Dr. FiTTON on the Strata below the Chalk. 207 



Lower green-sand^ and Weald clay, in strata highly inclined, occurring in a 

 nook or recess called Punfield, at the southern foot of Ballard Hill; and the 

 Hastings sands, occupying the whole of the long range of cliffs thence 

 to the town of Swanage ; the section of which is so distinct, that with 

 sufficient labour all the details can be made out. The strata correspond, 

 however, precisely with what I have mentioned in the preceding accounts 

 of the Isle of Wight and of the coast near Hastings*, and, as at those places, 

 consist of sand and sand-rock, including concretions of calcareous grit, and 

 alternating with a very large proportion of reddish and greenish cohesive 

 sandy clay. Detached portions of lignite are frequent also throughout the 

 series here. Fragments of the trunks of silicified coniferous trees have 

 been found in dark brown masses ; and detached bones of the Iguanodon 

 sometimes occur loose on the shore beneath the cliffs near the town of 

 Swanagef. 



The Hastings sands can be traced entirely across the peninsula to Wor- 

 barrow Bay, in a range of heights passing through Godlingston, south of 

 Westwood, Steeple, North Egleston, and Tineham : but the subdivisions 

 between the sands and the chalk become indistinct on the west of Punfield ; 

 a slight difference only in the hue of the vegetation on the surface indicating 

 in some places the presence of the Weald clay. The junction of the sands 

 with the Purbeck strata is concealed, at Swanage, under the level tract which 

 separates the sand cliffs from the hill above the town : and the only place 

 among the numerous sections westward, in which the connexion between the 

 Hastings and the Purbeck strata is visible, is on the south side of Worbarrow 

 Bay. At the time of my examination, the appearances there were not distinct, 

 but I shall here insert what I observed, as these beds are supposed to represent 

 the strata on the north-west of Battle, which have been considered as the 

 lowest in Sussex. 



island forms a very striking object from the hill above the town of Swanage. Views thus seen 

 from a sufficient distance have all the abstract clearness of a geological outline ; while the mi- 

 nutest features are preserved without any departure from the true proportion of height to hori- 

 zontal distance. 



* For this reason I have thought it unnecessary to insert here the list of these strata to which 

 I have referred above, (79.). The spaces which the several formations occupy, measured along 

 the foot of the cliff, are thus : Upper green-sand, about 250 paces ; Gauit, 200 ; Lower green- 

 sand, 240 ? ; Weald-clay, 46 ? ; Hastings sands, 3,500 ; — Total distance from the chalk to the 

 bottom of the sands, about 4,250 paces. A flat of about 200 paces intervenes between the sand 

 cliffs and the rise of the Purbeck strata. Compare these spaces with those at Man-of-war Cove, 

 hereafter (110.). 



t See Dr. Buckland's paper, Geol. Trans. 2nd Series, vol. iii. p. 421. 

 VOL. IV. SECOND SERIES. 2 E 



