/. W. Judd — On the use of the term Ncocomian. 223 



formations between tho Gaiilt and tlio Oolites as "Iron sand." By 

 tho publication, in tho same year, of Conybcaro and Phillips's 

 " Geology of England and Wales," the whole subject of tho nomen- 

 clature of tho Lower Cretaceous became sadly involved again, for in 

 this work the Gault of Folkestone is called " Chalk Marl," and the 

 sands heloio "Greensand." 



At the very time when tho nomenclatui'o of these deposits had 

 thus been reduced to an apparently almost hopeless state of confusion, 

 the true order and succession of the lower beds began to bo worked 

 out in detail by several earnest investigators. After Webster, the 

 first in the field (according to a note of Dr. Fitton') was Mr. (now 

 Sir Charles) Lyell, who succeeded in determining the true relations 

 of the beds in the Isle of Wight, though his results were not 

 published at the time. In June, 1S24:, Webster read before the 

 Geological Society his paper, entitled " Geological Observations on 

 the Sea Clifis of Hastings, with some Remarks on the Beds imme- 

 diately below the Chalk," in which he established the division of 

 the "Hastings Sand," and proposed the term Ferruginous Greensand 

 for the sands below the Gault. In a second paper, published in 

 November of the same year, Webster proposed to substitute the term 

 Lower Greensand for Ferruginous Greensand. 



In this same month of November, 1824, Dr. Fitton published, in 

 the " Annals of Philosophy," his admirable description of the true 

 succession of the Cretaceous Strata in the Isle of Wight and the 

 adjoining coast of Dorsetshire, in which, however, he did not escape 

 the prevailing error with regard to the use of the word " Greensand." 

 In an additional note, in the next month's number of the same 

 journal, he suggested the names of '•' Merstham Beds " for the sands 

 above the Gault, and " Shanklin Sands " for those below. 



In a reply to Dr. Fitton's paper, contributed by Webster to the 

 " Annals of Philosophy," in January, 1825. the justice of the classifi- 

 cation is admitted, but the nomenclature is demurred to. In place 

 of the names proposed by Dr. Fitton, Webster suggests that the term 

 " Greensand " should be used only in its original and proper sense 

 for the sands above the Gault, while those between the Gault and 

 Weald Clay should be called " Upper Ferruginous Sands," and those 

 below the Weald Clay " Loioer Ferruginous Sands." 



We thus see that the name Lower Greensand,"^ which was pro- 

 posed by Webster in November, 1824, was, on furtlier consideration, 

 withdrawn by its author in January, 1825. Unfortunately, this 



1 Annals of Philosophy (new series), vol. viii., p. 458. 



2 The term Loiver Greensand originated in a mistaken notion that the beds 

 above and below the Gault had intimate relations with one another, and that they 

 might therefore be made to constitute a single formation, "the Creensand,'" of which 

 the Gault was to be considered the middle, and a subordinate member. The inap- 

 plicability of the name, even in the typical districts of Kent and the Jsle of "Wio-ht, 

 has fi-equently been pointed out. The misapprehension which must arise from the 

 use of parallel terms for a subordinate bed (seldom more than 100 feet thick) and a 

 great formation (nearly 1,000 feet thick) is evident. To give this bad name, '• Lower 

 Greensand," an extended meaning, by applying it to the Speeton Clays of the iS'orth 

 of England, or to the great variety of beds of the same uge on the Continent, would 

 make matters infinitely worse. 



