marls, limestones, and shelly concretions, with intercalations of clay, marl, and sand; the gypseous marls and limestones, and the siliceous millstones of the Paris group are altogether wanting. Nevertheless, there is evidence that the two formations were contemporaneous, for the relics of Cuvierian pachydermata have been discovered in the Binstead limestones. (See Pl. II.)

The freshwater eocene strata of the Island, which are spread over the whole of the northern part, are denoted on the map (Pl. XX.) by pink on a plain ground; the marine beds appear on the surface as a narrow band extending along the northern flank of the chalk downs, and are indicated by the same colour on a ground shaded with parallel lines. The localities which exhibit the most instructive sections of the marine and freshwater deposits in their natural order of superposition are Headon Hill, Alum Bay, and Whitecliff Bay.

BINSTEAD QUARRIES.-The limestones in the vicinity of Ryde have been quarried for many centuries; the shelly, as well as the compact varieties, having been in great demand during the middle ages for building.* Though the sections exposed in the quarries now open are inconsiderable, they will suffice to illustrate the characters of the strata and the nature of their fossils, and render the interpretation of the phenomena hereafter to be examined more easy of comprehension. I would, therefore, first conduct the reader to Binstead, which lies about a mile to the west of Ryde. There are several quarries on

* A great part of Winchester Cathedral is built of stone from the old quarries at Binstead. Some of the walls of Lewes Priory were faced with this stone, and several ancient Sussex churches are in part constructed of it. The variety composed of comminuted shells, held together by a sparry calcareous cement, was extensively used; it has been frequently mistaken for Caen stone by our antiquaries.

both sides of the turnpike road to Newport, and others in a field which lies on the left of the footpath that turns off from the main road just beyond a Doric lodge, and leads by copses and hedge-rows to the picturesque hamlet of Binstead, affording here and there glimpses of the most charming rural scenery. The quarries for the extraction of the stone vary in depth from ten to twenty feet, and appear to have been opened, without regard to any regular plan, wherever it was thought a layer of compact stone could be easily reached.*

FOSSIL REIN-DEER.-Upon entering a quarry at Binstead, the dislocated state of the beds of limestone immediately strikes the observer. Vertical and diagonal fissures and chasms, extending in some places to the depth of fifteen feet, are seen traversing the solid rock, and filled with the alluvial loam and clay that form the general subsoil of this district; in these deposits bones of a species of horse and ox have been discovered. On a recent visit I obtained a considerable portion of the skull of a reindeer (Cervus tarandus), from clay occupying the bottom of a vertical fissure at the depth of ten feet from the surface. It consists of the posterior part of the cranium, and closely resembles a specimen found in a cavern at Berryhead, in Devonshire, and figured by. Professor Owen in British Mammalia; † the latter is referred by that eminent palæontologist to the recent species of rein-deer, chiefly from the proximity of the bases of the antlers to the occipital crest. Dr. Falconer, who, with his wonted courtesy, obliged me by comparing the Isle of Wight specimen with the

* Quarr Abbey.—In a sequestered valley, within a short distance of Binstead, are a few mouldering walls, the only remains of the once celebrated Quarr Abbey, which are generally visited by the tourist: the beauty of the scenery will amply repay the pedestrian geologist for the extension of his walk to this lovely spot. "British Fossil Mammals," p. 481, fig. 198.

skulls of recent deer in the British Museum, agrees with me in the opinion that there is no appreciable difference between the fossil cranium and that of the rein-deer. Lign. 4 represents the specimen viewed from the occipital aspect; the figure is one-third the size of the original. The skull appears to have belonged to an adult that had but recently shed its antlers.

BINSTEAD.

a. a. The osseous bases to which the antlers were attached.

(One-third linear of the natural size.)

EOCENE STRATA OF BINSTEAD.-The strata in this locality are entirely of freshwater origin, containing no intermixture whatever of marine detritus. This is evident from the fossils, which consist of shells of the common. genera of mollusca that inhabit lakes and rivers; of seedvessels and stems of aquatic plants; bones of freshwater turtles; and teeth and bones of land mammalia. An inspection of Plates I. and II. will give an idea of the

* Engraved by Mr. Bagg, 63, Gower Street.

assemblage of organic remains found in this locality. The layers of stone are commonly broken and dislocated, but not far removed from their original position. On my visit last summer, the following section was exposed in the principal quarry near the roadside; it presents the usual appearance and arrangement of the upper series of freshwater strata of the island; the beds incline slightly to the north.

1. Vegetable mould.

2. Alluvial loam and clay, in which are water-
worn blocks of shelly limestone (but extend-
ing in fissures to a depth of 15 feet)

3. Sand, with a layer of shelly limestone, more
or less separated into blocks which are
water worn

4. Shelly limestone, in thin layers

3 feet.

2 feet.

5. Very tenacious loam and clay, of a dark brown
colour, much resembling in appearance the
dirt-bed of the Isle of Portland

6. Fine sand, with comminuted shells

7. Compact grey limestone, termed siliceous
limestone by Mr. Webster, from its con-
taining a large proportion of sand; but few
fossils were observable

8. Fine sand. Water issues from this bed, being
thrown up (according to the quarrymen) by
underlying beds of clay.

1 foot.

6 feet.

2 feet.

The upper beds of limestone abound in casts and impressions of shells. No. 3 is full of hollows left by the decay of the shells, and the subsequent separation of the casts of their cavities. This bed appears to have been formed by the infiltration of calcareous matter into a layer of shells, the moulds and casts of which are now cemented together by sparry concretions. A coating of white powder on the casts is almost the only vestige of the constituent substance of the shells now observable. In this sparry limestone the minute seed-vessels of charæ hereafter described,

fragments of bones of turtles, and casts of planorbes (Plate I. fig. 1) and limnei (Plate I. fig. 3) are abundant.

The sand, No. 6, is intimately mingled with comminuted shells, the whole being loosely held together by an infiltration of marl; the most coherent masses readily crumble into powder between the fingers. I have not succeeded in obtaining a single shell entire; but from a microscopical examination am led to conclude that the shelly particles are the detritus of the freshwater snails (limnei, and planorbes), so abundant in the limestone : waterworn bones of turtles occur in this bed. In some of the quarries there is a layer of very hard limestone entirely composed of comminuted shells cemented together by a crystalline calcareous infiltration; it contains extremely minute waterworn fragments of turtles' bones, and, very rarely, teeth and bones of mammalia. I believe this bed to be the equivalent of No. 3, from which it differs simply in its consolidation, and in the absence of sand and marl. This shelly limestone is observable in the walls of the most ancient castles and religious edifices in Hampshire and Sussex.

The siliceous limestone, or rag, as it is locally termed, being very compact and durable, forms an excellent building material. The upper limestones yield stone sufficiently firm for walls, &c., and are extensively quarried in the northern district of the Island. The surface of the blocks in newly-erected buildings often exposes such interesting groups of fossil shells, as to present a strong temptation to the geologist to trespass with his hammer.

I will now more particularly describe the fossils which occur in these strata. The shells, as we have seen, are very abundant, but they include only a few genera and species, a circumstance characteristic of fluviatile and lacustrine formations. With the exception of waterworn fragments of wood, the Chara are the only fossil vegetables that have come under my notice. The mammalian remains