6 GEOLOGY OF THE "WARREBT, 



these three arc known as the Folkestone, Sandgate, and Hythc Beds 

 respectively. Below West Cliff, at a considerable distance from the 

 surface of the Lower Greensand, is a large black deposit of sand and 

 clay, quite friable in some spots and in others drying like the Gault. 

 The surface appears to be uniformly level, and the deposit itself is 

 probably a veiy sandy mixture of Fuller's earth. I extracted a long 

 piece of wood from it this morning. One more formation remains — a 

 conglomerate, blocks of which are lying in the clay and sand some 

 distance to our left, and a long stratum immediately beneath the Chalk 

 past the Coast-guard Houses. Nodules of Iron Pyrites are exceedingly 

 abundant on the beach, and blocks of Iron Sandstone as well, also xip 

 higher on the Warren. It is hardly necessary to remind you that before 

 the use of coal in smelting there was an immense quantity of iron dug 

 from the Weald of Kent. In the time of James I. there were 400 

 furnaces at work in this and the adjoining counties, smelting the iron 

 ore with the wood then so abundant in this part of the country. 



The whole of the coast immediately before us is being rapidly 

 destroyed; even in a week or two we should look in vain for the identical 

 spots we may notice now at high water mark. This destruction is, of 

 course, owing partly to the action of the waves, but much more to the 

 loosening effects of the land springs, which wash out subterranean 

 channels for themselves, and by so doing cause the mass of earth 

 immediately above them to sink down more or less suddenly. A large 

 slip occurred on the 10th March just beyond the Coast-guard Houses ; 

 the mass of earth went down at all once, but preserved its own level 

 so well that any one standing on it would have received no injury, 

 probably not even a fall. 



From this very imperfect sketch of local formations, we may see 

 that a rich harvest awaits any who intend collecting and studying ; and 

 there is also the interesting opportunity of watching a coast visibly 

 wearing away, and of thus being able to form some little idea of the 

 .power of one of the grand agents in nature in altering the surface of the 

 earth. 



The members then worked for themselves in the Gault; 

 the high water prevented their going to the most productive 

 spots, but many good specimens were found. Among them 

 were — Ammonites lautus, A. tulerculatus, A. aplendens, Nunda 

 pectinata, N. ovata, Inoceramus sulcatus, 1. concentricus, Beletmiites 

 Listeri, a Natica^ Shark's Tooth, &c. 



Much assistance in identifying these and others was afforded 

 by the Eev. E. Langdon, F.G.S., who had drawn eketches of 

 the commoner ones for the occasion. 



