OF HARTING. II 



of dark clay, which was formerly, from its mineral 

 character, not distinguished from the subjacent Weald 

 Clay, but is now clearly recognized to be very distinct, 

 and to represent the Atherfield rocks of the Isle of 

 Wight, and the lower Neocomian of foreign geologists, 

 i.e., the lowest of all the marine deposits of the 

 Cretaceous age. 



Though I do not believe that as yet any fossils of 

 this zone have been detected in Harting Combe, I 

 have observed them in great quantities near Haslemere, 

 where the railroad has been cut through this same zone 

 of clay. 



The fossils are all marine, viz.: Gervillia anceps, 

 Ostraea frons, Perna Mulleti, Trigonia daedalea, T. cau- 

 data, Venus parva, Panopcea Neocomiensis, Rostellaria 

 Robinalbina, Pteroceras Fittoni, Ammonites Deshayesii, 

 A. Martini, A. Hambrovii, Crioceras Bowerbankii, and 

 Ancyloceras gigas. 



The agricultural characters of the Lower Greensand 

 necessarily vary considerably in its several parts. Thus, 

 in the uppermost portion we find West Heath yielding 

 little more than heather and ferns, while the adjacent 

 farm of Ryfield produces excellent barley, root crops, 

 and fine grass. Indeed, the character of a good loamy 

 soil characterises this zone all along the course of the 

 Rother to Habing Bridge and Trotton. 



On the other hand, the lower portion of the forma- 

 tion, which rises into the commons of Rogate and 

 Vining, and constitutes Holder Hill, is usually sterile 

 and heathy. 



In descending from the hills of Rogate and Vining 

 Commons to Harting Combe, we reach the Weald 

 Clay, the lowest formation to be seen in our downward 

 exploration from the summit of the South Downs. 

 Let me here remind the reader that he will pass over 

 the very same strata downwards if he proceeds from 

 the Chalk of the North Downs across the Lower 

 Greensandstone of Hind Head, or from the Hampshire 



