380 



THE GEOLOGIST* 



of ammonites, belemnites, myacites, and limae, ostrese, monotidae, modiolse and 

 brachiopoda, toiled away at the rock; and the click, click of the hammer 

 resounded through the coppice. 



Meanwhile, many of the older hands, shutting their eyes to the blandish- 

 ments of the marlstone, push upward and attack the cc Fish Bed" of the Upper 

 Lias, which they, well know contains the choicest specimens of fish, crustacean, 

 and insect, nay, even of reptilian remains, for this is the " Saurian Zone." 



Leptolepis concentricus was now found by Mr. Norman ; a fine Pachgcornus 

 by Mr. Holland, and a series of vertebrae of a species of Icthyosaurus by Mr. 

 Moore. As a " Saurian Zone," it is well known all through Europe, since 

 nothing can be more constant and persistent than the course of the Upper Lias 

 formation. Indeed, nowhere can Geology point to a truer or more extended 

 horizon. Under the Shales we detect the Leptsena Bed, a band of but few 

 inches in thickness yet embracing numerous tiny shells, mostly brachiopods, 

 but some Nuculee, &c. Under and over the Fish Bed are shaies remarkable 

 for their perfect lamination ; splitting them open with a clasp knife we have 

 under our eye, a table of contents, curious to note, and deeply instructive. 

 Ripple-marked furrows, sea-weed, ever and anon disposed in places only 

 whither the eddying of the current had drifted it, just as we may see any day 

 on the strands of our own sea-girt isle. To feed on these alga pastures are 

 the crustaceans) prawn-like in form and size, in no contemptible number ; and, 

 as a final exemplification of the cyclical law of life, here lurk the rapacious 

 fish and predaceous cephalopod, the armed cuttle and belemnite, with other 

 such flesh-eaters, allured by the tempting bait. A fish that marvellously re- 

 sembles many Liassic forms is the capelin {Mallotus vittosos) of our breakfast 

 tables, alike palatable to us as to the stunted Esquimaux or Greenlander* 



So fossiliferous and prolific are these shales and nodules, that one could 

 never tire of working at them, and when the company retired to Dumbleton 

 House there was still a treat in store ; they were delighted with the unrivalled 

 collection made by Miss Holland from the quarries adjacent,— a series of 

 Liassic forms of rare perfection and value, arranged, too, with that peculiar 

 neatness and accuracy that ladies alone possess. This exquisite suite of fish- 

 bed fossils was the theme of admiration. It comprised good reptilian remains, 

 fish, Crustacea and insects, the latter of transcendent delicacy. 



We were much struck with a collection made by Mr. Holland at Mount 

 Lebanus, in Syria. Many of the fossils were of the Jurassic caste, and almost 

 looked like intimate acquaintances. 



The naturalists now assembled in the library included some distinguished 

 men, besides the president of the " Cotteswold," Captain Guise, were Mr. S. P, 

 Woodward, of the British Museum, the "Rev. W. S. Symonds, President of the 

 Malven Club. Charles Moore, of Bath, who so surprised the " savants" of the 

 British Association some time since by his foretelling what organism each fish- 

 bed nodule contained, ere, with a blow from his hammer, he laid open 

 before his astonished auditory the fossil he had predicted as its nucleus. 

 Drs. Wright, Beach, Bird and Warner, the Revs. Norwood, Atwood, Hep- 

 worth, Major Barnand, Messrs, Dent, of Sudeley, Bowley, Copeland and 

 Walker, 



Mr. Holland had provided a sumptuous repast for his brother naturalists, of 

 which about twenty-eight gentlemen partook. The after dinner the reading 

 of papers took place after the usual preliminary toasts. One of considerable 

 interest was by the Rev. W. S. Symonds, E.G.S, on the Drifts of the Severn, 

 Avon, Wye and Usk, going well into the physical geology of the district, and 



* Professor Owen states that Mallotus villosus is found in clay nodules of ivnkriown age in 

 Greenland. 



