MR. CLEMKNT REID ON THE SECTIONS AT CORTON. GU7 
suOicicntly exact to be worth recording. As for as could bo made 
out, most of it belongs to Alder, Willow, Bircli, and Pine (?). 
Only towards the northern end of the exposure w’ere anj' mollusca 
to be seen, and there, it is interesting to note, they were mainly 
lauil n/ie/lx, and not aquatic forms. The absence of mollu.sca in 
otlier parts of the bed seems to be due to the decay of all calcareous 
fossils, and not to the original .scarcity of these animals. 
On the spot the beds did not look very promising, for a search 
of perhaps about half-an-hour only produced a single seed of 
Hornweed. However, a large block of the carbonaceous clay, and 
the overlying seam of lignite, was cut out and taken away for more 
minute examination. This examination has proved a more dilhcult 
task than 1 had expected ; for the matrix was a somewliat intractable 
one, and before it was thoroughly disintegrated, the material had 
twice to be well dried, and twice boiled in a .solution of soda 
for several hours. 'I'his process of boiling, though it sounds 
a violent method, is really the be.st one, and detaches the ilelicate 
fossils from the matrix with the lca.st injury. 
The thin bed of lignite seemed .so distinct from the underlying 
clay, that it was carefully »letached and treated separately. When 
washed and the residue examined, it proved, however, to be nothing 
but a deposit of twigs, seeds, and miscellaneous lloating scraps, 
such as marks the high-water level of a Hood 'at the present day. 
In fact, if we were dealing with the deposit of a modern flood 
instead of witli one of very ancient date, the beil would be full of 
bottle corks and such like debris. The most common seeds were 
those of Alder and Hornweed ; but as all the species occur still more 
abundantly in the bed below, it is unnecessary to give a separate 
list. 
The underlying carbonaceous clay is snutf-coloured when dry, 
and splits readily into thin laminoc, but does not fall to pieces in 
water. The surface of the flakes was carefully examined for leaves, 
with the result that portions of the stem and leafy bracts of the 
Cotton Grass occur plentifully ; but there was nothing else, except 
a single fragment of a dicotyledonous leaf, probably already skele- 
tonized when it was imbedded. Scales of two or three species of 
fish were also noticed. 
The next process was to boil down the fragments of clay till the 
matrix could be washed away, and all that was left was the twigs 
