70 8. V. Wood— The Long Meadend Bed. 



Psammohia compressa, Sow. 



Scalaria. 



Serpula corrvgata. Sow. 



,, tenuis. Sow. 



,, new species. 

 Turho ? 

 Valuta .ipinosa ? Lam. 



Neritina eoncava, Sow. 



Nucula \_Tru/onoc(BHa\ deltoidea, Lam. 



,, new species. 

 Odostomia subulata. 

 Ostrea. 



Flanorbis (two species). 

 Fleurotoma (two species). 



" In addition to these are also found a species of Cytlierina, and one of Cristellaria. 



" Many of the above species must have inhabited, the sea, or at least that estuary 

 portion of a river to which salt water must have had access, and these are not met 

 with in that more purely freshivater stratum both above and beneath the marine 

 stratum I have described. They are identical also with those Testacea which have 

 been collected and regarded as marine from the so-called ' Upper Marine' in Headon 

 HUl. The remaining portion of the clifE tn the eastward, I consider more from 

 position than its organic contents as the Upper Freshwater. Indeed, I am not 

 acquainted with any species peculiar to this stratum ; for I have found all hitherto 

 published as such, in the Lower Freshwater at Hor dwell. 



" Secondly, Mr. Lyell says, ' The extent of the Freshwater formation is somewhat 

 greater than had been supposed, as it is continued in Barton Clifi to nearly opposite 

 the village of Barton, the lower beds of the series there exposed contara in parts 

 Gyrogynites and freshwater shells.' 



"I am not disposed to admit the extent of this freshwater deposit to be so great 

 as is here represented, but would limit its western extremity to that gorge or ravine 

 known by the name of ' Beacon-Bunny,' the upper portion of which [gorge] is a bed 

 of lignite beneatb the gravel, and overlying a bed of greyish-white or light-coloured 

 sand, containing the following molluscous genera, some species being extremely 

 abimdant : Oliva, Potamides, Ancilla [Ancillaria], Natica, Melania, Melanopsis, 

 Pleurotoma, Bulla, Mactra, Cyrena, Corbula, Sanguinolaria, Venericardia [Cardita], 

 Cytherea, Lucina, and Potamomya.^ 



" This bed appears to be intermediate between the London Clay ^ and the Lower 

 Freshwater, and must be referred to an estuary formation, for the largest portion of 

 its Testacea are referable to marine genera ; and for the sake of distinction it might 

 be convenient to designate this estuary deposit by the term ' Lower Marine.' It may 

 be traced to the eastward beneath the freshwater marls to about 300 yards from 

 Mead-end, where it is lost beneath the shingle of the beach. It cannot be considered 

 as a true freshwater deposit, having from its organic contents as much claim to be 

 regarded of marine origin as the so-called ' Upper Marine ' of the Isle of Wight." 



In the remaining portion of this paper, my father proceeded to 

 combat Sir Charles Lyell's third conclusion, that the white sand of 

 Beacon and Barton Cliffs must be referred to the Freshwater forma- 

 tion ; and also his fourth conclusion, that although the shells of Hord- 

 well Cliff belonged exclusively to the Lower Freshwater formation, 

 yet it might be a question whether the organic remains were not of 

 a mixed nature — conclusions not entertained now by geologists; — 

 and to describe the vertebrate and molluscan I'emains collected by 

 him from the Lower Freshwater of Hordwell Cliff. 



I now subjoin so much of the letter of Mr. Keeping to this 

 Magazine, of September last, as impugns my father's description ; 

 having placed in italics the statements in that letter, and those in 

 my father's paper, that conflict. "J'he statements in Mr. Keeping's 

 letter (no locality being named) could be reconciled with vaj father's 

 statements in no other way than by supposing Mr. Keeping to refer 

 to the Mead-end bed. 



1 I have not been able to iind Pleurotoma, Sanguinolaria, or Cytherea among the 

 shells of this (Mead-end) bed.— S.V.W. 



- By this is meant the Barton Clay, as explained in note ante. — S.V.W. 



