262 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Apr. 21, 



beds with a considerable number of well-preserved fossils. This last 

 stratum and the remaining upper beds are described more in detail at 

 p. 250, fig. 4. On the beach between s and b are numerous blocks of 

 the sandstones and earthy concretionary limestones, many of which are 

 very fossiUferous. At a the Tertiary strata dip about 2° W.S.W., and at 

 « about 4° S.W. 



Sect. 2. The branch-railway from Minster to Deal passes at the foot of the low 

 hill on which Richborough Castle stands. A ballast-pit adjoining the 

 line exposes the section here figured. The Thanet sands are seen 

 rising at an angle of about 2° to 3° from beneath the sands of the 

 middle division of the lower London tertiaries ; there are here, how- 

 ever, so few distinctive features between them, that the separation is 

 not at first easily recognized ; a careful search will, however, detect a 

 few pecuUar fossils in the middle series, and in the Thanet sands the 

 fossils are- abundant, but very friable, at point a. For details of this 

 section see fig. 5, p. 251. Between this and section No. 1 there is only 

 the valley of the Stour with its marsh-lands. The strata in both places 

 dip towards this valley. 



Proceeding southward there is a tract of flat ground without sections, 

 and the surface then rises to the ridge of low hills which run from 

 Sandwich to Wingham and Canterbury. On the eastern extremity of 

 the range stands Woodnesborough Church, in descending from which 

 towards Sandwich the sides of the lane exhibit a tolerably good section 

 of the Thanet sands with fossils, and overlaid by the sands of the middle 

 division. On going down the hill in the other direction, the chalk is 

 seen cropping out from beneath the Thanet sands : this part of the 

 section is rather shortened ; it represents a distance of li mile. The 

 height of the hill is only approximate. 



Sect. 3. This is the finest section of the Lower Tertiaries in the London district. 

 Heme Bay is about H i^^ile west from the spot where this section 

 commences. At a short distance east of the town, the London Clay 

 rises and forms a sloping and grass-covered chfF for nearly a mile ; the 

 talus then becomes less and the section clearer, showing a considerable 

 mass of the London clay, with few or no fossils, except casts of frag- 

 ments of wood in iron pyrites. A little way further, the sands (3) 

 forming the upper division of the lower London tertiaries rise at a 

 small angle (2° to 3°) from beneath the London clay ; they abound in 

 fossils, but in an extremely friable state, except where preserved in the 

 tabular calcareous blocks, a, or in concreted portions of the conglo- 

 merate, b. (For a description of this bed and its fossils see my paper 

 ** On the Basement-bed of the London Clay," in the Quart. Journ. Geol. 

 Soc. vol. vi. p. 265.) This division is underlaid by the middle group, 

 which is here composed of three closely allied strata, consisting at c 

 and d of an upper bed of argillaceous greensand, a middle one in which 

 brown clay predominates, wath a few small flint-pebbles, and abounding 

 in traces of vegetable remains, and with many fragments of Hgnite, and 

 a lower division marked by coarse green sands ; but as these beds trend 

 towards d [the left-hand d which should have been e] they appear 

 rather less argillaceous, and as a very light green sand, the line of de- 

 marcation between them and the Thanet Sands being, in consequence, 

 at the end of the clifi" towards the Reculvers very indiflFerently marked. 

 Fossils are rather scarce ; the few however that occur are the same as 

 those found in stratum 4 at Richborough. This group, as well as "4" 

 in the Upnor and Woolwdch sections, will be described more in full in 

 the next part of this paper. Owing to the great similarity in mineral 

 character between the lower part of this middle division and the upper 

 part of the Thanet Sands in these cliffs, their line of separation is 

 often very indistinct. 



Immediately east of the Bishopstone ravine the '* Thanet Sands " 

 rise from beneath the middle group (4). The first bed consists 

 of yellowish sands with only a few patches of shells, but with numerous 



