220 PKOCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIEIT. [Jan. 22, 



At a meeting of the Geological Society of France, April 16, 1838*, 

 M. Agassiz, whose long and very intimate acquaintance with the 

 typical Neocomian fauna makes his testimony particularly valuable, 

 stated that an examination of the Speeton fossils in the York 

 Museum had convinced him that the beds were of Neocomian age. 



In 1840 1 M. Komer, in describing the Hilsthon and Hilscon- 

 glomerat of Xorth-westeru Germany, pointed out veiy clearly their 

 parallelism with the Speeton Clay on the one hand, and the Swiss 

 Neocomian limestone on the other. 



In 1843 J Mr. Godwin-Austen gave expression to a very strong 

 opinion in favour of the JSTeoeomian age of the Speeton Clay. 



Professor Edward Forbes, who had the opportunity of examining a 

 large collection of Speeton fossils in the possession of the late Mar- 

 chioness of Hastings, appears to have arrived at the same conclusion§. 



Almost at the same time Dr. Fitton published his views of the 

 Speeton Clay, which entirely coincided with those of Mr. Godwin- 

 Austen and Professor Forbes II . 



M. Alcide D'Orbigny^, in his various works, placed the Speeton 

 fossils, somewhat arbitrarily, with those of the Lower Greensand in 

 his Etage Aptien (Upper Neocomian). He was, however, compelled 

 to admit some of the species to be those of the Lower Neocomian. 



In 1851** M. d'Archiac, after carefully balancing the various evi- 

 dence on the subject, assigned the upper part of the Speeton Clay to 

 the Neocomian formation. 



Mr. John Leckenby in 1859 ft gave a description of the Speeton 

 Clay, in which we find the earliest attempt at a classification of the 

 beds which compose it, with a discrimination of the fossils belonging 

 to each. A short notice of the strata of Filey Bay, contributed by 

 the same author to a local guide-book J J, contains the most complete 

 list of Speeton fossils hitherto published. Lastly, in a note supplied 

 to and published by Dr. Wright §§, Mr. Leckenby pointed out two 

 most important facts, namely, the existence of a band of phosphatic 

 nodules at the junction of the Cretaceous and Jurassic portions of 

 the Speeton Clay, and the existence in the latter of a Portlandian 

 fauna. In his various papers Mr. Leckenby has added the weight 

 of his valuable opinion in favour of the IS'eocomian age of the 

 upper portion of the Speeton Clay. 



III. Geneeal Description of the Coast-section at Speeton, 

 Immediately to the north of the bold range of chalk cliffs forming 

 Flamborough Head, and separated from it by a deep ravine called 



* Bull. See. Geol. Fr. l'^ Ser. tome ix. p. 262 (1838). 



t Verst. nordd. Kreid. See also Letter to Dr. Fitton in Proc. Geol. See. 

 vol. iii. p. 323. 



t Proc. Geol. Soc. vol. iv. p. 196. 



§ Quart. Journ. Geo! Soc. vol. i. (1845) p. 78. 



II Ibid. p. 186, note. 



% Cours elementaire, &c. tome ii. 2. p. 608; Prodrome, pp. 112-121. 



** Hist, des Prog, de la G-eol. vol. iv. p. 61. 



tt Geologist, 1859, p. 9. tt Cortis's Guide to Filov. 



§§ Hon. of Brit. Fos. Cret. Echin. (Pal. Soc.) p. 9 (1864). 



