NATURAL HISTORY.
In the department of Natural History, this district possesses but little which is deserving of particular notice.
Of Birds there are none which can now be considered peculiar to this part, the drainage of the fen lands having entirely banished the great variety of aquatic birds which used, previous to that event, to be found here.
The Plants, indigenous to this district, are very numerous. From a list of several hundreds which are to be found in the neighbourhood, the following interesting ones are selected.
Minerals occur rarely in this part, and in very small quantities. Lumps of sulphuret of iron in the oolite stratum; earthy oxide of iron and a singular blue pulverulent mineral, which is a carbonate of iron containing some earthy impurities, in a valley at Salmonby; and a stalactitic oxide of iron in the ferruginous gravel; comprise all the varieties which have yet been found.
Although Organic Remains are to be found in some parts of this district in considerable quantities, yet they do not include many varieties. The following list of those now in the possession of the author, comprises one of almost every species which has yet been found.
From the Chalk Stratum. No 2.
Teeth of the Squalus or Shark.
An Impression of a Vertebræ.
A Terebratula subundata.
A Terebratula subrotunda.
A cast within some bivalve Venus.
A cast within a Terebratula semigloboso. Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology, 15.
An Inoceramus Cuvierii.
An Echinus.
From the Oolite Stratum. No. 4.
An Ostrea, curious and not named.
A bivalve, not named.
A piece composed of the Serpula auricula.
From the Sand Stone Stratum. No. 5.
Ad Ammonites, curious and not named. It is without a keel; else like Ammonites inflatus.
A Cardita. Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology, 197.
An Inoceramus.
An Unio.
A Terebratula approaching glaber.
A Terebratula approaching acerminatus.
A Lucina concentrica.
A cast within a bivalve, not named.
A cast within a Trochus.
A cast within a Trigonia.
A cast within a Venus.
A cast within a Pecten.
A cast within a Cardium.
Several Bellemnitæ.
From the Shale or Clunch Clay. No. 6.
An Os Femoris of the Ichthyosaurus or Giant Lizard.
Several Vertebræ of the same animal.
An Ammonites, not named.
A Venus equales. Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology, 21.
A Cardita.
An Ostrea crista galli. Linnæus.
An Ostrea under valve, with a cast of the inside of the upper valve.
A Gryphæa bullata
A Gryphites incurva. Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology, 112, 1 and 2.
An Ammonites seratus. Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology, 24.
An Inoceramus Cuvierii hinge.
An Unio hybrida. Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology, 154, fig. 2.
Several Unios.
A piece composed entirely of shells, the chief part of which are the Serpula auricula. It also contains an inside cast of a small turretted shell.
A Tellina.
A Pentacrinite.
A Mytilus.
Several Bellemnitæ.
From the beds of Ferruginous Gravel in Alluvium of Shale. No. 3.
A Tooth of the Elephant or Mastodon.
An Inoceramus Cuvierii.
An Ostrea, with a cast of the upper valve.
A cast of an Unio indistinct.
A cast of Shell, not named.
An Echinus.
Several bellemnitæ.
A Madrepore.
An Alcyonium.
An Astarte.
A part of a Spongites.
An impression of a Cactus, or an Euphorbia, or some other Oriental plant. Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology, 40.
A piece of Wood similar to the Fossil Wood of Wooburn, Bedfordshire.
In the valley at Salmonby, near to the spot where the earthy oxide of iron is found, is a chalybeate spring, the water of which is of the same nature as that of Tunbridge, but much stronger.
Printed by Weir and Son,
Horncastle.