STEATIGEAPHICAL SEEIES, 



5 



underneath this, till it came to the sandstones of the Coal Gallery XI. 



Measures, of which cores from depths of 1262 feet and 



2234 feet are here exhibited, as well as a piece of coal from Between 



2039 feet. At Ware, in Hertfordshire, a boring through the Wall-eases 



Chalk brought up from a depth of 825 feet the core of ^ & ^• 



Wenlock Shale here shown. At the far end of the Gallery 



are cores of Carboniferous Limestone obtained beneath the 



Lower Jurassic rocks close to ISTorthampton, from depths of 



805 to 828 feet. We learn from these borings that the rocks 



found on the surface in the western and north-western parts 



of England, pass beneath other rocks and stretch under the 



south-east of England and presumably under the sea until 



they come again to the surface in Belgium and the north-east 



of France. Thus we have proof quite easy to understand 



that in this country the older rocks pass generally from 



north-west to south-east under newer ones, as shown in the 



long section at the top of the Wall-cases. 



Among the specimens selected in illustration of the Wall-case 

 various beds are many containing the remains of animals 

 or of plants. Thus, the very first specimen at the top left- 

 hand corner of Case 1 contains fragments of bone embedded 

 in a stalagmitic deposit which formed on the floor of Brixham 

 Cave ; and this indicates that the animals to which the bones 

 belonged lived, or at least died, in the cave, where their 

 remains were gradually covered by the limy deposit. Close 

 by is a piece of an old beach from Brighton, in which is 

 embedded part of a horse's leg-bone. Below these are other 

 specimens of beach-deposits, in which may be seen the 

 remains of shells. Lower down in the Case are rocks of 

 more sandy nature, such as are now being formed off shore, 

 and in them also may be seen shells, as well as the remains 

 of other marine animals and plants. These either lived at 

 the bottom of the sea or sank to it when dead, and were then 

 gradually covered by sand or clay produced by the wearing 

 of the land and deposited on the sea-floor. All such remains 

 or traces of animals and plants found in the rocks are called 

 fossils. 



Although the specimens exhibited in this series are not 

 intended to give anything like a complete idea of the animals 

 living in former periods of the earth's history, still as the 

 visitor passes down the Gallery, he will readily observe that 

 the fossils contained in the fragments of rock gradually 

 change in character. Those in the first Case are, as has 

 been seen, similar to animals living at the present day ; but 



