Notices of Memoirs — The Lenham Sandstones of Kent. 259 



NOTICES OF HVIIEIMIOIIELS- 



I. — The Conchological Features oe the Lenham Sandstones of 

 Kent, and their strati graphical importance. 1 By P. Bullen 

 Newton, F.G.S., of the Britisli Museum (Natural History). 

 Part I. 



\T various points along the summit of the chalk escarpment 

 forming the North. Downs of Kent and Surrey and extending 

 from Paddlesworth near Folkestone to Lenham near Maidstone, and 

 thence to Netley Heath between Guildford and Dorking— a distance 

 east and west of about seventy miles — there occur in pockets, cavities, 

 or "pipes" of the Chalk formation, certain scattered masses of 

 a reddish ferruginous sandstone at considerable altitudes above sea- 

 level ; at Paddlesworth this sandstone has been observed at 600 feet i 

 at Lenham 680 feet; while at Netley Heath it is found at a height 

 of between 570 and 600 feet. Sandstones of corresponding age are- 

 met with in France particularly on the hills between Calais and 

 Boulogne, and on Cassel Hill near Dunkirk at 515 feet; they also 

 occur at Louvain (200 feet) and Diest, both in Belgium, the beds of 

 the latter locality having yielded fossiliferous remains bearing 

 a resemblance to the Lenham fauna, although often differing in specific 

 characters. 



The more important of these sandstone deposits, so far as this 

 country is concerned, are those found on the Lenham Downs, as they 

 contain the remains of a marine fauna, chiefly of conchological 

 interest, whereas the beds of other districts are generally un- 

 fossiliferous, although it should be mentioned that a few Mollusca of 

 rather uncertain character have been obtained from both Paddlesworth 

 and Netley Heath. 



The fossils known in the various museum collections have been 

 mostly obtained from a large disused chalk quarry situated about 

 half a mile to the north of Lenham, of which an excellent sketch 

 may be consulted in Mr. Reid's "Pliocene" memoir of 1890, showing 

 the vertical positions assumed by the fossiliferous sandstone pipes 

 seen in the limestone exposure. It has been generally recognized 

 that such deposits represent the remnants of a marine Tertiary 

 formation belonging to eaidy Pliocene times, although my own 

 investigations have led to somewhat different results, and I am more 

 inclined to refer them to the latest division of the Miocene period. 



The organisms occur as casts and cavities in the sandstone, and are 

 frequently in a fragmentary condition, rendering their determination 

 extremely difficult. The walls of the cavities, however, often retain 

 sculpture characters, so that it is possible by the aid of wax 

 impressions to obtain reliable evidence as to external details which 



1 We have just received in a connected form the complete text of Mr. K. B. 

 Newton's valuable memoir " On the Conchological Features of the Lenham 

 Sandstones of Kent, and their stratigraphical importance ". This paper formed 

 the subject of his Presidential Address to the Conchological Society of Great 

 Britain and Ireland at Manchester, on October 16, 1915, and was afterwards 

 printed in four parts in the Journal of Conchology, vol. xv, 1916-17, making 

 64 pages, with 4 plates of Mollusca. With the author's kind permission we 

 give an abridged notice. 



