CO 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
fry of the IMollusca, are becoming more and more valuable as leading 
characteristics of strata, as our knowledge of these mierozoa in the 
fossil and recent states advances. 
Sucli researches as these, made on any series of deposits, whetlier 
British or foreign, must be of use, either for the improvement and 
correction of observations already made and published, or for the 
groundwork of future descriptions of strata and their fossils. 
Schafhautl, Sorby, Ehrenberg, Eeade, Bryson, and others, have 
worked at this subject in their own several ways, and it is to be 
hoped tliat not only will these older labourers continue to work in 
*' Microgeology " or " Clinology," as the study is termed, but that 
others, with equal patience and acumen, will come forward to labour 
in this wide and promising, but as yet little cultivated field of re- 
search. 
The Results of tlie Examination of Five Specimens of Sands and Clays 
from tJie " BracMesham Beds " of the Isle of Wight Basin. 
No. 1. Light-blue sandy clay ; * very friable ; full of crushed 
shells. 
Quantity examined, 480 grains. 
Grs. Grs. Proportions. 
Calcareous Shells, fragmeuts of shells, 'i tq 
and other fossils ... J 
Arenaceous Sand J 138 1104 29 
Argillaceous Clay§ 250 2000 52 
480 3840 100 
No. 2. Very light-blue, friable, sandy clay. 
Quantity examined, 480 grains. 
Grs. Grs. Proportions. 
Calcareous Shells, etc., and fragments 23 184 5" 
Arenaceous Sand 185 I4a0 38-5 
Argillaceous Clay 272 2176 56-5 
480 3840 100 0 
No. 3. Dark-green clayey sand ; very friable. 
Quantity examined, 3840 grains. 
Grs. Proportions. 
Calcareous Shells etc., and fragments 497 13 
Argillaceous Clay 793 23-5 
3840 100-0 
* The clays and sands in tliis paper are described as they appear when dry. 
+ The specimens No. 3, 4, and 5 being given in lots of 3840 grains, Nos. 1 and 2 
(which were examined in lots of 480 grains) are given also as 3840 grains for the sake 
of comparison. With regard also to Nos. 1 and 2, their lists of fossils must be regarded 
as less perfect in relation to the other specimens, on account of the small quantity of the 
deposit examined. 
X For the list of fossils, see the table further on. 
§ The sands of all the lots are chiefly composed of green grains (silicate of iron?) and 
quartz sand. Further details respecting the relative size, angularity, etc., of the sand- 
grains in the several specimens ought to have been given. 
