In Vol. I of the ‘Geologist,’ at page 249, was published a paper on the preparation of sands, clays, and chalk, for microscopical purposes, under the heading of “Geological Manipulations;” and, as both pleasure and geological profit are to be obtained from the exact examination of various fossil-bearing deposits, both as to their constituents and their contents, I beg to offer you an example of the results of such an examination of some tertiary beds from Bracklesham. These notes I have had by me several years, and their short-comings are so great in some respects that I should not send them, were it not that they may serve as a plan to some young careful observers who might feel inclined to enter upon the strict examination of some definite series of fossiliferous strata. What the series under notice is deficient of, is a statement of the exact relationship of these several deposits, examined nearly twenty years ago. I received the materials at that time from a friend who was collecting “Bracklesham fossils,”—a term which will be more definite, now that the Rev. O. Fisher, F.G.S., has indicated the exact limits of the Bracklesham formation.

The specimens were chiefly, I believe, from Bracklesham and Selsea; but some may have been brought from the Isle of Wight. By the presence of certain fossils, however, in some of the deposits, their exact place may probably be determined. However deficient in these stratigraphical requirements the following account of the deposits may be, they will serve the purpose here intended, namely, to show young beginners what to look for in sands and clays. Instructions have been already given as to how such materials are to be examine, in the first volume, p. 249.