256 LIAS Or ENGLAND AMD WALES : 
thick and sometimes septarian. These enclose various organisms, 
Saurians, Fishes, Cephalopoda, Insects, and Crustacea. Copro- 
lites are also found in the nodules. As remarked by Moore, 
the shape of the nodules conforms roughly to that of the 
enclosed organism, so that his experienced eye enabled him to 
predict with confidence the fossil that would be presented to 
view when particular nodules were split open. It, must, how- 
ever be stated that a large proportion of the nodules yield no 
organisms, and this fact has created much disappointment to those 
who have gone in search of the bed, and apparently failed in 
their efforts to find it. 
The Saurians are represented by Ichthyosaurus ucutirostris and 
Pelagosaurus typux (tcmporalis). Of the Pelagosaurw, very fine 
examples were obtained by Moore, one belonging to a diminutive 
reptile only 13 inches long, and this has been named P. Moorei by 
E. Deslongchamps (M.S., 1876). These and other specimens are 
placed in the Bath Museum. 
The Fishes include Pachycormus macropterutt, P. curtus, 
Lepidotus, Leptolepis concentricus, L. constrictus, and species of 
Hybodux, &c.* 
The Cephalopoda (in addition to Ammonites) include Geoteuthis 
and Teudopsis, and as Moore remarks " the softer parts of these 
cuttle fishes have perished, leaving only the internal cuttle bone, 
in the centre of which the ink-bag is usually found, still charged 
with its black pigment." Among other Mollusca, Moore records 
1'fioceramux diibius, Posidonomya Bronni, &c. 
The Crustacea (determined by Dr. H. Woodward) include 
Eryon Moorei, Palinurina pyymfBa, Pcnceus latipes, Eryma ehgana, 
HefriffOj and Glyphea. 
The Insects and some Plant-remains have yet to be determined. 
Moore obtained a specimen of fossil wood, bored by Lithodomi, 
and with a number of Cirripedes attached to it. 
These Lepteena Clays and Saurian and Fish Bed, clearly belong 
to the Basement Beds of the Upper Lias, representing (in part; 
the same beds at Churchdown and Dumbleton in Gloucestershire. 
Mr. B. Thompson regards the Leptaena Beds (in part) as equivalent 
to the Pleurotomaria Bed on the Dorset coast, and the Transition 
Bed of Northamptonshire^ 
The " Upper Cephalopoda Beds " were taken by Moore to 
include all the other beds of the Upper Lias to the sands at the 
base of the Inferior Oolite ; but his description indicates other 
portions of the Basement Beds (zone of A. setpentinus) above the 
Saurian and Fish Beds, as well as the zone of A. communu. These 
comprise clays with bands of rubbly and earthy limestone having 
a thickness of 8 feet. The clays above, which are of variable 
thickness, and of considerable importance near Yeovil, were not 
clearly recognized by Moore ; but he records in his list of fossils 
* Mr. A. Smith Woodward basin preparation a Monograph on these Upper Lias 
Fishes. 
t Rep. Brit. Assoc. for 1H91, p 849. 
