190 



The shelly bed was separated by a well defined line from an over- 

 lying deposit, tvv'enty feet thick, of the ordinary diluvium of Cheshire, 

 and consisted principally of sand, containing pebbles and boulders of 

 granite, slate, greenstone, and other rocks. 



From "The Willington" the country slopes very gradually to the 

 Gowey, a small sluggish stream which conveys the drainage of this 

 part of Cheshire to the river Mersey, and empties itself into that 

 river near the village of Ince, The author then quotes some extracts 

 from the Red Book of St. Warburgh's Abbey, given in " Ormerod's 

 Topographical Account of Cheshire," stating that in Wyrall, in the 

 manor of Ynes, the sea had removed thirty caracates of land, and 

 was daily destroying more : the author also states that, according to 

 popular tradition, the sea once occupied a large portion of the valley 

 at the foot of the Forest Hills. 



From the above details, and from a careful examination of all the 

 facts he could collect, he gives the following, as the conclusions at 

 which he has arrived : 



1st. That the bed of gravel was deposited on the shore of the an- 

 cient sea, at that period extending to the base of the Forest Hills. 



2nd. That this has occurred since the existence of some of the spe- 

 cies of shells now inhabiting our seas. 



3rd, That an alteration in the relative levels of land and sea, to 

 the amount of seventy feet, has taken place since its deposition. 



4th. That it has been covered by an accumulation of diluvium 

 twenty feet in thickness. 



A communication was lastly read, entitled " Notice of a newly dis- 

 covered gigantic Reptile ;" by the Rev. William Buckland, D.D., 

 F.G.S., &c. 



The remains noticed in this communication were discovered near 

 Buckingham in a bed of clay immediately above the cornbrash ; and 

 the author states that their preservation is owing to the zeal of Wil- 

 liam Stowe, Esq., of that town. The principal bone is a caudal ver- 

 tebra of a reptile larger than the Iguanodon. It measures about six 

 inches in its longitudinal diameter, and six inches in the vertical and 

 largest transverse diameters of its articulating faces. Both these 

 faces are slightly convex, and are smallest on the lower side, and 

 depressed on the upper, to form the channel for the spinal marrow. 

 The body of the vertebra is much compressed towards its centre, and 

 the transverse processes are reduced to a small tubercle on each side. 

 On the inferior margin of the articulating surfaces are large oblique 

 facets for the reception of a powerful chevron bone. The form of 

 this vertebra differs essentially from the subquadrangular form of the 

 caudal vertebras of the Iguanodon, and it has no perforations on the 

 inferior part of its body, like those which enter the lower side of the 

 body of the vertebrae of the Plesiosaurus. 



Other bones, of corresponding size, and considered by Dr. Buck- 

 land as belonging probably to this genus, have been found at Brad- 

 well, a few miles north-east of Buckingham, on the continuation of 

 the same formation. 



