Extract

Since the date of my letter of the 8th of August last, in which I mentioned that organic remains were found in our limestone at Mill Bay quarry, various shells and fossils have been discovered in our limestone at other places. The limestone between the Tamar and Plym rivers, extends over a tract above three miles in length; its strata run nearly parallel to one another from north-west to south-east, dipping towards the south-west, this being also the position of nearly all the stratified rocks in the neighbourhood. The westernmost point at which shells have hitherto been found is the Dock Yard. A few weeks ago some workmen found petrified bivalve shells imbedded in the solid rock, twenty feet below the surface, while removing the remains of a small mount called Bunker’s Hill, which had been left when the Dock Yard was excavated. I have since visited the spot myself, and found several specimens in situ.

Further to the eastward organic remains have been noticed, on Stonehouse Hill, both above and below the road at the entrance of Stonehouse, and in other parts of the hill near Mill Bay. Some of the specimens of shells and madrepores, which I now send, are from a part of Stonehouse Hill, a little to the west of the quarry at Mill Bay. They were broken from detached stones lying in undisturbed ground considerably below the surface, and agreeing in appearance with the solid rock. The quarry at Mill Bay lies about a mile