74 



Mr. De la Beche on the Geology of Part of France. 



the cliffs, which commence a little to the westward of the village, continue 

 nearly to Grand Camp, where the shore is again sandy and flat. This flat 

 and sandy coast extends nearly to Carentan, backed however by low hills 

 at the point of land which separates the marshy flat of Carentan from the 

 mouth of the Vire. 



From near Carentan to St. Vaast (about twenty miles) there are no cUffs ; 

 a marshy flat, which varies in breadth from a quarter of a mile to a mile and 

 a half, separates the hilly country from the sandy dunes, which here form the 

 shore. 



The coast, for some distance to the north of St. Vaast towards Barfleur, is 

 formed by a low granite plain, covered in a great measure with sand near the 

 sea. The hills, which back the flat coast between Fontenay and St. Vaast, are 

 of considerable elevation. 



Such is the physical appearance of the coast. 1 shall now proceed to detail 

 its geological characters, beginning with the upper rocks. 



Chalk. 



The cliffs from Fecamp to Cap d'Antifer are composed of chalk with flints, 

 containing the same fossils as in England. From Cap d'Antifer to the Cha- 

 teau d'Orchet, within the mouth of the Seine, the upper part only of the cliff 

 is chalk, the lower being green sand. At the latter place the green sand dis- 

 appears, and the chalk again forms the entire cliffs, but near its junction 

 with the green sand, contains particles of that substance. 



The portion of the department of the Seine Inferieure bounded by the sea- 

 coast, the river Seine, and a straight line drawn from Fecamp to Caudebec, 

 is composed of chalk, covered generally by flint gravel. The chalk abounds 

 in flints, which sometimes form seams of three or four inches in thickness. 



On the left bank of the Seine also the chalk caps the hills at Fiquefleur, at 

 Honfleur, and at Henqueville, resting upon green sand. 



It would be difficult to give a correct idea of the line of hills capped by 

 chalk, on the outskirts of the great chalk formation, without a good physical 

 map of this part of France, which I believe does not exist. The main body 

 of chalk maybe said to cross the Seine between Honfleur and Fiquefleur, and 

 to be continued in a line, passing about midway betw een Pont Audemer and 

 Pont I'Eveque ; whence passing to the west of Cormeilles, it crosses the road 

 from Lisieux to Paris, in a south-east direction, between L'Hotellerie and 

 Duranville. 



