UPPER, OR FLINTY CHALK. 149 



Holywell quarry, near Eastbourne ; contains Echinites, Plagiostomas, 

 Inocerami, Terebratulse, the remains of Fishes, &c. 



Alfriston chalk-pit; remarkable for crystallized carbonate of lime of 

 considerable purity. 



Cliff Hills. The pits formed on the sides of this insulated portion 

 of the chalk hills, produce a great variety of fossil shells, and zoophytes, 

 the remains of fishes, and the vertebrae and bones of unknown animals. 

 In some of these quarries, after a recent fall, the chalk presents a remark- 

 able appearance ; the newly exposed surface is of a brown colour, and 

 uniformly marked with fine vertical striae, giving to the mass a fibrous 

 appearance. Small conical portions of the chalk sometimes partake of the 

 same character, and I have specimens that closely resemble calcareous 

 fossil wood. In every instance, however, this structure is confined to the 

 surface, and does not affect the interior of the chalk. In all probability 

 it has been produced by a subsidence of the strata, which caused them to 

 slip over each other, before they were entirely consoUdated *. 



South-street pit, near Lewes, affords a fine section of the flinty chalk, 

 exceeding two hundred feet in height. An irregular canal or dyke, 

 varying from two to eight feet in diameter, traverses this quarry, in an 

 oblique direction. It was noticed many years since at the northern 

 extremity of the pit, and subsequent falls of chalk have from time to 

 time exposed its course towards the centre, from whence it now appears to 

 proceed easterly : a section of it is still perceptible at an elevation of a 

 few feet. In some parts this cavity was almost empty, and in others 

 nearly filled by sand, clay, and ochre of a light chocolate colour. This 

 canal or dyke has probably been formed by a subterranean current of 

 water, the substances it contains being evidently alluvial. South-street 

 pit is also remarkable, as being the only known locality of the detached 

 cctaedral sulphuret of iron. It contains the scales, teeth, &c. of fishes, 

 and numerous shells and corals. 



Beddingham pit is situated on the side of the Downs, about a mile 

 distant from the village. In ascending the hill, the grey marl, lower 



* An appearance somewhat similar occurs in the limestone beds of Derbyshire, and is 

 there termed " slickensides." 



