\ 



116 Mr. H. T. De la Beche on the Chalk and Sands beneath it, 



6. Sandstone abounding in green-earth_, intermixed with nodules of light- 



coloured sandstone. 



7. Yellowish-brown sandstone with chert-seams. 



8. Large-grained sandstone^, containing the teeth and vertebras of fish^ 



with broken shells^ &c. 



9. Yellowish-brown sandstone with chert-seams. 



To these succeed sands of a greenish-yellow or brown colour^ which are 

 equivalent to the yellowish-brown sands (commonly called Pox mould) of the 

 vicinity of Lyme Regis : they here^ however, contain much more green-earth, 

 and inclose (which they do not at Lyme Regis) several nodules of chert. The 

 various shades of colour are also more conspicuous in the upper parts than at 

 the latter place. 



To this, as at Lyme Regis, succeed sands abounding in green-earth, and 

 containing the same fossils and the same indurated portions as at that place; 

 there seems, however, to be more iron-pyrites in those of Beer. The whole 

 of the above sands and sandstones pass into each other. 



The above section shows the manner in which the Chalk and the Sands 

 beneath it occur on the eastern side of the Beer basin ; the following will 

 exhibit the changes these rocks have undergone on the western side. 



Chalk, with the Sands and Sandstones beneath it, at Branscombe and the Beer 



Quarries. 



The principal information to be derived from these, is the position of the 

 Beer stone, which, whether it belongs to the chalk or to the arenaceous rocks 

 beneath, it is difficult to say. 



At Branscombe Cliffs, to the westward of Beer Head, we have the best 

 exposure of the rocks above and beneath the Beer stone. The latter has been 

 quarried by sinking a shaft from the top of the hill, and then driving a level 

 to the face of the cliff, which thus presents a large cave-like aperture. 



The Chalk-without-flints, and the Chalk-with-flints, which together attain 

 the thickness of 200 feet near Beer Head, can be seen to rest upon the Beer 

 stone, which in its turn rests upon a light-coloured compact sandstone, con- 

 taining a considerable portion of green-earth ; but exhibiting in its upper 

 portions ferruginous parts ; — beneath this we have the yellowish-brown sand- 

 stone with chert-seams. 



At the quarries, situated about half a mile or more from the village of Beer, 

 the Beer stone itself can be best studied. This stone appears to have been 



