some New Points in British Geology. 265 



country, he succeeded in making out the true succession of 

 beds, with most novel and gratifying results. During this 

 work he was greatly aided by his colleague, Mr Bristow, and 

 by Mr Gibbs, an indefatigable and able collector attached to 

 the Geological Survey. 



The fresh-water strata of Whitecliff Bay proved to be en- 

 tirely misinterpreted. Instead of being constituted out of the 

 Headon Hill strata only, more than a hundred feet thickness 

 of them are additional beds characterized by peculiar fossils, 

 and resting upon a marine stratum that overlies the Bern- 

 bridge limestone, the equivalent of which at Headon is a soft 

 concretionary calcareous marl, scarcely visible except in holes 

 among the grass immediately under the gravel on the sum- 

 mit of the hill. 



The beds of the true Headon series, in fact, are all included 

 in the sub- vertical portion of the Whitecliff sections, and are 

 there present in their full thickness. They are succeeded by 

 peculiar strata of intermediate character, for which the name 

 of St Helen's beds is proposed, and which become so im- 

 portant near Hyde that they constitute a valuable building 

 stone. The Bembridge limestone that lies above is the same 

 with the Binstead limestone near Ryde, out of which were pro- 

 cured the remains of quadrupeds of the genera Anoplothe- 

 rium, Palseotherium, &c, identical with those found in the 

 gypsiferous beds of Montmartre. The Sconce limestone near 

 Yarmouth is also the same, and none of these limestones are 

 identical with any of those conspicuous among the fluvio- 

 marine strata at Headon Hill, and with which they have 

 hitherto been confounded. They are far above them, and are 

 distinguished by distinct and peculiar fossils. 



Almost all the country north of the chalk ridge, exclusive 

 of the small strip occupied by the marine eocenes, is composed 

 of marls higher in the series than any of the Headon Hill 

 beds, and hitherto wholly undistinguished, except in the 

 Whitecliff section, where the age and relative position had 

 been entirely mistaken. These are the Bembridge marls of 

 Professor Forbes. Above them are still higher beds pre- 

 served only in two localities, viz., at Hempstead Hill, to the 

 west of Yarmouth, and in the high ground at Parkhurst. 

 For these the name of Hempstead series is proposed. Their 



