196 Dr. FiTTON on the Strata beloiu the Chalk. 



Thiclcness 

 Paces. in Feet. 



1800 — 2200. Very dark sand, which, from 2100 to 2400, forms a mural cliff, standing back ' 



behind tlie rubbish of the next stratum below, and its own. At 2200 it is cut into a ravine [ 



(not marked in the Ordnance Map) called Ladder Chine : there is, however, very little of [ 



a stream from it. This stratum forms the beach-line of Walpen Chine, Goes out at y 1 0. J 



1950. The middle point of Walpen Chine. 



2200 — 2900. Loose dark mud. It contains, especially at 2400, the large Gryphaea, but "i 

 smaller tlian the gigantic specimens of the beds next below. Tlie ruins of the stratum > 

 iorm a terrace-like projection, increasing in height gradually from 2200. Goes out at 3800. J 



2570. The middle point of Whale Chine. 



2900 — 2948. A group of sand, the bottom of which goes out at 3710 



3070. A bed of fine large Gryphites, over 2 feet of sand, hardened so as to throw out the 

 springs, which have stained its exterior a vivid red Thickness, 4 feet. 



3100. Very large Gryphites, in the same hard, green brown sand. They occur in knobs, and 

 are concreted firmly together. [Clusters also of Serpulae and Terebratulae.] 



3146. A layer of fine Terebratulae, strongly agglutinated in the darker green sand 



3152. Gigantic Gryphites below the layer of Terebratulae, at 3146 



3170 — 3400. Brown sand; upper part more compact than lower. The bottom goes out at 4610. 



3400—3560. Sandy silt Goes out at 3410. 10 



[This part of the shore, which is called Atherjield High-cliff, strongly resembles that 

 between Shanklin Chine and the middle of Sandown Bay.] 



3560—3700. Dark mud Goes out at 4610. 10 



3700. Hard tough sandstone, passing into the next division below, which is softer. The ") 

 separation is marked by great concretionary masses, in balls or kidneys, some of them I 

 6 or 7 feet long, and 4 to 18 inches thick, including Gryphaea sinuata and Perna, with 

 small Ammonites in pyrites. Similar concretions occur also at the top of this bed, and at ! j 

 the bottom of the next This division goes out at 6070. 



4010. Passes insensibly into the mud next below : near the junction a small Ammonite. . . . 



Goes out about 6080. ? 



4010 — 4725. A loose, incoherent, blue-grey, muddy clay. It is in a state of great ruin, and 

 has overwhelmed the beach with a vast talus of its mud, which bases the sand-cliff" at 

 Atherjield, and forms a slope, on which are fishing-huts, boat capstans, and a path up to 

 the Preventive Station, which cannot be seen from the beach. The place where this bed 

 goes out at top is indistinct, but it seems to form the upper part of the south-east side of 

 Shepherd's Chine, about 6100 



[This clay appears to be the equivalent of the fuller's- earth of Surrey. It is about 

 15 to 30 feet thick and contains very numerous fossils: Ammonites, Echini, Tere- 

 bratulae and Corals ; with crystals of sulphate of lime, perhaps produced by decom- 

 position.] 



4725 — 4775. Brown and green sand-stone, 2 feet thick, and well defined 



[Apparently the equivalent of the lowest beds of stone very near to the bottom of the 

 Lower green-sand at Hythe ; and here abounding in marine fossils, among which are the 

 following genera: Ammonites, Avicula, corals, Corbula, Cucullaea, Exogyra, Gervillia, 

 Gryphaea (especially G. sinuata), Nautilus elegans, Ostrea, Panopaea, Pecten, Pinna, 

 Plagiostoma, Serpula, Thetis, Trigonia, Vermetus, with others of the Lower green-sand. 

 Nothing can be more striking than the sudden contrast between such an assemblage and 

 the fossils of the clay immediately below.] . , 



The continuation of this fossiliferous stratum is still visible, high up in the ruined face 

 of the cliff" and above the clay, as far as 5700 paces 



