244 PROCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [Apr. 3, 



(1) Chalk-marl and Hunstanton Limestone. 



(2) Mass of greenish brown, unstratified sands 10 feet. 



(3) Bright-yellow sand, with irregular laminae of peroxide 



of iron in the planes of stratification 20 „ 



The Tealby series is found about 30 feet below the bottom of this 

 pit ; hence the total thickness of these sands is here about 60 feet. 



Between Belchford and Tetford these sands yield an iron-ore of 

 the kind known to workmen as " cinder," which may hereafter be 

 found to be of commercial value. The manner in which these sands 

 appear to thin out towards the north and west, owing to the uncon- 

 formity between the Upper and Lower Cretaceous rocks, has been 

 already explained. I have as yet altogether failed in my search for 

 fossils in these beds. 



d. The Tealby Series. — This includes a great variety of rocks, the 

 most persistent and characteristic being the sandy limestone pro- 

 vincially known as " greystone." In a large pit above North Wil- 

 lingham, we have the following section of these beds : — 



1. Soil 2feet. 



2. Sandy clay of a bluish-grey colour, containing an irre- 



gular bed of sandy limestone 4 „ 



3. Three courses of sandy limestone with clay partings ... 3 „ 



4. Sandy clay 3 „ 



6. Hard blue limestone 2^ „ 



6. Sandy clay (to bottom of pit) 3 ,, 



The workmen bored 9 feet below the bottom of the pit without 

 finding another bed of hard limestone. In the midst of the clay- 

 bed (2) occurs a remarkable layer of fossils, consisting of numerous 

 specimens of Pecten cinctus, Sow., mingled with Exogyra sinuata, 

 Sow., and numerous other fossils, among which Belemnites semi- 

 canaliculatus, Blain., Ostrea frons, Park., Pecten orbicularis, Sow., 

 and Rhynchonella parvirostris, Sow., are perhaps the most abundant. 

 The specimens of Pecten cinctus, which are from 9 to 12 inches in 

 diameter, are always found lying on their lowest or most convex 

 side ; and their upper valves, as well as the edges of their lower ones, 

 are not unfrequently covered, to the thickness of 2 inches or even 

 more, with a tangled mass composed of Serjpuloe of several species. 

 Other shells, as Eocogyrce, are frequently attached to these gigantic 

 Pectens. The Exogyrce also frequently occur of very large size, and 

 with valves of great thickness ; they are also often found growing 

 together in great masses, just as the same species frequently occur at 

 Shanklin, Isle of "Wight. All these circumstances serve to indicate 

 the extremely slow and tranquil conditions under which the beds in 

 question were deposited. 



Above the village of Tealby, in the valley formed by the upper 

 course of the Eiver Ease *, are several pits, in which the gigantic 



* Near the upper waterfall in the gorge above Tealby occvu's an interesting 

 deposit of travertine ; the course of the stream has been changed at this place, 

 and in the old river-bed the deposit in question is seen ; it is about 8 feet thick in 

 its deepest part, but is of no great length. The lower part of this deposit is white 

 and crumbling, the upper light-brown and hard ; it contains very numerous 

 plant-remains, and also shells of terrestrial moUusca, among which I recognized 

 Helicella nitida, Miill., and Succinea ^uiris, Linn. 



