and its Organic Remains. 87 



t> 



taceous remains. The deficiency is, however, fully compen- 

 sated by the abundance of corals, many of which are extremely 

 beautiful, and distinct from recent species. These corals 

 sometimes occur in a loose sandy grit, from which they are 

 readily detached; but it frequently happens that the stratum 

 is almost wholly constituted by them, numerous species and 

 genera indiscriminately growing upon one another, the inter- 

 stices being filled with sand, dead portions of coral, commi- 

 nuted shells, and other extraneous substances, all of which 

 have become cemented together, occasionally forming a rock 

 sufficiently compact for the purposes of building. It is well 

 known that a process analogous to this is going forward in 

 the coral reefs of the present day, and to which also many 

 coralline limestones probably owe their origin. 



It sometimes happens when the sides of a quarry have long 

 been exposed to the action of the rain, that the sand and other 

 extraneous matters are washed away, leaving the corals ex- 

 posed in a curious and beautiful manner. 



From my examination of this part of the' crag, I think there 

 is every reason to conclude that it was formed under similar 

 circumstances, and is contemporaneous with that inferior 

 stratum which I have described as seen in other parts of the 

 county. Not only do many of the corals so characteristic of 

 the Orford beds abound in some parts of the stratum at Rams- 

 holt, but in both instances we have the same peculiarities in 

 the character of a deposition, associated with the presence 

 of certain shells and the absence of others. The excavations 

 in these two parishes are of frequent occurrence, but I have 

 not yet discovered even a fragment of the Fusus contrarius, or 

 a single specimen of Murex or Buccinum. In the absence of 

 all negative proofs, this correspondence in so striking a pecu- 

 liarity would have considerable weight in establishing some 

 relation between the different localities; but when we see that 

 the deposit in both instances differs from the rest of the 

 crag in having been entirely of subaqueous origin, and that 

 in both this change of character is accompanied by the same 

 peculiar Zoophytes and Testacea, we may fairly conclude that 

 even should the Ramsholt and Orford beds prove not to be 

 continuous, they are at least contemporaneous*. 



* I have dwelt rather strongly upon the connexion between the crag of 

 Ramsholt and that of Orford and Sudbourne, because in the latter places 

 the inferior stratum is not hidden by the upper beds, and consequently af- 

 fords much greater facilities for its examination. 



The division which I have made of the crag will tend very much to sim- 

 plify those variations which have been so frequently observed in its minera- 

 logical character. The upper beds almost invariably present the appear- 



