EOCENE STKATA IN ENGLAND, BELGIUM, AND FRANCE. Ill 



Mr. Gardner contended that the Eeading Beds should be allowed 

 to come in as a separate formation. They were now shown to be 

 quite distinct both in matrix and fossils from the Woolwich Beds, 

 being characterized by a separate flora. Por the sands above the 

 London Clay in the near neighbourhood of London the proposed 

 name was good : but these were not very extensive, as fluviatile 

 conditions were soon reached. In classification we should separate 

 the marine sands from the entirely freshwater series. He quite 

 agreed that the Lower Bagshots of Alum Bay should be placed in 

 the Lower Eocene. He was not prepared to see the Middle Eocene 

 effaced. In the Upper Bagshots of the London Basin, Barton forms 

 decidedly preponderate. This has been further confirmed recently 

 by the discoveries of Mr. Herries. 



The Author, after alluding to the friendly reception accorded 

 to his paper, observed that with Mr. Whitaker his differences were 

 slight, and while restricting the vertical dimensions of the Oldhaven 

 Beds in the neighbourhood of London, he admitted their greater im- 

 portance in East Kent, and considered the term there a better one 

 than " the Basement-bed of the London Clay." Eossils might easily 

 have been dissolved out in some of the sandy pebble-beds. He did 

 not consider the evidence doubtful, but thought it not strong. He 

 indicated how the mottled clays of Eeading became replaced by sands 

 and pebble-beds as they ranged past London. With regard to the 

 Tufeau de Ciply, that was classed by the Belgian geologists at the 

 top of the Cretaceous series. The tables exhibited were confined to 

 the Eocene series. 



