PROCEEDINGS OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 
37 
It ought, in conclusion, to be observed, that the remains are de- 
posited in a certain wing or chamber of the cave, about two feet above 
the floor where the water runs, so that they would lie dry, with the 
exception of the calcareous droppings from the roof, or in the case of 
the cavern water being swollen above the capacity of the lower 
channel to contain it. 
Although a considerable portion of the cave has been destroyed by 
the quarrying operations, which are still going on, there remains 
yet a much larger extent undisturbed, so that more remains will most 
likely be discovered. 
West Croft, Stanhope, hj Darlington. 
Dec. Ylth, 1861. 
[These bones, wjth specimens of the stalagmite, etc., have been transmitted to us and 
will receive careful study and consideration. AVe shaU shortly give a concise and ac- 
curate account of them. — Ed. Geol., 22 Dec. 1861.] 
PKOCEEDINGS OF GEOLOaiCAL SOCIETIES. 
Geological Society of London. — December 4. — Sir E. I. Murchison, 
V.P.G.S., in the chair. The following communication was read : — *' On 
the Bracklesham Beds of the Isle of Wight Basin." By the Eev. O. 
Fisher, M.A., F.G.S. After noticing the researches of Prestwich and 
Dixon, the author proceeded to state that most of the "Bracklesham 
beds " are displayed at low water at Bracklesham Bay ; but other and 
higher beds belonging to the same series are to be observed in the New- 
Forest, at Stubbington, and in the Isle of Wight. By means of the 
fossils, for the most part, Mr. Fisher divides the series into four groups : — 
1. The uppermost abounds in Gasteropoda, and has several fossil-beds. 
One of these, in the eastern part of its range, is full of Nummulina 
variolaria (No. 16 of Mr. Prestwich's Section of Whitecliff Bay, Quart. 
Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. ii. pi. 9); the N. variolaria bed of Selsea and 
of Stubbington ; and the Shepherd's Gutter bed at Bramshaw, New 
Forest. The beds above the last-named are — 1st, a portion of No. 19 
of the Whitecliff Bay section and the coral-bed of Stokes Bay and 
Hunting Bridge (New Forest) ; and 2nd, the shell-bed at Hunting 
Bridge, and pebble-bed, with shell-casts, at Highcliff. The lowest bed of 
this group is the "Cypraa-bed" of Selsea, the "Cardita-bed" of Stubbington, 
and the Brook bed in the New Forest. 2, This group is more sandy 
than the last ; it has two fossil-beds, one of which contains Cerithium 
giganteum (at Hillhead, Stubbington ; and half a mile west of Thorney 
station, Bracklesham Bay). 3. This is a sandy group, and is remarkable 
for the profusion of Nummulina Icevigata in its principal fossil-bearing 
beds. 4. This embraces the lowest ibssiliferous sands of Bracklesham 
Bay. Its distinctive shells are Cardita acuticosta and CyprcBa tuberculosa. 
Some species of moUusks pass upwards from the Bracklesham into the 
Barton series ; yet the Fauna of the Bracklesham beds has a sufficiently 
distinct facies ; and the following species range through this series, 
and are confined to it — Cardita planicosta, Sanguinolaria Hollowaysii, 
Solen obliquus, Cytlierea suherycinoides, Valuta Cithara, and Turritella 
sulcifera. Fecten corneus is also characteristic, but is met with higher up. 
