436 F. G. H. PRICE ON THE BEDS BETWEEN THE 



Spout, some three miles further on, as none of that formation can be 

 seen along the shore in East- Wear Bay. Nearer Folkestone, where it 

 should be in situ, the cliffs have suffered so much from landslips that in 

 very fewplaces are the rocks seen in situ at all, and then only partially. 

 In many places the undercliff in East- Wear Bay is the result of slips, 

 and is covered over by the rubbish taken out of the tunnel and rail- 

 way-cutting during the formation of the line to Dover, and thrown 

 down over the cliff. 



A very good idea of the extent to which these cliffs are wasting 

 away may be formed by walking along the top from Folkestone Hill 

 to Lydden Spout. A little beyond the Boyal Oak Inn, Hougham, 

 which is about 430 feet above the sea-level, I was greatly struck by 

 it, and could not help observing how much the chalk above the 

 South-Eastern Railway tunnel had given away, and was still wasting. 

 In many spots above this line of tunnel large tracts of land had actually 

 slipped down bodily ; and the ventilating shafts, after passing Hougham, 

 are quite close to the edge of the cliff. In two instances the land 

 above the tunnel has slipped or sunk to a depth of 5 or 6 feet, and 

 actually broken down the ventilating shafts. Some of the " Fairy 

 rings " were cut in half by the crumbling away of the cliffs, thus 

 indicating that they are older than than the present escarpment. 

 In some parts the tunnel is quite close to the edge of the cliff; and in 

 other parts large masses of chalk have slipped completely over it. 



Formerly there was a road along the shore from Folkestone to 

 Dover ; but since the South-Eastern Railway Company built out their 

 new pier (which has effectually prevented the shingle coming round, 

 and reclaimed land to the west of it) the full force of the sea now 

 comes round into East- Wear Bay and gradually denudes the soft cliffs 

 composed of Gault and the rubble from the railway-cutting. The 

 road soon ceased to exist, and can only be traced here and there with 

 the old beach beneath it, which is as hard as pudding-stone. 



Since this paper was written, a severe landslip occurred in 

 January last, caused during a long continuance of excessive wet 

 weather, by the upper beds slipping down over the Gault. The area 

 of the slip was considerable, extending over nearly 100 acres. 

 It had the effect of pressing up the Gault on the beach into mounds 

 six and seven feet high, of blocking up the Folkestone tunnel of 

 the South-Eastern Railway, and of filling up a cutting of about 200 

 feet in depth for a distance of fully 200 yards. 



At Lydden Spout the whole of the Grey Chalk is seen in situ, 

 and is capable of being divided into several well-marked divisions or 

 beds. Its total thickness here is about 170 feet, being measured 

 from the top of the zone of Ploeoscypliia mceandrina (bed II. of this 

 section) to the base of the grit bed No. VIII., the top of the band of 

 yellowish chalk, the horizon of BeJemnites plenus. 



The Grey Chalk I propose dividing up into three zones, beds No. 

 III., IV., and V. being the zone of A. rhotomagensis, bed No. VI. the 

 zone of Holaster subglobosus, and bed No. VII. the zone of Belemnites 

 plenus. The base of bed III. at this portion of the shore is the 

 usual high- water mark. 



