fame reniarkabk Strata of Flint in the Jjle of JVight. 301; 



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

 flints arc much defaced in this pit by an admixture of pyrites, i"o 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 Carilhrook the ftrata are not fo vifible ns in 

 the pit north ofthecafl:le, (defcribed in the firfl paper,) but the flints 

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

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

 as if in a fluid ftate, had run into one of the fifTures. Every ap- 

 pearance in this pit indicates that the chalk, fince its {Gratification, 

 has received a moft violent (hock. 



The chalk at Frefhwater bay appears in high perpendicular cliffs, 

 particularly on the \vefl:ern fide of the bay. Both on the eaft and weft 

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

 eafl and wcfl very regularly. The weflern clifFhas a very regular and 

 perpendicular face to the eaftward ; and here the parallel direction 

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

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

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

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

 terior parts (or thofe neareft the chalk) are the pureft and blackeft, 

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

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

 the ftratified flints are more or lefs fhattered, and fome are reduced 

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

 beautiful as well as a curious one, is formed by the a<£tion of the fea 

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

 all interfered 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 



