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XXVII. — A Description of various Fossil Remains of three distinct 

 Saurian Animals^ recently discovered in the Magnesian Conglome- 

 rate near Bristol. 



By HENRY RILEY, iM.D., and Mr. SAMUEL STUTCHBURY, A.L.S. 

 Communicated by CHARLES LYELL, Esq., P.G.S. 



[Read March 23, 1836.] 



The fossil remains, described in tiiis paper, were found in quarrying the 

 brecciated beds, which rest upon the highly-inclined carboniferous limestone 

 at Redland, the south-eastern extremity of Durdham Downs, near Bristol. 

 The breccia at this spot is not more than twenty feet thick, and is composed 

 of angular or slightly worn fragments of mountain limestone, cemented by a 

 red or yellow magnesian paste.* It occurs in patches over the whole of the 

 Downs, filling up the hollows and irregularities in the limestone ; and it is 

 exhibited in the parishes of Westbury and Henbury, in Gloucestershire, and 

 St. George's in Somersetshire ; it forms likewise the well-known precipitous 

 cliffs and interesting sections at Hungroad, on the Avon ; and is exhibited in 

 the valley of the Trim, as well as at other places. It is desirable to repeat the 

 observation of Dr. Buckland and Mr. Conybeare, that wherever the breccia 

 occurs in the neighbourhood of Bristol, it is principally composed of the debris 

 of the rocks on which it rests. 



The whole of the bones were evidently dislocated before they were en- 

 tombed, as several of the specimens were found in actual contact with the 

 mountain limestone, while others were dispersed throughout the breccia : 

 many of the bones were also clearly fractured before they were enclosed. 



This deposit has been considered the representative of the lower divisions 

 of the new red sandstone series of Yorkshire and the adjacent counties ; 



* For descriptions of the Dolomitic conglomerate near Bristol, see Dr. Bright's Memoir, Geo- 

 logical Transactions, 1st Series, vol. iv. p. 193 ; Mr. Warburton's, p. 205 ; Dr. Gilby's, p. 210 ; 

 and the Memoir of Dr. Buckland and Mr. Conybeare, on the S.W. Coal District, 2nd Series, 

 vol. i. p. 291, et seq. 



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