Page:Transactions of the Geological Society, 1st series, vol. 4.djvu/434



XXVI. Notice of Fossil Shells in the Slate of Tintagel.

By The Rev. J.J. CONYBEARE.

[Read December 3rd, 1813.]

large specimen of slate, bearing the impressions of several shells, which accompanies this note, was procured by Mr. Buckland and myself at the slate quarries of Tintagel, on the north coast of Cornwall. As it has not hitherto been remarked that any traces of organic remains existed in the schistose rocks of that county, we thought that it might not be deemed unworthy of a place in the collection of the Society.

The quarries which produced it are situated close to the sea, at the distance of about six miles to the north-west of Camelford. They are worked upon a very large scale, and are celebrated for the excellent quality of the roofing slate which they afford. The nearest point at which granite occurs must be as much as seven miles distant: we were therefore not surprised at the total absence of those large granitic and porphyritic dykes which, whether they are connected with or independent of that primitive rock, are certainly of much more frequent occurrence in its vicinity than elsewhere. The veins produce quartz, rock crystals of great transparency and beauty, calcareous spar, chlorite, and in some instances adularia. I know not whether this variety of felspar has been