342 H, WOODWARD ON EOCENE CRUSTACEA 
28. On the OccurRencr of Brancnipus (or CHIROCEPHALUS) in a 
Fosstn State, associated with KospHmRoma and with numerous 
Iysecr-ReMAIns, in the Kocenrt FREsHwAter (BEMBRIDGE)- Liwe- 
stonz of Gurnet Bay, Isnz or Wieut. By Henry Woopwazp, 
LL.D., F.R.S., F.G.S. (Read December 19, 1877.) 
[Puare XTV.] 
Tuere is hardly a spot in the British Islands so well known to 
geologists at large as the Isle of Wight. 
Exhibiting, as it does, so many fine and varied natural sections 
in its cliffs, from the Wealden up to the Quaternary, it has attracted 
the attention of observers from the days of Sir H. Englefield, Bart. 
(1816), and since that date of Captain L. L. Boscawen Ibbetson 
(1849), of Dr. Mantell, Prof. Prestwich, Prof. Edward Forbes, Mr. 
H. W. Bristow, and quite recently of Dr. C. Barrois, of Lille, who 
has added considerably to the geological literature of the island. 
The sections and map of the Isle of Wight published by the Geo- 
logical Survey of Great Britain, and accompanying Mr. Bristow’s 
valuable memoir, leave apparently little to be desired ; but much 
has yet to be done in order to complete our knowledge.of the vast 
series of fossil remains which are constantly being discovered, espe- 
cially the large collections yielded by the fluvio-marine series. 
The Hempstead and Bembridge* beds have long been known 
and studied by the late Prof. H. Forbes and others, and have yielded 
a rich series of fossils to the labours of Henry Keeping, many of 
which have already been described in Frederick Edwards’s mono- 
graph and elsewhere. The plant-beds at the base of the Eocene 
series in Alum Bay, already partially examined by De la Harpe and 
Salter, are now likely to be thoroughly worked out by the energetic 
labours of Mr. J. Starkie Gardner, F.G.S., aided in the determi- 
nation of the plant-remains by Mr. W. Carruthers,‘ F.R.S., F.G.S., 
and the Baron von Ettingshausen, who have both promised their 
cooperation. 
The fossils of the Hocene marine series have been studied by 
many able geologists—Lyell, Forbes, Edwards, Owen, Bowerbank, 
Mantell, and others. 
But between the Bagshot beds (Middle Eocene) and the Hemp- 
stead and Bembridge beds (Upper Eocene) one meets with the 
Headon and the Osborne or St. Helen’s beds, forming the lower part 
of the fluvio-marine series of the Isle of Wight. 
This series consists of an aggregation of beds of freshwater, 
estuarine, and marine origin, the Headon beds being computed by 
Mr. Bristow at from 133 to 175 feet in thickness at Headon Hill 
and Whitecliff Bay, whilst the Osborne series attains a total thickness 
of 79 feet. 
Chara Lyell, C. medicaginula, C. Wrightii, and Carpolithes 
ovulum and C. thalictroides are the only plants recorded. 
* Lyell’s earliest papers related to these beds. 
