ESTHERIA MINUTA, VAR. BRODIEANA. 



77 



of Lepidotus ; and a nearly perfect Lepidotm (P).^ Teeth of Acrodus. Teeth of 

 Sphenonchus.^ Eemur of a Chelonian animal. Vertebrae of Plesiosaurus siibconcavus. 

 Duff. Saurian teeth. Mytilus, Unio, Astarfe, Cyclas media, C. memhranacea, Planorbis, 

 Paludina, and Cypris glohosa. Fossil wood and hgnite. 



The late Mr. Duff most obligingly favoured me (in 1860) with specimens of the 

 Esther ia from Linksfield, and in February, 1861, replied most courteously to my 

 inquiries respecting these fossils ; and I learned from him that they used to be termed 

 " Cyclas?" and " Operculum?"; and that they occur abundantly in a greenish-grey, sandy 

 shale, rather flattened, and lying horizontally, some of them with the two valves open, 

 and in their natural position. 



The section taken at Linksfield by Mr. C. Moore, in 1860 (' Quart. Journ. Geol. 

 Soc.,' vol. xvi, p. 446), is as follows : 



ft. in. 



1 . The till or drift. 



2. Green clay. Cypris (rather sparingly). 



Teeth of Syhodus, and scales of 

 Lepidotus 1 6 



3. Grey stone. ^m&W Modiola 5 



4. Blue, variegated, and green clay. Cypris 



(rare) . Hybodus, Lepidotus 1 6 



5. Stone 1 8 



6. Green clay. Cypris. Estheria. Lepi- 



dotus, ^-c 10 



7. Stone 10 



8. Dark clay. Cypris, Lepidotus. Hybo- 



dus 10 



9. Stone (= "Bone-bed"). Teeth and 



spines of Hybodus minor. Teeth, 

 jaws, and scales of Lepidotus. Spke- 

 nonchus Martini, Ag. Teeth and ver- 



ft. in. 

 tebrac of Plesiosaurus, &c. Small Uni- 

 valve and Bivalve shells. Eemains of 



Plants 3 



10. Blue clay. Cypris, abundant. Fish- 



remains, rare 4 



11. Stone I 4 



12. Green marl (Estherice occxxxs in some of 



these lower beds) 9 



13. Stone 10 



14. Green marl 2 10 



15. Stone 10 



16. Green marl 2 



17. Stone 8 



18. Green marl 5 



19. Boulder-clay 5 



20. Cornstone 12 



21. Reptiliferous Sandstones (?). 



Habitat of E. minuta, var. Brodieana. — In Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, and 

 Warwickshire, the Rhaetic Estheria occurs along a certain zone immediately above a 

 stratum fuU of marine shells, which, like others belonging to this Rhaetic stage, appear to 

 be dwarfed, as if they had been the inhabitants of an unfavorable locality, or lived in sea- 

 water under the influence of large freshwater affluents. In the Estheria-bed itself no 

 marine shells are found. Fragments of terrestrial plants in the associated beds indicate 

 the near proximity of the land to the waters in which these deposits were formed. Here, 



1 In Morris's 'Cat. Brit. Foss.,' 2d edit., by a misprint, "Linksfield, N.B.," is misplaced against 

 " L. pectinatus," instead of against " L. minor (?)." 



2 Sphenonchus Martini, from Linksfield, Agass., vol. iii, p. 203, t. 22a, figs. 15 — 17, is the "frontal 

 spine" of Hybodus, according to Messrs. Charlesworth and Ogilby, 'Magaz. Nat. Hist.,' 1839, new ser., 

 vol. iii, pp. 245 and 280. 



