206 



vertebra of a Saurian, which Professor Owen regards as most nearly 

 resembling that of Mososaurus. 



Mr. Kaye presented to the Society a series of the fossils from the 

 several beds, all in the most beautiful state of preservation. 



A paper was read, entitled " Account of a Section of the Strata 

 between the Chalk and the Wealden Clay in the vicinity of Hythe, 

 Kent." By F. W. Simms, Esq., F.G.S. 



The section here described begins on the top of Tolsford Hill, the 

 summit of the chalk escarpment, about 600 feet above the sea at low 

 water, and about two miles immediately north of Hythe. It strikes 

 nearly due south, passing very near to Saltwood Castle, and close to 

 the church at Hythe, and reaches the sea beyond the low ground on 

 the south of that town. This line cuts the strata, which successively 

 rise towards the south from beneath the chalk, nearly at right angles. 



The author, in directing the works of the South-Eastern (Dover) 

 Railway, had caused borings to be made, with a view to the con- 

 struction of one of the principal tunnels on the main line of road, at 

 Saltwood. He afterwards extended his researches upward, for the 

 purpose of illustrating the stratification ; and ultimately sank a 

 shaft, from the bottom of the quarries at Hythe, down to the Weald 

 clay. The account of these operations is illustrated by large sectional 

 drawings, without the aid of which it is difficult to convey a distinct 

 notion of them ; but the following summary includes some of the 

 most important results. 



§ The division of the subcretaceous series adopted by the author is 

 that proposed in the Geol. Trans., 2nd ser. vol. iv. pp. 105-115 ; 

 and his object was to ascertain the thickness, inclination, and general 

 character of the successive groups, in a descending order. He found, 

 however, unexpected difficulty in tracing the diiferent strata to their 

 outcrop, from the interference of ruins fallen from above, and still 

 remaining even on the faces of the escarpments. Thus the toiJ of 

 the Gault was obscured by a mass of subsided chalk, which, if the 

 measure had been taken on the surface, would have caused an error 

 in the thickness of more than 44 feet ; the upper division of the 

 lower greensand would have given 4 1 feet in excess ; the middle bed 

 would have been diminished by nearly the same amount ; " and the 

 whole of the clay beds between the quarry-rock and the Wealden 

 would altogether have escaped notice, as they are covered by the 

 ruins of the superior beds, and their existence was until now un- 

 known." The author therefore could not attain his purpose without 

 having recourse to boring and levelling ; the mode of conducting 

 which processes, and tlie calculations connected with them, he has 

 explained. 



1. The upper g)-eensand -was found to be entirely wanting on the 

 principal line of the section, the only trace of it being some grains 

 of sand mixed with chalk-marl over the gault. A second boring, 

 about half a mile eastward of the principal line, gave the same 

 negative result ; but at Folkstone Cliff, six miles distant, there is, 

 in a corresponding place, a true greensand, 15 feet thick, indurated 



