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XII. Observations on some belemnites and other fossil remains of Cephalopoda, discovered by Mr. Reginald Neville Mantell, C. E. in the Oxford clay near Trowbridge, in Wiltshire

1848; Royal Society; Volume: 138; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1098/rstl.1848.0012

2053-9223

Reginald Neville Mantell, Gideon Algernon Mantell,

Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology

The group of argillaceous deposits of the Oolite or Jurassic formation, termed the Oxford Clay, has yielded some of the most interesting and instructive examples of the fossil remains of Cephalopoda hitherto discovered in England. Christian-Malford, in Wiltshire, is especially celebrated for the very perfect specimens of the soft parts of certain extinct forms of this class of molluscous animals; examples having been obtained in which the body and muscular tunic or mantle, the cephalic arms with their uncinated acetabula, the capsule or external tunic of the eye-ball, the ink-bag, and the phragmocone, are preserved, and in some instances but slightly displaced from their natural relative positions and connections. The remarkable fossils described in the Memoir on the Belemnite by Professor Owen, were procured by the Marquess of Northampton, Mr. Cunnington, and Mr. Pratt, from this locality. A branch line from the Great Western Railway to Trowbridge in Wiltshire, now in progress, in some parts passes over, and in others cuts through, the usual series of oolitic strata of that part of England; namely, the Kimmeridge Clay, Oxford Clay, Kelloway Rock, and the Great Oolite with its subordinate beds of Cornbrash, Forest Marble, Bradford Clay, &c. My son, Mr. Reginald Neville Mantell, who is engaged on this work under the eminent engineer I. K. Brunel, Esq., availed himself of this favourable opportunity of collecting a very extensive suite of the fossils brought to light by the various cuttings and excavations required in the construction of the railway. This collection comprises many hundred specimens of the shells and other organic remains which usually abound in this division of the Oolite formation, and among them are several unique and exquisite examples of Ammonites, Belemnites, &c. Imbedded with the animal remains were large quantities of drifted wood, and stems and branches of trees: some of these specimens are in the state of bogwood and lignite; others are transmuted into limestone, and have the original structure well-preserved. Trunks and branches of coniferous trees, from ten to twenty feet in length, and from a few inches to upwards of a foot in diameter, were abundant; a few traces of the foliage of Cycadeaceous plants, and of Araucariæ, were likewise met with.