92 



THE NATURALIST. 



cequivalvis and of a species of Gryplioea^ are found, and I was fortunate 

 enough, to obtain along witli these, seven vertehree that had lately been hewn 

 out by one of the men ; to three of these portions of the ribs were attached j 

 three years ago a whole skeleton of a " crocodile'^ was dug out and sold to a 

 gentleman near. Over the lias comes an immense mass of ferruginous sand; 

 in some parts it appears liE:e blocks, but they crumble at the touch of the 

 hammer ; this formation is seen to advantage on Long Down, near Cam. Hosts of 

 sand martins Hirundo riparia rear their young in perforations in these banks, 

 and are, by the height of their nests tolerably safe from all youthful col- 

 lectors. 1^0 fossils appear to be found in the sand ; the sides of the hill are 

 covered with the Brake Pteris aquilina^ and stunted bushes of hawthorn, 

 among which the Wheatear Sylvia cBnanilie^ Stonechat >S^. rubicola, and Gray 

 Wagtail Motacilla campestris, build their nests. There is a very curious 

 break between Long Down and an isolated conical hill called Peak Down ; 

 the cliff at the end of the former is very high and steep, and a cart road 

 runs along at the foot ; but the gap has not been formed I think by traffic, 

 since the road is only used to fetch stones from a quarry. Perhaps it once 

 had some connection with a short but deep watercourse that runs from the 

 top of the Down eastward. 



On the summit we come to the inferior Oolite, which is, in this locality, 

 as rich as the Lias in organic remains ; just at the head of the water course 

 some rocks crop out, about three feet in thickness, in which is a stratum of 

 Astarte obliqua, A. elegans, and Ammonites, piled thickly over each other ; 

 just above it is a soft layer, in which are embedded countless Belemnites,mdiTLj of 

 which show the phragmacone ; nearly all lie in a horizontal position, and 

 all I had to do was simply to sit down and gather what I wanted. Further 

 along in places that had been frayed out, so to speak, by the rabbits and 

 sheep in forming places of shelter, I picked up good specimens of Modiola 

 plicata, Cenomia concentrica, Peden lens, and others that I have not yet 

 identified. Terehratulm lay about by dozens ; there are one or two places in 

 the neighbourhood where Oolite fossils are to be found, but nowhere are 

 they are so abundant as on Long Down, which I have visited at intervals for 

 several years. 



I had heard and read much of Minchinhampton and its fossils, so I 

 paid it a visit, which I am sorry to say ended in disappointment, for many of 

 the old quarries have not been worked for some time and the new ones do 

 not yield so well. I visited five quarries, two of which were being worked, 

 and was told by the men that few shells were found there now; but they 



