OF HARTING. 7 



unity of composition in this soil, whether we examine 

 it in the farms of South, East, and West Harting, or 

 in the adjacent lands of Nursted. 



The formation beneath the soil has a thickness 

 varying from 80 to 120 feet, as known by the wells 

 sunk in it, for, just as the water which percolates 

 through the chalk is held up by the Chalk Marl, so is 

 that which sinks by fissures through the Malm Rock, 

 sustained by the argillaceous shale or clay beneath it, 

 which, in geological language, is termed the " Gault." 



The fossils of the Malm Rock which are most 

 common were formerly enumerated by me as Ammo- 

 nites rostratus, A. varians, Pecten orbicularis, Gryphaea 

 vesiculosa, Avicula, with forms of the Sea Urchins, 

 Echino spatangus, and portions of fishes. In other 

 tracts, and where the formation is sandy, it affords a 

 vast quantity of organic remains. Among which the 

 following may be cited as most characteristic : Pecten 

 asper, Exogyra conica, Cardium gentianum, Panopcea 

 plicata, Solarium ornatum, Nautilus elegans, N. Fit- 

 toni, with numerous Sponges, Ventriculites, &c. 



In some parts of England, particularly in Cambridge- 

 shire, remains of fishes, including their excrement, called 

 Coprolites, so abound in this Upper Greensand or Malm 

 Rock, that these, mixed with other animal matter, con- 

 stitute a phosphatic manure of high value to the pro- 

 prietor ; but the paucity of such fossil remains in the 

 district under review forbids the anticipation of any 

 discovery of this source of wealth in or near the parish 

 of Harting. 



In proceeding northwards down Bohemy or Bohemia 

 Hill, the student will observe that the Malm rock 

 becomes gradually darker-coloured and more argil- 

 laceous, and that at the bottom of the hill it passes 

 into a pure, stiff, blue, shale clay, which is the Gault 

 Occupying a zone of about a mile or more in width, 

 this clay, usually free of all superficial foreign cover, 

 or flints and gravel, is as continuous all around the 



