708 ON A CETACEAN FROM THE LOWER OLIGOCENE OF HAMPSHIRE. 



43. On the Occurrence of the Remains of a Cetacean in the Lower 

 Oligocene Strata of the Hampshire Basin. By Prof. John W. 

 Judd, P.R.S., Sec. G.S. ; with an Appendix by Prof. Seeley, 

 P.R.S., P.G.S. (Read June 22, 1881.) 



Remains of the marine mammalia have been so seldom recorded 

 from the Lower Tertiaries of Britain, that the discovery of a new 

 form is of considerable interest to the geologist. Up to the present 

 time the only species noticed was the Zeuglodon WanJclyni, described 

 by Prof. Seeley* in 1876. The remains of this species, which were 

 found in the Barton Clay, would appear to have been unfortunately 

 lost. The form which I have now the honour of laying before the 

 Society is represented by a caudal vertebra only ; but this appears to 

 present some very interesting peculiarities. 



The locality from which this specimen was obtained is Roydon, 

 about a mile and a half south of Brockenhurst, in the New Porest. 

 The brickyard at this place is almost the only locality in the New 

 Porest at which the very interesting marine fauna of the Brockenhurst 

 Series can now be collected. The beds exposed at this brickyard 

 consist of sandy clays crowded with marine fossils ; they have been 

 exposed to the depth of 25 feet ; but as no overlying freshwater beds 

 have been seen in conjunction with them, the total thickness of the 

 Brockenhurst Series cannot be determined. Judging, however, from 

 the wide area over which the beds of this age have been found to 

 be exposed, that thickness must be considerable. These thick 

 marine strata are seen at Roydon to rest directly upon freshwater 

 clays of a bright green colour and crowded with specimens of Unio 

 JSolandri, Sow., which doubtless belong to the Headon Series. 



That the Roydon beds belong to the same great marine series as 

 the beds of Brockenhurst and Lyndhurst appears to be clearly 

 proved by a comparison of the abundant fossils from the three lo- 

 calities. On this point Von Ivonen and the late Mr. P. Edwards, 

 who collected so assiduously at all those places, appear to have en- 

 tertained no doubt whatever. Recently, however, an attempt has 

 been made to separate the Roydon beds into two formations, and 

 to assign each of these and the Brockenhurst beds to different 

 geological horizons t, on the ground that certain forms which are 

 rare at one locality are abundant at the others, and vice versa. 

 The fauna of all these beds is so unmistakably that of the Lower 

 Oligocene orTongrian that it is impossible to find any valid grounds 

 for such a subdivision. 



Terrestrial mammalia are so abundant in the overlying Bern- 

 bridge beds, as well as in the underlying Headons, that the disco- 

 very of this marine form in the Brockenhurst Series is of much 



* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxxii. p. 428, 1876. 

 t Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxxvii. p. 113. 



