1861.] FISHER IIRACKLESUAM BEDS. 81 



be found attaohoJ to the speeimens of Phortis (((/(/hdiaans. Beneath 

 this bed are clays, perhaps 10 feet thiek ; and then a thin fossil-bed, 

 with Ftvttn cornms abundant, and many of the smaller shells of 

 the bed just deseiibed. This is succeeded by dark and veiy sandy 

 elay. witli scarcely any traces of fossils. Canllta j^^ftiiii'Ofita is rare 

 at this locality. On following the brook a few hundred yards down- 

 wards, through the length of two fields, the Corbula-clays, belonging 

 to the next succeeding fossil-bed (d), may be made out in a 

 weathered condition in the bank of the stream. A very few feet 

 beneath tliis stratum, coarser sands with grains of silicate of iron 

 come in. I place the Bramshaw or Shepherd's Gutter Bed on the 

 horizon of xvii. (A). 



The argument for the position of the Shepherd's Gutter Bed is 

 of this kind. It is succeeded at the interval of a few feet (there 

 is no oi)portimity of taking a measurement, but it may be 20 or 30 

 feet*) by the " Brook '' Bed, a deposit of a marked chai-acter (see 

 p. 83). The extra'ordMfiry' abimdance of Corhula pisma in the 

 upper portion of tliit"3 ^cd, the abundance of Pleurotoma attemiata, 

 elsewhere rare, and the presence of Valuta liorrkla render it peculiar. 

 Tliere is dso an indiN-iduality about a fossil-bed which cannot be fully 

 appreciated except by one ^^ho has personally worked it. The cha- 

 racters of the '• Brook Bed." belong also to bed No. 13 at Stub- 

 bington and to the Cyprica-bed, Nq. 19, of Selsea, in Bracklesham 

 Bay; there is therefore a prowimption that the three are equi- 

 valent. Now there is, at a short interval above the beds 13 of 

 Stubbington and 19 of Selsea, a remarkable deposit of Nummulina 

 variola ria : at Selsea that Nummulite is accompanied by AlveolincB 

 in abundance, and by other Foraminifera. Thus we have two beds 

 at Stubbington and Selsea similar in theii' general character, and 

 jdso similar in sequence. Passing to AVhite Cliff Bay, we find 

 a Nummulina varioJaria bed, No. xvri., intermediate in character 

 between those of Stubbington and Selsea, containing a larger 

 proportion of Nummulites than at Selsea, but with Alveolince and 

 other Foraminifera of Selsea which are not found at Stubbington. 

 The bed is based on a sandy deposit, as is that at Selsea, containing 

 in both places numerous TeUinoi. The sand-rock is soon succeeded 

 by a bed (xiv.) full of Corhula 2yi sum, which, as far as I was able to 

 examine it, apj)eared to agree with the Cypraea or " Brook " Bed {d) 

 of the New Forest, Stubbington, and Selsea. Thus it seems to admit 

 of little doubt that the NummuHaa variolaria bed (the *^ Clibs ") of 

 Selsea, th<' Numniulina-brd of Stubbington, and Nummulina vario- 

 laria bed of White Cbff Bay are equivalent. 



Now, the Nummulina variolaria bed of White Cliff Bay contains 

 rather a peculiar assemblage of Pleurotonun iis well as the liissoa 

 rorhlearella, which are found at Shepherd's (jlutter, as are also all its 

 fosKils, except the Alvcolina, absent also at Stubbington ; and it is 

 shown to occupy a jKjsition with regard to bed <1 similar to that 

 occupied by the Shepherd's Gutter Bed ; therefore the argument 



♦ All the beds in thi« part of the series appear thicker in the New Forest tlian 

 to the 90uth-ea«t. 



VOL. XVni. I'AUT I. o 



