470 PROCEEDINGS OF THE efEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 9, 



small circular eminences. They increase in size as they recede from 

 the head, and are largest on the posterior part of the trunk. A 

 well- defined lateral line traverses the flank about mid-distance 

 hetween the back and belly, and an auxiliary mucous duct runs 

 along the abdominal parietes as far as the anal spine. 



I am desirous of giving my testimony to the zeal and liberality 

 which Mr, Ward has shown in advancing the knowledge of the 

 organic remains of his district, and therefore have much pleasure in 

 naming this rare species Acanthodes Wardi. 



Accompanying the specimens from the coal-shale are some iron- 

 stone nodules containing remains of Acanthodian fishes, indicating 

 a species of much larger size than the one above described. 



One of these contains the head and anterior parts of a fish which 

 must have measured at least 2 feet 6 inches in length. Two other 

 nodules contain portions of the head of (probably) the same species, 

 a fourth specimen shows a pectoral spine 3| inches in length, which 

 may also have belonged to the same species. 



The only other distinctive character shown by these specimens is 

 the small size of the scales, they not being so large as those of Acan- 

 thodes Wardiy which species measured only 7 inches in length. 



Explanation op Plate XXIII. 



(lUustratire of AeantJtodes Wardi.') 

 Fig. 1. — Acanthodes Wardi. Natural size. In Mr. Ward's collection. 

 Fig. 2. — Part of another specimen showing the branchial apparatus. Natural 

 size. In Mr. Ward's collection. 



2. A Sketch o/ i^6 Gravels anrZ Drift o/ if/i^ Fenl AND. EyHARRr 

 Seelet, Esq, F.G.S., of the Woodwardian Museum in the Univer- 

 sity of Cambridge. 



Part I. — Descriptive. 

 [Abridged.] 



By the Fenland is here understood the great flat country west of 

 the Chalk -hills of Norfolk, from Hunstanton to Cambridge, thence 

 to Bedford, and so north to Peterborough. 



Such an area offers many conditions favourable for a consideration 

 of the subject of this paper, being bounded by Cretaceous rocks east 

 and south, and the outcrop of the Oolites flanking the west, while 

 the sea opens to much of the north ; and the included country, being 

 nearly flat, presents a minimum of complications. 



This tract slopes gradually to the sea, which it resembles in its 

 dreary uniformity. Every village and town, however, indicates a 

 patch of higher land than that around it ; and from Chatteris, round 

 by Haddenham and Ely, to Littleport the level is relatively by no 

 means low. South of this, too, by Denny Abbey, Cottenham, Ramp- 

 ton, Over, and St. Ives, towards Huntingdon, there is a line of higher 

 ground. And south of this, to the east of Cambridge, are low Chalk- 

 hills, and to the west of Cambridge an undulating country of Cre- 

 taceous outliers and hills of Boulder-clay and Oxford Clay. All the 

 higher land north-east of Cambridge is capped with Shanklin Sand (?). 



