1883-1884.] 225 



This species is an arenaceous one, and is of comparatively large 

 size for this group of organisms, and it is specially worthy of 

 note, not having hitherto been known to live in British waters. 

 It is also very gratifying to record this discovery to the credit of 

 Dr. Malcomson, who has been most successful in this depart- 

 ment of microscopic zoology. 



Leaving the limestone bands and following the strike of the 

 beds eastward, past the pier, several zones of the same formation 

 were examined, which yielded additional fossils. The Boulder 

 Clay which covers the beach here is excessively compact, and 

 may in all truth be termed a conglomeritic rock. The geo- 

 logist of the distant future will surely be delighted with the 

 varied contents of this deposit. Pebbles and boulders of many 

 widely separated formations may here be found imbedded side 

 by side — basalts in vast variety, chalk and flint, fossils derived 

 from the lias, sandstones of many different hues and textures, 

 grits and slates, granites and quartzites, all the debris of past 

 continents and mountain chains. Latest among the rock groups, 

 we owe more of our wealth and prosperity to it than at first 

 sight appears ; to it we are indebted for the softened and rounded 

 outline of our landscape, covering as it does the rocky framework 

 of our hills and valleys, it yields generously to the labours of 

 the agriculturalist, and rewards his toil. The contrast in this 

 respect cannot fail to impress itself upon the visitor to the more 

 rugged, but comparatively barren, areas in the western counties, 

 which have either not been blessed with this kindly covering, 

 or from which it has subsequently been removed by some later 

 geological change. 



Crossing several more basaltic dykes, we reached a new set 

 of rocks of a light buff colour. These are the Permian Lime- 

 stones, brought in here against the Carboniferous beds, upon 

 which they repose, by another fault. Fossils have also been 

 recorded from these beds. They are, however, exceedingly rare, 

 and occur only as impressions or casts. An analysis of these 

 limestones shows about 44 per cent, of carbonate of magnesia, 

 a fact which at one time led to its being exported to Glasgow 

 for chemical purposes. 



