221? PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Feb. 2,5, 



The general details of this subject are well known. I will briefly 

 note the results obtained by former observers, and then examine 

 in succession the development and nature of the organic remains, 

 conjointly with the changes of lithological characters and of dip, 

 and I hope these may tend to remove some of the uncertainty and 

 doubt which seem still to exist, particularly on the continent, on 

 the subject of the fauna of these strata, and on the period of the 

 disturbance by which they have been affected. Their age and syn- 

 chronism with the Paris groups also require, I think, some material 

 revision. 



In 1766 Brander* published his descriptions and beautiful draw- 

 ings of the London clay fossils of Barton and Hordwell Cliffs. 



In 1802 Sir Henry Englefieldf noticed the disturbance affecting 

 the chalk and adjacent strata of the Isle of Wight. 



In 1803 Lamarck t inferred, from a comparison of the fossils of the 

 calcaire grossier of Grignon and Courtagnon with those figured by 

 Brander, that these beds were of the same geological epoch. 



In 1811 Dr. Berger§ gave several good mineralogical details and 

 barometrical heights of parts of Hampshire and Dorsetshire, but his 

 geological descriptions are defective. 



In 1813 Mr. Webster || detected the analogy of the geological 

 structure of the tertiary rocks of the Isle of Wight with those de- 

 scribed by Cuvier and Brongniart in the neighbourhood of Paris, and, 

 following their classification, he grouped them into the formations 

 of — 1, sands and plastic clay; 2, London clay; 3, lower freshwater; 

 4, upper marine, and 5, upper freshwater. 



In 1816 Dr. Buckland^ noticed the strong resemblance between 

 the London and Hampshire basins, inferred their former continuity, 

 and traced the range of the plastic clay in the Hampshire basin. 



In 1816 Sir Henry Englefield** published some excellent coast 

 sections of the Isle of Wight and Dorsetshire, after drawings by 

 Mr. Webster, who in the text gave a further geological description 

 of the island. He states that in the lower dark brown clay (stra- 

 tum d) of Alum Bay he found fossil shells, but he considered them 

 as rather resembling those of the W^oolwich beds than of the London 

 clay. He did not consider the evidence that the elevation of the 

 London clay took place prior to the deposition of the freshwater 

 formation quite conclusive, but expressed his willingness to admit 

 of any modification in his views which subsequent discoveries might 

 render necessary. 



In 1821 Mr. Webster ff gave an account of Hordwell Cliff and 

 its freshwater beds. 



In 1821 Mr. G. SowerbyiJ pointed out the occurrence of London 

 clay fossils and Septaria in stratum " d " of Mr. Webster's section of 



* Fossilia Hantonensia. f Trans. Linnean Soc. vol. vi. 



% Annales du Museum, tom.i. § Trans. Geol. Soc. vol. i. p. 249. 



II Trans. Geol. Soc. vol. ii. p. 161. 



f Ibid. vol. iv. p. 276 to 304, and 2nd Series, vol. ii. part i. p. 119. 



** Sir H. Englefield's Isle of Wight. ff Trans. Geol. Soc. 



XX Annals of Philosophy, vol. xviii, p. 216. 



