332 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Lenham, some of which (as well as the beds themselves) have 

 been considered to have a very Eocene look ; but I see no cause 

 to alter my opinion, although I admit that it will be very desirable 

 to have that opinion strengthened by better and more positive spe- 

 cimens. I can, however, now add (with doubt) to my former list, 

 Lutraria elliptica, Tapes perovalis, Pectunculus glycimeris, Leda 

 lanceolata, Cardium edule, Cytherea rudis, Pecten Brueri, Nucula 

 depressa, Nyst, Crassatella concentrica, Duj. (?), Balanus bisul- 

 catus, and species of Phorus, Donax, Venus, Ostrea, and Thracia. I 

 must however mention that Mr. Harris has found on the hills above 

 Charing some blocks of ironstone, which, amongst several undeter- 

 mined fossils, contain a Ditrupa much like the D. plana of the Lon- 

 don Clay. These may possibly be really blocks from the Lower 

 Tertiary sands which we know often extend in outliers to the edges 

 of the escarpment, and which blocks may have remained when the 

 sands were removed ; or they may have been drifted here. The Crag 

 sands are generally so thin, have been so extensively denuded, and 

 are so mixed up in most places with the ordinary drift, which extends 

 so widely over the Chalk Downs, that it is often most difficult to 

 define their extent or even constantly to determine their presence. 



Mr. Harris has also been indefatigably at work in tracing the 

 extent of these sands and ironstones above Charing ; and we are in- 

 debted to him for having had in November last a trench made at Down 

 Wood to a depth of 29 feet, but without, I regret to say, throwing 

 any fresh light on the position of the fossiliferous ironstone. The 

 section was filled up when I was there in February, but from Mr. 

 Harris's description I should infer that it consisted chiefly, if not 

 entirely, of drift. No fossils were found. The following section has 

 been kindly furnished by Mr. Harris : — 



Trench in Down Wood, on Charing Hill, about 1J mile N.E. of 

 Charing, Kent; 15 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 28 feet deep. 



ft. in. 



1. Surface-earth*, small fragments of flint 1 6 



2. Reddish sandy loam, sometimes dark-brown, occasionally yel- 



lowish, with very few flints and an occasional pebble in its 

 upper half, and with some few flints in its lower portion... 25 6 

 2a. Traversing the loam, No. 2, from north to south, is a "run" 

 of whitish loam, with a sectional area of 8 feet square, con- 

 taining towards its base a few large chalk-flints and some 

 irregularly dispersed masses of unworn flints cemented toge- 

 ther with sand and irony matter. 



3. Brownish clay and large chalk-flints, some of them greenish.. 2 



4. Chalk-flints, with wbite coating, supposed to be lying on the 



chalk f. 



At a distance of a quarter of a mile west of the section above 

 described, another smaller trench was subsequently opened under Mr. 

 Harris's direction ; and at the depth of six feet was "found a con- 



* The surface of this " grubbed" or displanted woodland is strewed with slags 

 and fragments of ironstone both with and without fossils. 



f From the wells or holes dug for getting at the chalk in the vicinity, it is seen 

 that the surface of the chalk is very irregular. 



