledge 
and skill in his profession, and attracted such public notice by the 
drawings he exhibited at Somerset House, that he received com- 
missions from many persons of distinction, and began the world “ on 
his own account.” From this time his reputation increased rapidly, 
and in comparatively a few years he was engaged in more works 
for the principal nobility than generally falls to the lot of the most 
highly favoured architects ; his talent as an artist at the same time 
gained him the honour of being chosen an Associate of the Royal 
Academy. 
He was employed by the late Marquess of Bath in considerable 
_ works at the ancient Elizabethan palace of Longleat, the improve- 
ments of which he executed with such judgment, that it laid the 
* From the age of 12 to 17 his ruling passicn was to enter the navy, 
and twice he ran away from home and school, under the influence of a 
strong desire of going to sea, which had been excited by reading Sir Walter 
- Raleigh’s History of the World. He had a narrow escape from joining 
the Royal George, shortly before she went down at Spithead. 
