[275]These beds were discovered by Mr. Fisher in 1861, and for the following measurements I am indebted to Mr. Keeping. We find, about one hundred yards in a south-eastward direction from the point where the footpath from Brook to Fritham crosses the stream, (1) the Coral Bed, the equivalent of that at Stubbington, full of crushed Dentalia and Serpulæ, six inches. (2) Sandy light blue clay, with very few fossils, seven feet. (3) Verdigris-green and slate-coloured clay, characterized near the top by a new species of Dentalium, Serpulorbis Morchii (?), and Spondylus rarispina. The other typical shells are Voluta Maga, several species of Arca and Corbula gallica, five feet. It is in this bed that large roots of trees and ferns are found.
No persons, however, I should suppose, would think of examining any of these beds without first consulting Mr. Fisher’s most valuable paper on the Bracklesham Beds in the Proceedings of the Geological Society, May, 1862. And I should further most strongly advise them, if they wish to become practically acquainted with the beds, to procure the assistance of Mr. Keeping, of Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight.
I may here also mention that a well is at the present moment being sunk at Emery Down, and which, as I learn from Mr. Keeping, gives the following interesting measurements:—(1) Beds of marl, containing Voluta geminata, discovered forty years ago, at Cutwalk Hill, by Sir Charles Lyell, and now re-discovered, and a small Marginella, seven feet. (2) Bed of bluish sandy clay, which becomes, when weathered, excessively brown. This bed, very rich in fossils, which are in a good state of preservation, is equivalent to what is now called the Middle Marine Bed, at Hordle and Brockenhurst, sixteen to nineteen feet. (3) Hordle Freshwater Beds, containing two species of Potanomya, and comminuted shells, fifteen feet. (4) Upper Bagshot Sands, measuring, as far as the workmen have gone, twenty feet, and below which lies the water at the top of the clay. The important point to be noticed is the extreme thinning out of the Hordle Freshwater Beds, which, from the depth of two hundred and fifty feet at Barton, have here shrunk to fifteen. Mr. Prestwich has suggested that these beds, as they advance in a north-easterly direction, become more marine, which seems here to be confirmed.
[276]I say probably, for Professor Owen, who examined the specimen, states that it is of a bovine animal of about the same size as Bos longifrons, but does not yield sufficiently distinct characters for an exact specific identification.
[277]I had intended to have accompanied this description with a group of some of the best fossils from this pit, including the fruit, fish-spines, and palates, and the large Pleurotoma attenuata. It was, in fact, commenced by the artist. But the specimens were obliged to be so greatly reduced, that the drawing gave no complete idea of their form and beauty, and would only have confused the reader. I have, therefore, contented myself with figuring at [p. 249], in its matrix of clay, the rare Natica cepacea (?), which has passed into Mr. Edwards’ fine collection, and who has kindly allowed me the use of it, with the characteristic Cassidaria nodosa, and a lovely Calyptræa trochiformis, found, as mentioned, inside a Cardita. At [p. 244], the specimens given from the Shepherd’s Gutter Beds are Cerithium trilinum (Edw. MS.), Voluta uniplicata, and, in the centre, a shell, showing oblique folds on the columella, which Mr. Edwards thinks may be identical with Fusus incertus of Deshayes.
[278]In one place only in the Forest, on some waste ground at Alum Green, have I seen this plant.
[279]On this point see what Bromfield observes in his Introduction to the Flora Vectensis, p. xxvi.
[280][In Appendix II.] I have given a list of all the characteristic plants of the New Forest to assist the collector; and, I trust, comprehensive enough for the botanist to make generalizations.
[281]Besides these we have all over the Forest Lastrea Filix-mas, and dilatata, and Asplenium adiantum nigrum, and Polystichum angulare, with its varieties, angustatum and aculeatum, found near Fordingbridge. My friend, Mr. Rake, who discovered angustatum, found also, in February, 1856, near Fordingbridge, Lastrea spinulosa, but it has never since been seen in the locality.
[282]The Forest would afford a good field for deciding the controversy as to whether our tame pigs are descended from the European Wild Boar. (See Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 1861, p. 264; and Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Third Series, vol. ix. p. 415.) Certain it is that here are some breeds distinct in their markings. I must not, too, forget to mention Coronella lævis (Boie), which is found in the Forest, as also in Dorsetshire and Kent. This is the Coronella austriaca of Laurenti, and afterwards the Coluber lævis of Lacépede. It might be mistaken for the common viper (Pelias berus), but differs in not being venomous, as also from the ringed snake (Natrix torquata) in having a fang at the hinder extremity of its jaws, the peculiarity of the genus Coronella. It feeds on lizards, which its fang enables it to hold; drinks a great deal of water; and Dr. Günther, of the British Museum, to whom I am indebted for the above information, tells me that it crawls up the furze and low bushes to lick the rain off the leaves. For a list of the Lepidoptera of the New Forest, see [Appendix IV.]