ON THE MOVEMENTS OP THE EARTh's CRUST. 357 



This part of the series is in part older than the Galcaire grossier, and 

 there are at least one,— probably two gaps in it. The following series, 

 on the contrary, is coiitimioiis: 



Lower Headoii, fresh water and brackish, seven to eight alterna- 

 tions (arc 13 and the first part of 14). 



Middle Headon, marine, one alternation, at 14. 



Upper Headon, fresh water and brackish, five alternations, be- 

 tween aics 14 and 15, 



Osborne, fresh water, three alternations, between arcs 15 and 1'. 



Bembridge Ihnestone, fresh water, three alternations, between 

 arcs V and 2'. 



Bembridge oyster-bed, marine, at least one alternation, at 2' 



Bembridge marl, fresh water, six alternations, arcs 2' and 3'. 



Hempstead marl, fresh water and brackish, two alternations, 4' 

 or 5'? 



Hempstead Corbula-beds, marine, imperfect above by denuda- 

 tion, one alternation. 



The profiles of the different stages are taken at different parts of the 

 island which have lain at different levels. Bearing this in mind, the 

 series may be fitted into the curve, and at any rate correspond with 

 them pretty closely. 



The number of alternations in this last continuous part of this series 

 of deposits is about the same as in the contem])oraneous deposits of the 

 Paris-basin, although the beds are more than three times as thick (48 

 meters in the Paris-basin, 156 meters in the Isle of Wight). 



With the marine deposits of nemj)stead the marine formations of 

 England are interrupted, and it is only in the Pliocene that we have 

 indications of a new marine submergence. The basalts and volcanic 

 eruptions of Ireland and the Hebrides are probably, at any rate in 

 part, Miocene. Basaltic dikes extend in places across the whole of 

 England; but the chief outbreaks were on the western side, and hence 

 they can be traced through the Faroes to Iceland. 



We will now see wliether we can fill u]) the curve from 7', where the 

 continuous profile from the Paris-basin closes, up to recent times. The 

 uppermost bed of the Paris-basin lies upon the boundary between Oli- 

 gocene and Miocene. As we have already seen, the Miocene period in 

 France had five oscillations. In Transylvania (according to Koch, in 

 the Foldtani Kiizlony) them are five Miocene stages, namely : Koroder 

 beds, Kettiismezo beds, Hidalmas beds, Mezoseger beds, and Feleker 

 beds. All these stages are marine. Even if they are not throughout 

 separated by fresh-water formations, as in the case of several, at any 

 rate, of the French Faluns, they may nevertheless be regarded as cor- 

 responding to five oscillations. In the deeper seas the bottom will not 

 always be ui)heaved above the sea under low eccentricities; but the 

 oscillations will nevertheless operate in changing the fauna, and also 

 frequently the constitution of the dei)osits. 



