XIX. — On the Freshwater Strata of Hordwell Cliff, Beacon Cliff, and 



Barton Cliff, Hampshire. 



By Charles LYELL, Esq. P.R.S. F.L.S. F.G.S. 



[Read June 2ad, 1826.] 



In the last volume of the Transactions of the Geological Society^ there is a 

 description of the strata in the cliffs between Lymington and Muddiford near 

 Christchurch ; and^ in a section accompanying the Memoir, the extent of the 

 different formations exhibited in this line of coast is laid down. Large collec- 

 tions of the fossils of these cliffs have been made since the days of Brander^ 

 who published an account of them in 1766 ; and many have paid hasty visits 

 to the spot, for the purpose chiefly of procuring fossil shells. But it was 

 reserved for Mr. Webster to discover and first make known, in 1822, the 

 existence of a distinct freshwater formation on the Hampshire coast, corre- 

 sponding with the lower freshwater formation in the Isle of Wight. I have 

 examined these freshwater strata in minute detail, their order of superposition, 

 and their organic contents, with a view of furnishing data to geologists, for 

 comparing these beds with those of the opposite coast of the Isle of Wight ; 

 and also to decide the question, on which doubts were entertained by the 

 author of the Memoir above mentioned, whether the upper marine formation 

 occupies any portion of Hordwell Cliff. 



In determining the names of the shells, I am indebted to the kindness of 

 Mr. James Sowerby ; without whose assistance in examining specimens of 

 the marls brought from these cliffs, several of the organic remains would have 

 been entirely overlooked. 



The following is a list of the beds in the order of their superposition as they 

 are seen rising from beneath each other with a gentle inclination to the east, 

 as we proceed from the eastern extremity of Hordwell Cliff towards Barton 

 Cliff. Their extent and position will be easily seen by referring to the 

 annexed sketch. (See PI. XXX. No. 3.) 



VOL. II. — SECOND SERIES. 2 P 



