64 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Wealden district, will date back to the time of the large mammalia, 

 as it is beneath the mass of subaerial talus that their remains, as 

 entire skeletons, have been found (see above, p. 55), either beneath 

 the chalk-downs or the sand-hill escarpments. 



To this period also must be referred the *' combe-rock " of Sussex 

 and the mass of detritus which at Brighton overlies the raised marine 

 beds to be seen in the cliff-sections*, and to which Dr. Mantell, in 

 his excellent description, has given the name of the Elephant-Bed. 

 I would, however, remark, that the remains of the animal in question 

 have been found underneath the talus, as in the deep wells in the 

 town of Brighton, in the foundations for the wall of the Chain Pier 

 Esplanade, and elsewhere in the coast-sections. The remains them- 

 selves are mostly more or less water-worn, as if they had been rolled 

 about on the beach on which the talus had fallen. 



In any speculations respecting the origin and circumstances of the 

 brickearth-deposit, it must be constantly kept in mind that the pre- 

 sent physical features are not those of the period when the brick- 

 earth was deposited. 



It is further probable that over the ridges of rocks lying in advance 

 of the Sussex Coast, such as the Barns and Owers, the original land 

 may have been somewhat higher than the level of the plain which 

 now intervenes between the sea and the chalk-range. 



The Sangatte beds described by Mr. Prestwichf, and with whom 

 I saw them in 1 852, are of the same age with the combe-rock of Sussex, 

 and are accumulated against an old sea- cliff and overlying sea-beds 

 about 10 feet above the present sea-level. The range of this cliff is 

 inland. The marine shingle, which extends so far inland east from 

 Calais, is an indication of a slight rise of recent date. The marls 

 beneath the peat in the direction of St. Omer are the equivalents of 

 the brick-earth. 



§ IV. Indications of recent changes of relative level. 



1 . Solent. — From Hurst eastwards, as far as the entrance to the 

 Beaulieu river, mud-banks a mile or more in breadth extend along 

 the coast-line. Their upper surfaces are remarkably tabular, and 

 they are only covered at high water. Their mud-banks must have 

 originated under a very different condition of the Solent sea to 

 that of the present time. They have now a steep front along their 

 outer edge seen at low water ; it is entirely free from weed, which 

 covers the upper surface ; and this is owing to the wasting action 

 of the sea, by which these mud-banks are being cut back along the 

 outer edge ; they receive no additions to the surface, and are there- 

 fore on the decrease. In this we have an indication of a rise of small 

 amount. East of the mouth of the Beaulieu river there is a broad 

 expanse of shingle, which, near Stone Point, is nearly a fourth of a 

 mile in breadth. The upper surface of this tract is now raised above 

 the highest reach of the Solent sea, as may be seen by following its 



* Geol. Sussex, by Dr. Mantell, 1822. 

 t Quart. Jouru. Geol. Soc. vol. vii, p. 274. 



