118 Mr. J. Lycett on the Fossil Conchology 



is well-adapted for pasturage and orcliards, which together with 

 a good supply of water derived from the superincumbent oolite, 

 has made it in populous districts the chosen seat of man's habi- 

 tation j accordingly its course may be traced by a belt or terrace, 

 more or less wide, of houses and gardens encircling the hill- 

 sides. Landslips from such a yielding deposit, as might be 

 expected, are frequent, and thereby render the barren slope of 

 the inferior oolite fertile : a coating of its marls sometimes 

 extends even down to the lias. The numerical proportion of 

 species obtained by me from the Minchinhampton Great Oolite 

 are in number as follows : — 



Bivalves 164, Univalves 141, Radiaria 13, Cephalopoda 9. Of 

 the latter 6 are Ammonites ; these are so scarce, that 50 speci- 

 mens probably exceed the entire number. Of Nautili there are 

 two species, one of which has furnished only three specimens, 

 and the other is far from numerous. The Belemnites have only 

 one species, small and likewise scarce. 



Of the 141 Univalves 45 pertain to carnivorous genera, ex- 

 clusive of 8 species of Phasianella, the living shells of which are 

 now known to be both carnivorous and phytophagous. These 

 genera are, Nerincea 13 species, Cerithium 5, Murex 6, Bucci- 

 num 2 ', a new group of large shells belonging to the Muricida, 

 to which as yet no generic appellation has been given, 4 species ; 

 Pleurotoma 1 ; Hippocrenes, a group of winged shells differing 

 from the Rostellarice of the recent period, 10 species ; Fusus, or 

 a group at least belonging to the Fusince, 4 species. 



This extreme paucity of the Cephalopoda, taken in connexion 

 with the occurrence of numerous genera and species of carni- 

 vorous univalves, is a remarkable circumstance. We know that 

 previously throughout the lias and inferior oolite the Cepha- 

 lopods reigned supreme amongst the molluscous tribes. Subse- 

 quently also the Oxford clay and Portland oolite contained 

 them in nearly equal profusion. With these facts before us, 

 the inquiry naturally follows, — Were there any peculiar circum- 

 stances connected with the mineral character of the deposit at 

 the locality in question, and what was the probable depth of the 

 sea over the shelly beds ; since we find here zoophagous tribes 

 differing from those of warm seas at the present time not very 

 materially either in number or in their generic affinities ? First, 

 with regard to the nature of the deposit, or at least the more 

 shelly portions of it : — In the planking and Weatherstone beds 

 we find heaps of broken shells piled diagonally, the bivalves 

 rarely having both valves in apposition ; with these are frag- 

 ments of wood, crabs' claws, joints of Apiocrinite and Pentacri- 

 nite, ossicula of Ophiura, palates and teeth of fishes, small boul- 

 dered fragments of Madrepores, and nodules of rock apparently 



