NOTES AND QUERIES. 
91 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 
The "Crackers" and other Fossiliferotts Noditles. — "Sir, — I have 
l)eni.sed tlie works of Mantell, Lyell, Ansted, and other standard authors on Geo- 
logy, besides liaving regidar access, through a friend, to the Quarterly Journal of 
the Geological Society and to other miscellaneous works on the science ; but 
amongst them all I have not as yet been able to obtain the shghtest clue that 
would tend to solve the undermentioned geological phenomena ; and, thinking 
that either yourself or some of yom- numerous readers could throw some light upon 
the subject, I take the liberty of asking space for that purpose in your really 
popular, and, on that account, valuable periodical. 
" It is a fact patent to all geologists who have visited the Isle of Wight, that its 
cliffs on the southern coast exhibit some good sections of the Lower Greensand, 
probably the best in the kingdom, more especially those between Rocken End and 
Athei"field Point, where tliis series may be studied throughout its entke thickness 
from the Gaidt to the Wealden beds. 
" It is not, however, to the strata themselves that my remarks apply, but to 
the condition in which some of the organic remains are found in the lowermost 
portion termed the ' Crackers Rocks.'* 
" In examining the excellent chart by Dr. Hilton, it will be seen that the 
' Crackers ' are composed of two layers of large nodules, one above the other, and 
about ten or eleven feet apart, embedded in a loose red sand. The uppermost are 
but little sought after by the experienced geologist, as they are very hard and 
tough, and the fossils they contain are very difficult to be separated from the 
matrix ; but the lower portion contains those splendid fossils which are world- 
famous. The best place for the collector to search for the ' Cracker' fossds is to 
begin a short distance to the eastward of the road made by the coastguard in the 
cliff, and then to travel wes-tward as far as another path up the cliff, made by the 
fishermen, where the ' Cracker-rock' runs out, and tne next bed in the succession, 
the lower ' lobster-bed,' appears. 
" After a founder of the cliff, large nodules may be found with sometimes a few 
fossils on their outsides ; and these, when broken, sometimes disclose whole colo- 
nies of Gervillia anceps, with now and then Trigmia dcBcLalea and an ammonite or 
two on the outside. The nodule itself is composed of a hard, compact, grey or 
bluish rock, enclosing other nodules or smooth sandy concretions, of a lightish- 
brown coloiu'. These can be easily exti'acted, and wiU be found to contain myriads 
of small fossOs, such as Venus, Thetis, Rostellaria, Natica, Pteroceras, Ammonites, 
Crustaeea, and numerous others, nearly aU perfect. Hence I infer that, like those 
of the lias, they all met their death in a sudden manner. 
"Now the question to be solved is — How came these animals, of different 
genera and species, and consequently of dissimilar habits, so attracted together as 
to die and become entombed in one common grave ? Were they aU or any of 
them carrion-eaters ; and, if so, were they attracted together by abundance of food 
through the destruction of any one species of animal, or by mere chance ? Or did 
such nodules once form part of the floor of a sea-bottom, that, being broken up, 
yielded these concretions to be washed into the strata where they now abound, 
and where, becoming thus embedded, the outer coating has subsequently formed 
aroimd them 1 If this be the case, where are the equivalents now of such concre- 
tions ? Besides, the cliff is chiefly composed of sand. 
* A local name, given them by the fishermen on account of the sea having excavated a sort of 
cavern in the clitTs, into wliich the waves enter, carrying with them a portion of air, which causes 
a concussion; hence the term, "Crackers Roclis." 
