§ 29. FRESH-WATER STRATA OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 241 



lacustrine and fluviatile character of the upper series of 

 deposits, which is superimposed on marine strata identical 

 with those of Bracklesham. These fresh-water beds 

 consist of marls, sands, and limestones, containing abun- 

 dance of river and lacustrine shells, and a few bones and 

 teeth of mammalia, of some of the extinct genera of 

 the Paris basin. This series is spread over the northern 

 districts of the Island, forming the coast-line from White- 

 cliff Bay, to Headon Hill in Alum Bay. The relative 

 position of the fluviatile and marine eocene strata, is shown 

 in Lign. 37 : strata, the equivalents of the Bognor rocks, 



Headon Hill. 

 ^^ZZl^^^ Alum Bay. 



Lign 37. — Section of Headon .Hill and Alum Bay. 



Fig. 1. Fresh-water strata of Headon Hill. 2. Vertical marine strata of Alum 

 Bay. 3. Nearly vertical beds of Chalk. 



London clay, Bracklesham clay, and Bagshot sands, appear 

 in a vertical position throughout the entire extent of Alum 

 Bay, from the white chalk (3), to the foot of Headon Hill 

 (a) ; and are succeeded by the fresh-water deposits (1.) The 

 limestones abounding in fluviatile shells (see Lign. 39), 

 are quarried at Binstead near Ryde, and at Calbourn, and 

 Shalfleet ; and may be seen in various places along the 

 northern coast. Bones of turtles and crocodilian reptiles, 

 are sometimes met with.* 



29. Organic remains of the eocene strata ; Fos- 

 sil plants. — So numerpus are the relics of the inhabitants 



* These strata, and the most interesting fossils hitherto discovered 

 in the Isle of Wight, are so fully described and illustrated in my 

 recent work, " Excursions round the Isle of Wight, &c," that I beg to 

 refer to that volume for more ample information. 



R 



