203 



*he authority of Professor Lindley, are entirely dissimilar from those 

 jj)und at Burdiehouse. 



In No. 3 nodules occur, which Dr. Turner has ascertained to agree 

 chemically with coprolites, though they do not present the external 

 characteristic markings. 



A paper was next read, " On the Bones of Birds from the Strata 

 of Tilgate Forest in Sussex 3" by Gideon Mantell, Esq., F.G.S. 



Mr. Mantell states that soon after his attention was first directed 

 to the fossils of the Wealden, he discovered in the strata of Tilgate 

 Forest several slender bones, which, from their close resemblance to 

 the tarso-metatarsal bones of certain Grallse or Waders, he was induced 

 to refer to birds. The correctness of this opinion was afterwards 

 doubted, in consequence of the thin fragile bones found at Stones- 

 field, and considered as belonging to birds, being ascertained to be 

 those of Pterodactyles. Having subsequently discovered a few spe- 

 cimens of more decided character, Mr. Mantell submitted them to 

 the inspection of Baron Cuvier, during his last visit to England, who 

 pronounced them to belong to a Wader, probably to a species of 

 Ardea. Still it was doubted whether these remains did really be- 

 long to those of birds ; but the author's attention having recently 

 been directed to the subject, he placed his specimens in the hands of 

 Mr. Owen, of the College of Surgeons. This gentleman, after a care- 

 ful examination, pointed out that one bone decidedly belonged to a 

 Wader, being undoubtedly the distal extremity of a left tarso-meta- 

 tarsal bone, presenting the articular surface or place of attachment 

 of the posterior or opposable toe. Other specimens of long bones 

 Mr. Owen conceives may have belonged to a more erpetoid form of 

 bird than is now known. From this examination, Mr, Mantell's pre- 

 vious views of the existence of birds below the chalk have been fully 

 established, and, as the author observes, these are the oldest remains 

 of the class at present known. The memoir concludes with a descrip- 

 tion of the bones, consisting of a tarso-metatarsal of a Wader, a 

 tibia (?), a metatarsal bone, a humerus, and an ulna. 



The next paper read was entitled, " Remarks on the Coffin-bone 

 (distal phalangeal) of a Horse, from the Shingle Bed of the Newer 

 Pliocene Strata of the Cliffs near Brighton j" by Gideon Mantell, 

 Esq., F.G.S., &c. 



The deposits which partially fill up the valley of the chalk, and con- 

 stitute the subsoil of the central part of Brighton, as well as the line 

 of cliffs extending from Brunswick Terrace to Rottingdean, are di- 

 vided by Mr. Mantell into the following beds : 



Top, 1. Elephant bed ; an obscurely stratified mass, formed chiefly 

 of chalk detritus, with a large intermixture of ochreous clay, and con- 

 taining remains of the elephant, horse, buffalo, and deer. This bed 

 forms the greater portion of the cliff. 



2. An ancient shingle beach, consisting principally of pebbles and 

 boulders of chalk flints, interspersed with boulders of many varieties 

 of primary, secondary, and tertiary rocks. 



3. Sand resting upon chalk. 



