PRESTWICH BRIGHTON BEACH. 219 



diately overlying the old beach at Brighton. I did not, however, 

 find here any organic remains in either of the drift-beds. Beneath 

 them is a deposit, the npper 2 or 3 feet of which consist of a slightly 

 argillaceous and laminated sand, and the lower part of a pure fine 

 sand, with a few patches of rather coarse shell-sand, and here and 

 there a well-worn flint-pebble (Hke a beach-pebble). Some thin 

 seams of the sand are concreted, forming very hard, thin, tabular 

 sandstones, sometimes curiously covered with innumerable, small, 

 blunt, projecting points. These concretions are more numerous and 

 thicker in the lower part of the pit ; and they form so hard a floor, 

 that a man, whom I employed to dig down to the chalk, was not able 

 to do so during my stay there. At first sight these sands appear 

 unfossiliferous, but a short search shows the presence of a number of 

 minute and very friable shells from J to J inch long, and which proved 

 to be the young, apparently, of the common Mussel. I also found 

 a few full-gro^vn specimens of this shell and of the common edible 

 Cockle ; but they all fell to pieces when touched. On a second visit 

 I was, however, fortunate enough to discover a few other shells pre- 

 served undecayed in a singular way. In looking over the pieces of 

 tabular sandstones thrown on one side, I found one, and then another, 

 angular block of hard white chalk (like the hard chalk of Yorkshire), 

 that evidently had come out of the sand, some of the latter yet 

 remaining in hollows in the blocks, and some portion being concreted 

 on them in lumps. 



These blocks, which are respectively 1| and 1 foot long, are covered 

 on three sides with holes made by boring molluscs, probably the 

 Pholas dactylus, and by small Annelid-borings*. In some of the 

 larger of these holes I found a few uninjured specimens of the Purpura 

 lapillus, whilst some others were attached, as when living, to the 

 outer surface of the blocks, together with numerous small Balani, 

 probably the B. porcatus. On looking further in the sand-bed itself, 

 I observed at "i/" another and larger block of hard chalk, the pro- 

 jecting portion of which measured six feet in circumference ; but it 

 was much more worn and rounded than the other two, and I could 

 see no shells attached on the exposed portion. 



Owing to the extremely friable condition of the greater portion of 

 the fossils, I have at present not been able to determine, with 

 Mr. Morris's assistance, more than the few following species :— 



Mytilus edulis, Purpura lapillus, 



Cardium edule, Balanus porcatus, 



Pholas dact}ius ?, Echinocyamus pusillus ; 



whilst in a small quantity of the sand which Mr. Eupert Jones and 

 Mr. W. Parker kindly examined for me, they discovered the follow- 

 ing species of Foraminifera, which, like the shells, are all of common 

 recent forms : — 



Nonionina asterigerina, Kosalina Beccarii, Truncatula lobatula. 



Of the little Grreen-pea Urchin {Echinocyamus pusillics) I found only 



* Just such masses as may be picked up at the foot of our present chalk-cliffs. 

 VOL. XVI. PART I. R 



