1905-1906.] 381 



Serpula, filiformis, 5. Soft glauconitic sands. 6. The yellow 

 sandstones and marls, in which may be found Pecten quadri- 

 costatus, Vermicularia concava and V. quinque-carinata. 7. 

 The glauconitic sands, well exposed at low tide, of the usual 

 blue-green colour; fossils abundant; Exogyra conica, var. 

 laevigata, Pecten orbicularis, P. (Janira) quinquecostatus, P. 

 (Chlamys) asper, P. galliennii, and a special feature is the 

 abundance of small brachiopoda, especially Rhynchonella, 

 Terebratula, Kingena lima, turbinate gasteropoda, aviculse of 

 different species, teeth of fishes, and a belemnite which fore- 

 shadows the characters of Belemnitella (Actinocamax) vera, but 

 is much longer and thinner." The same authority also mentions 

 that "The spongarian layer is particularly prominent, as weather- 

 ing causes the sponge fragments to stand out in branching 

 masses on the surface of the rock. Echinocorys scutatus is 

 also abundant, so', too, is Camerospongia fungiformis, and casts 

 of lamellibranchiata. The character of the chloritic sands is 

 well illustrated near Hillsport by a large mass which has slipped 

 down from the hillside. Instead of the fossils being irregularly 

 scattered through the rock, clearly marked bands are notice- 

 able." Before leaving the chalk attention was directed to an 

 interesting study in some of the great blocks that lie inward on 

 the long green braes of the undercliff. In these will be found a 

 number of spherical chambers slightly over an inch in diameter, 

 some solitary and some so clustered together that they have cut 

 one into another. These are the winter homes of the common 

 garden snail (Helix Aspersa), which wanders into a crevice to 

 hibernate, and when well under cover gradually begins to 

 excavate his cave-dwelling — no one knows how, or at least no 

 one has as yet satisfactorily settled that important architectural 

 theory. At times the motion of the snail in his narrow home 

 and the consequent expansion of his quarters leads to a jamb, 

 the lowly creature becomes a prisoner, and, awakening in 

 spring, dies of starvation. Many of the shells remain like 

 bones in a broken tomb, and can be both seen and felt. This 

 interesting phenomenon in rocks is close behind "Hill's cottage," 

 a whitewashed habitation close by the shore. 



