380 Dr. Fitton on the Strata [Nov. 



artificial divisions of scientific arrangement not unfrequently 

 keep out of view. 



The Wealds. 



IV. The coast section between the chalk cliffs near Folke- 

 stone, and Beachy Head, is so much concealed by marshy tracts 

 throughout the portion corresponding to the place of the green 

 sand and weald clay, that the examination of it is difficult and 

 unsatisfactory; but I have coloured the section (fig. 1), in con- 

 formity with that of the Isle of Wight, — in part from observations 

 of my own, with the hope of suggesting further inquiry ; since 

 there is strong reason to expect, from the perfect correspondence 

 of the interior, that the arrangement of the beds upon the coast 

 also, will prove to be throughout the same. 



At Beachy Head there is no difficulty, the chalk being there 

 succeeded by, and almost passing into beds of firestone, of 

 inconsiderable thickness, but corresponding to those of Culver, 

 See. in the Isle of Wight, and of Ryegate, in Surrey :* these 

 are followed by blue clay, harsh to the touch, somewhat sandy, 

 and apparently containing few fossils. From thence to a consi- 

 derable distance eastward, the strata are concealed ; but there 

 can be little doubt that the low sand hills which occur at Lang- 

 ley, and from thence run inland through Arlington, Selmeston, 

 &c. (Mantell, p. 76), in a line nearly parallel to the chalk, 

 belong to the green-sand formation. 



Mr. Smith's maps of the interior, and his section from 

 London to Brighton, accord with this identification. The list 

 which he has given of the beds within the denudation of Kent, 

 Sussex, and the adjoining counties, corresponds exactly, though 

 under different names, with that of the section, fig. 1 ; and the 

 range of " sand and sandstone," represented in his map of 

 Sussex as passing through Barcombe, is obviously the continu- 

 ation of the sands of Langley above-mentioned. 



The shore on the east of Beachy Head, nearly to Bexhill, is 

 so low and flat, that the beds can be examined only (under 

 favourable circumstances) at low water ; the Hastings sands, 

 however, rise about the latter place, and the upper part abounds 

 with reddish and greenish clays, like those already described as 

 forming so large a part of this formation in the Isle of Wight.t The 

 sands decline to the eastward, and subside about Stone Cliff 

 on the east of Rye, and there again the country becomes difficult 

 of examination; what may be considered as the true coast being 

 separated from the sea by Ronmey Marsh. But the character- 



* The firestone at Sea-houses has been generally taken for green-sand, and supposed 

 to represent the ridge between the chalk and iron sand of Kent and Sussex, which 

 begins at Folkestone and Hythe. (Conybeare, Outlines, p. 147). 



■f The cliffs at Hastings have been fully described by Mr. Webster, in a paper read 

 before the Geological Society. See Annals, July, 1824, p. 66 of this volume. 



