Dr. FiTTON on the Strata below the Chalk. 1 89 



Paces occupied 

 by each division. 



17G7 — 2150. Black slaty clay, with layers of sandy stone 2 inches thick, formed of agglu- 

 tinated leaves, like sheets of paper. 



[Apparently the same alternation as that which abounds on the confines of the Lower 

 green-sand and Wealden group, described (83.), p. 168.] 



1 850. The amphitheatre of the retired cliff has again come round to the beach 



1880. Layers of small flat oysters, agglutinated by calcareous matter, very like one of the 

 beds between Atherfield and Shepherd's Chine. [See hereafter, 5580, p.l97.] 



1900. The apparent dip of the strata is now much less, = 10° 



2000. The stratum here is like mashed slate; but earthy and incoherent, with stony 



layers occasionally 



2100. Very clayey : the stony layers, when broken, appear to be very white indurated 



clay ; but their old cracks, dark blackish brown 



2132. Like slates ; as thin as paper, but friable 



2150. Sand. Upper 2 feet stony. Red layers of stone and rubble mixed. Apparent rise 

 of the strata 2° or 3° ; but they dip back 10°. \_Quce. Commencement of the Hastings 

 sands ?] I 370 



2400. A very pale sandstone. Outcrop concealed 



2.520. Mixed red and brown-yellow clay: no fossils. The strata still rise from the east. 

 Trend of the beach, 1 9° south of west ; and so, forward to the Fort, and back to 

 the cliffs. 



2700. Grey and red clay. No fossils. 



2894. Red clay. Strata still rising at an angle of about 12° from the east. 



SOOO. Shore too low to show the strata distinctly. 



3240. A layer of tough gritty sandstone ; horizontal, or rising a very little to the south-west. 



3300. Another layer of tough gritty sandstone, on the beach. 



3330. Culminating point of the saddle. Strata almost exactly horizontal. The red clay 

 is seen resting on the stony layer of 3240 and 3300. 



3400. The strata now begin to dip 1° towards the west. 



3506. The first wooden barrier to stay the shingles on the beach near Sandown Fort, 



3535. Red clay, resting on stony layers strangely contorted. The same clay also under- 

 lies them. These contorted layers extend 50 paces. 



3617. Third wooden barrier. Here the grass comes down to the beach, and an embank- 

 ment begins at high-water mark. 



3700, the fifth wooden barrier. 

 3741, the sixth. 



3782, the seventh barrier. 

 3821, the eighth. 



3862, the ninth barrier. 

 Here begin zigzag weirs. 



4050. In a line with the eastern edge of the south-east point, or bastion, of Sandown Fort. 



(98.) The junction of the Lower green-sand with the Wealden strata is 

 one of the most interesting points in the sections upon this coast^ from the 

 importance of determining whether the transition from the freshwater to the 

 marine strata was gradual or abrupt. As far as my own observations have gone^ 

 the change, in all the sections of the Isle of Wight^ is unaccompanied by any 

 marks of disturbance, or any variation in the characters of the strata them- 

 selveSj and can in fact be learned only from the total change of the fossils : 

 a few feet in thickness, of beds conformable with those both above them and 

 below, dividing the strata which abound in Cypris and Paludinae, from the 



