NOKMAN — UPPER GREENSAND OF ISLE OF WIGHT. 483 
ness as that above, the last resting upon the " Cock-bed," of about three 
or four inches thick. 
I consider, from my own observations, that all the fossils of the two 
upper beds, the " Phosphatic " and "Chloritic" marls, ought, with few 
exceptions, to be referred to the chalk-marl ; but not those below this 
very clear line of demarcation. The fire-stone, when first quarried, 
is of a soft texture, but hardens by exposure to the atmosphere ; it 
is fire-proof, and used by masons in fixing grates, for oven-bottoms, and 
other purposes where endurance of heat is an essential quality. It was 
from the beds of rag in this group that the fossil bone of a terrestrial 
animal, described at page 179 of Mantell's "Excursions round the Isle 
of Wight,"'' was obtained in a quarry (now closed) near the Bonchurch 
Hotel. This relic is now in the possession of — Hanbury, Esq., and 
the writer of this has seen a good wheelbarrow-full of bones of an animal, 
apparently Saurian, dug out of the same quarry ; but from their 
decomposed state, these were too friable to permit the preservation of a 
single specimen. A few teeth were secured, but, owing to this cause, 
they fell, shortly afterwards, to pieces by exposure to the atmophere. 
These remains were obtained from the lowermost bed of the "Phosphatic 
Greensand." 
6th. The next beds in descending order are important ones in an eco- 
nomic point, from their great utility as a building-material, and the 
consequent demand for them for such purposes. Their place in the 
series of deposits forms a well-marked epoch or line of demarcation in 
the history of the " Upper Greensand; " they may be divided into five 
sections : — The first is a bed of grey sandstone, about one foot thick, 
called by the quarrymen the " Top Bed," succeeded by a layer of rag- 
stone from eight to nine inches thick ; thirdly, another bed of sandstone 
of about the same thickness as the rag ; fourthly, a thick bed of freestone, 
often considered to be analogous to the Portland building- stone, but 
erroneously so, being different in composition and mineral character, 
and evidently consisting of a mixture of grains of silex and, probably, 
of iron, cemented by carbonate of lime ; the roe-like particles of the 
Portland-stone being really wanting.f The fifth bed consists of the 
Page 247, Editions of 1847 and 1851. 
t I have mentioned this because of a popular error that exists amongst the 
masons and others of this locality, namely, of the identity of the free-stone with 
that of the Portland rock ; an error •which, of course, no geologist would fall 
into. 
