114 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



inquinata, Nerit'ina glohuhts, the two species of Melanopsis and of 

 Fusus, the several species of Cyrena, especially the C. cordata, Mo- 

 diola Mitchelli, Planorhls hemistoma, and Ostrea Bellovacina. To 

 these succeeds the well-marked and wide-spread Woolwich clay-bed 

 characterized by the Cyrena cuneiformis and deperdita, Hydrobia 

 Parkinsoni, Melania inquinata, Cerithium vai'iahile, Melanopsis buc- 

 cinoides, Ostrea Bellovacina and tenera, and Planorbis hemistoma. 

 The other species given in the list p. 1 1 7, as occurring in this area (C), 

 are comparatively scarce. 



Traces of plants and seed-vessels have been found in this series at 

 Lewisham, apparently nearly in the same part of it as at Reading ; 

 but the earliest mention of plants from this group is by the late Dr. 

 Mantell, who, in his description of Castle Hill, Newhaven, figures 

 one or two specimens which agree apparently wdth some of the 

 Reading species*. Coniferous wood, in the condition of patches of 

 lignite, occurs in the pebbly sands just above the Thanet sands. 



The remains of vertebrate animals are of rare occurrence. I have 

 found fish-bones and a few scales in. the Paludina-limestone of New 

 Cross, and they occasionally occur together with teeth of Lamna and 

 some smaller fish-teeth in some of the Woolwich beds. Small fish-ver- 

 tebree are not uncommon at Upnor, where also the vertebra of a large 

 species of Lepidosteus has been found. Remains of the Edaphodon 

 and Myliobates exist near the Reculvers. Mr. Alport has made 

 known the occurrence in one of the conglomerate beds of this series 

 of the remains of a CorypJiodon or Lophiodon, a tooth of this animal 

 having been found in sinking a well at Sydenham -f ; and Dr. Mitchell 

 alludes in his manuscripts to the circumstance of the bones of some 

 large animal having been discovered about 1 5 feet beneath the lime- 

 stone band at the Counter Hill pits, Deptford. Fossils of this latter 

 description have never come under my notice ; but it is to be observed 

 that this pit is only occasionally opened down to these beds. Of the 

 remains of Crustacea I have only found part of the claw of a Crab 

 at Sundridge Park|. 



The fauna of the Woolvdch and Reading series m this area (C), 

 though rich, is very irregularly distributed, the strata being by no 

 means continuously fossiliferous ; in some places the organic remains 

 are extremely numerous, whilst at others close adjacent they are 

 wanting §. The fossils are more persistent in the clays than in the 



* " Geology of Sussex," p. 257, and pi. 8. 



t The Geologist, vol. i. p. 66. 



% Mr. Rosser has since found a similar specimen at "Woolwich. 



§ Although the pits in the neighbourhood of London have been so long known, 

 few additions were for a long time made to the list of shells collected by Par- 

 kinson and Sowerby. Within the last few yeai's, however, the zeal and industry 

 of the Rev. Mr. De la Condamine, of Blackheath, has brought to light several new 

 species. In addition to the Lepidosteus mentioned above, he has discovered the 

 Psammobia Cori'lamini, Planorbis Icevigatus, and a species of Cythere, with some 

 peculiar vegetable remains, at Counter Hill, apparently in or near the same bed as 

 that in which Dr. Mitchell noticed the remains of bones. This Planorbis has been 

 found nowhere else in England, whilst the Psammobia has only been observed in 

 one other specimen at Upnor by Mr. De la Condamine, and one at Newhaven by 

 myself. The Teredo personata is a single specimen, also found by Mr. De la 



