feme remarkable Strata of Flint in the Ijle of Wight. 305 



had feen. The nodules are not at all broken. Many of the tlratified 

 flints arc much defaced in this pit by an admixture of pyrites, fo as 

 to be quite opaque, like a coarfe jafper; and thefe flints are much 

 fofter than the others, as is always the cafe in the impure flint. 



In the chalkpit near Carifbrook the ftrata are not fo vifible as in 

 the pit north ofthccaflle, (defcribed in thefirft paper,) but the flints 

 are to the full as finely, though perhaps not fo generally, broken. \\\ 

 one flint I obferved, that though it lay in its bed undifturbed, chalk, 

 as if in a fluid fl:ate, had run into one of the fiffures. Every ap- 

 pearance in this pit indicates that the chalk, fmce its ftratiflcation, 

 has received a mofl: violent lliock. 



The chalk at Frefliwater bay appears in high perpendicular cliff\s, 

 particularly on the weftern fide of the bay. Both on theeaft and wefi 

 the ftrata dip northward near 80 degrees, and the dip feems to run 

 eaft and weft very regularly. The weftern cliff has a very regular and 

 perpendicular face to the eaftward ; and here the parallel diredtion 

 of the ilrata, each feparated by a thin line of black flint, prefents a 

 mod curious appearance. The flint here is often found in thin plates 

 of confiderable extent, fometimes not above an inch thick, and 

 feerns formed from each fide of the fpace which it fills ; as the ex- 

 terior parts (or thofe nearefl: the chalk) are the purefl: and blackefl:, 

 and it is gradually whiter towards the middle, where there is often 

 a line of foft chalk included between the two plates of flint. AW 

 the fl:ratified flints are more or lefs fhattered, and fome are reduced 

 to very fine powder. The cave at Frefhwater, which is really a 

 beautiful as well as a curious one, is formed by the a61:ion of the fea 

 on thefe nearly vertical flrata. They are of different hardnefs, and 

 all interfe6led with fiffures at right angles to the ftrata. When the 

 fea a6ls on and wears away a foft ftratum, a gallery is formed, and 

 Vol. VI. R r the 



