THE SOUTHEKtf POBTIOjST OF THE WEVLDEN AEEA. 



649 



together with a few angular flints, but at no great elevation above 

 the river. 



Approaching the eastern watershed of the Cuckmere, traces of old 

 flint-covered surfaces again become visible on the highest contours. 

 Thus, in Abbot's Wood, near the Royal Oak public-house, indica- 

 tions of a thin coating of angular flints occur at an eJevation of 

 134 feet above sea-level, and again at New House at a height of 

 136 feet. A striking example of the occurrence of this flint-drift on 

 the highest levels only is to be seen in a field near Eastland 

 Coppice, where the highest level in the neighbourhood is reached at 

 an altitude of 152 feet. Here there is an abundance of angular flints, 

 with some Tertiary pebbles ; but no sections occur to show any 

 depth of gravel. Although these gravels appear to be very thin and 

 in fragmentary patches only, it is interesting to note even the 

 smallest traces of flint-drift on the watershed of this the last and 

 smallest of the rivers in the area under discussion. 



Of the deposits of the Ashburn valley there is nothing to add to 

 what has already been described by Sir R. Murchison * and Dr. 

 Mantellf. The superficial deposits are chiefly loams, from which at 

 Eastbourne many bones of fossil Mammalia have been obtained. 



Subaerial Deposits. — Besides the above-mentioned accumulations 

 of angular flint-drift, the surface of the Lower Greensand in many 

 localities has a few feet of sandy or loamy deposit containing large 

 angular fragments of ironstone and generally small angular flints 

 sparingly disseminated throughout the mass. In the majority of 

 cases where this deposit is present the surface of the rock below is 

 greatly eroded, and ironstone is not present. Erom the constant 

 manner in which these deposits confine themselves to the outcrop of 

 the Sandgate beds, there can be little doubt that they are merely 

 superficial accumulations. 



Occasional flints, as well as Lower-Greensand ironstone, are 

 scattered over the surface of the Weald-clay to the very margin of 

 the central dome. Tertiary pebbles also are frequently to be met 

 with. These doubtless represent the remains of the strata which 

 formerly covered the Weald-clay area. Elints, however, are much 

 less frequently met with on the Weald-clay of the Aran valley than 

 in the case of the Adur and the Ouse. 



Erratic Blocks. — Not a single instance has been noticed of the 

 occurrence of foreign boulders upon the surface of the Wealden 

 valley itself, but I procured a moderately large granite boulder from 

 the summit of the Chalk escarpment. The boulder lay amongst a 

 thick coating of flints on some ploughed land at Kithurst, close to 

 the edge of the escarpment, and exactly upon the 600 feet contour of 

 Kithurst Hill. The occurrence of this boulder is so remarkable 

 that it merits a more detailed description. The mass weighed 

 between 5 and 6 lbs., and had an irregular shape, with a rough 

 surface destitute of any signs of scratching or polishing by ice- 

 action. When broken it exhibits the structure of a moderately 



* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. vii. p. 355. 

 t ' Geology of S.E. England,' p. 43. 

 Q.J.G.S. No. 172. ' 2 y 



