236 ME. W. HILL ON THE BEDS BETWEEN THE 



nodules ; these are finally succeeded by the soft white chalk, with 

 regular lines of flints. It may be noticed that the top of these 

 rocky layers occasionally presents a definite line ; the soft chalk 

 below appears to pass up rapidly with a deepening yellowish tint 

 into the hard rock, which ends abruptly and is overlain by the suc- 

 ceeding layer of softer chalk. This appearance is seen both in the 

 lower and in the upper and yellowish rock, which, although compact, 

 shows layers of nodules where the conditions of its weathering are 

 favourable. 



A little to the west of the South Foreland, where the base of the 

 rocky chalk reaches the beach, there is a persistent bed of scattered 

 flints, about 4 feet thick ; this is followed by a marl-band and two 

 well-marked lines of flints, between which is a second marl-band. 

 These marl-bands and flint-lines are a prominent feature in the cliff- 

 face ; they are well separated at the Foreland, but approach more 

 closely to each other to the westward. 



Throughout the lower portion of the rocky chalk above the flint- 

 lines flints are scattered irregularly, being more abundant near the 

 base ; but as the yellowish upper rock passes into softer chalk, 

 flints become arranged in definite lines. There are two or three 

 lines of tabular flint ; these are not very persistent, but may be 

 traced in the cliff about 2| miles west of St. Margaret's Bay. 



The rocky beds can be examined at the stairs just west of CornhiU 

 coastguard-station, and also by following the beach at low water 

 between the stairs and St. Margaret's Bay. 



Shakespeare's Cliff is capped by the lower portion of these hard 

 beds ; the marly band, above which the chalk becomes harder, is as 

 nearly as possible level with the bench-mark of the Ordnance Survey, 

 252| feet above high-water mark. The marl-bands and flint-lines 

 are to be seen above it, but are closer together than at the South 

 Foreland. 



The chalk of Shakespeare's Cliff", from the base of the " Grit Bed'' 

 to the lower marly band between the flint lines, has been kindly 

 measured for me by M. Curry, Esq., Assoc. Mem. Inst. C.E., of Dover. 

 He gives me its thickness as 236 feet. I am also indebted to 

 Mr. Curry for the thickness of the rocky chalk. This, measured at 

 the eastern end of the town of Dover, from the upper of the two 

 well-marked flint lines to the highest well-marked nodular layer, 

 proved to be 81 1 feet thick. 



Zoms of the Middle CJialJc of Dover (see figs. 1 & 2). 



Zone of Rhynchonella Cuvieri. — In a paper by Mr. Jukes-Browne, 

 F.G.S., and myself, read before this Society (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. 

 vol. xlii. p. 216), we say that the name Melhourn Rock is given to 

 certain weU-defined rocky bands which occur at the base of the zone 

 of Rhynchonella Cuvieri^ the structure of which is there treated at 

 some length. Its characters are described as being gradually lost in 

 the zone of RhyncIioneTla Cuvieri, and it contains some of the 

 most characteristic fossils of the zone of which it forms the base. 



The hard nodular chalk at the base of the Middle Chalk of Dover 

 has aU the peculiarities of the Melhourn Bock^ but its development is 



