ESTHERIA MINUTA, VAR. BRODIEANA. 



77 



of Lepidotus ; and a nearly perfect Lepidotus (P). 1 Teeth of Acrodus. Teeth of 

 Sphenonchus? Femur of a Chelonian animal. Vertebrae of Plesiosaurus subconcavus, 

 Duff. Saurian teeth. Mytilus, TJnio, Astarte, Cyclas media, C. membranacea, Planorbis, 

 Paludina, and Cypris globosa. Fossil wood and lignite. 



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

 Estheria 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 Uybodus, and scales of 

 Lepidotus 1 6 



3. Grey stone. Small 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, fyc 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. Sphe- 

 nonchus Martini, Ag. Teeth and ver- 



ft. in. 

 tebrse of Plesiosaurus, &c. Small Uni- 

 valve and Bivalve shells. Remains of 



Plants 3 



10. Blue clay. Cypris, abundant. Fish- 



remains, rare 4 



11. Stone 1 4 



12. Green marl (Estherice occurs in some of 



these lower beds) 9 



13. Stone 10 



14. Greenmarl 2 10 



15. Stone 10 



16. Greenmarl 2 



17. Stone 



18. Green marl 



19. Boulder-clay 5 



20. Cornstone 12 



21. Reptiliferous Sandstones (?). 



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

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

 stratum full of marine shells, which, like others belonging to this Rhsetic 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. 



