GEOLOGY OF TTIE WARREN. O 



blocks scattered here and there, and some small remnants in situ far 

 out on the beach. I have not yet succeeded in extracting any fossils 

 from it except a few specimens of wood, though there are plentiful 

 traces of apparent organic remains in some portions of it. 



Next below it comes the Gault, or Blue Clay, as it is locally called, 

 and here it is that the fossil remaina appear so exceedingly abundant 

 and beautiful. If We Wished to place a young geologist where he 

 would be likely to meet with the least disappointment, we ought to set 

 him down either in a Lias quarry or on a bed of Gault. They are 

 scattered about on the beach here in the utmost profusion, though 

 they are more easily attainable at some particular times : the tide 

 overflows the clay twice a day and washes them out, but it sometimes 

 covers them up with sand instead. It is difficult to preserve them, as 

 they are apt to drop to pieces as soon as dug out ; it is very disap- 

 pointing sometimes, just as you fancy you have got a good large 

 Ammonite out, resplendent with all the hues of the rainbow, to see it 

 separate into four or five parts. It is best to dig out the lump of clay 

 in which the specimen lies, carry it carefully home, and soak it a short 

 time in a thin solution of gum. The most abundant fossils here 

 are Ammonites, several species, Belernnites by hundreds, BacuUtes, 

 Hamites &c., the pretty Nucula pectinata, and one or two other 

 bivalves. I have come across one tooth belonging to a species of 

 shark, and some bits of fossil wood. From the frequent occurrence of 

 the latter substance in the Gault and Greensand it would appear that 

 they were formed in the vicinity of land ; in fact many geologists re- 

 gard those formations as a littoral deposit going on in some places 

 simultaneously with the deposit of Chalk in the deep sea. Fragments 

 o^ Inocerami may be found in every block; I. sulcatus is one of the most 

 common and curious. It is of little use working in the dry blocks above 

 high water mark, as everything there is so friable. The thickness of 

 the Gault is best seen by observing the high promontory to the left, 

 beyond Tower No. 3, which is wholly composed of the Blue Clay. 



Between this Gault and the Lower Greensand is a very narrow bed 

 of unique formation, known as the Folkestone Junction Bed, it is seen 

 only near the aforesaid promontory ; it is very ferruginous, and con- 

 tains sulphur, with small portions of selenito ; it produces a few 

 fossils, particularly wood. 



Next below the Gault we find the Lower Greensand, well known to 

 us all, forming the clifl's near the harbour and those all along the 

 Lower Sandgate Road. I have worked in it scarcely at all ; one of its 

 characteristic fossils is a large oyster, Ostrea simiata, to be seen in 

 most of the loose blocks scattered about below East and West Cliff. 

 The formation consists, at Folkestone, of layers of tolerably hard 

 stone, with intervals of loose sand between them, on which the Gorse 

 and other wild plants flourish luxuriantly. The beds of Sandgate are 

 less sandy, and mixed with Fuller's earth, while at Hythe they bocomo 

 much more compact and arc known as Kentish Rag. To gee 



