COEEESPO^TDENCE. 



301 



of Drift clay covers tHese stone-beds, and fills up the interstices of 

 their openings, so that the land-surface shows no indication, by inequa- 

 lities, of any of these faults or fissures. The distance from the Med- 



Fig. 6. a. Drift clay filling up fissures in Eagstone beds, c c\ h. Bed of the Medway. 



way is about a quarter of a mile, and the floor of the quarry is about 

 160 feet above the level of that river ; the land gradually sloping 

 towards it. 



(To he continued.) 



COREESPONDENCE. 



Professor King's Synoptical Tahle. 



Dear Sie, — No doubt there is much that is incorrect in my " Syno^Dtical 

 Table," which you have done me the honour to insert in your valuable 

 periodical (Vol.,V. pp. 193-7) ; but unfortunately, your correspondent 

 " W. W.," who charges it with " many imperfections," and who fancies 

 that he has pointed out certain of its errors in his letter, published in your 

 last number, seems to have entirely overlooked the qualifications and spirit 

 necessary for such a task. 



The three instances which "W. W." parades as "striking mistakes," I 

 may be pardoned for saying are nothing of the kind, but simply inten- 

 tional omissions. Any one referring to the Table itself will see that I 

 purposely avoided, as much as possible, giving the subdivisions of the 

 " Formations." I merely inserted what appeared to me to be the most 

 characteristic " Types" of the different Formations, " Marine,'" or " Fresh- 

 water;''' believing that such were sufficient for students in general. 



I shall be most happy to avail myself of any suggestions or corrections 

 offered through the medium of your pages ; but I regret I cannot adopt the 

 Eocene classification, given by " W. W." As will presently be seen, "it 

 is not as useful as might be to a student in the south-east of England ;" 

 nor is it in accordance with the views of one of the highest authorities in 

 Tertiary Geology. 



The classification of the Eocene " Formation," as given in my Table, is 

 fully borne out by the following remarks, extracted from the new edition of 

 Jukes's admirable Manual: — " Sir C. Lyell, however, in his Supplement, 

 thinks that it would be more convenient to retain a nomenclature common 

 on the Continent, and to class the Hempstead series, and its contempora- 

 neous beds as Loioer Miocene, m.aking the beds from the Barton Clay to 

 the Bembridge series inclusive Upper Eocene, and taking the BracMesham 

 and Lower Bagshot beds only as Middle Eocene " — (pp. 651-2). Further, 

 the latest investigations, such as may " be said to be up to the present 

 time," are all strongly confirmatory of the view maintained by many geo- 

 logists, that the Hempstead beds are of the ''Lower Mioceiie" age, and not 

 Eocene. — (See Abstract of Heer's paper, and of another by Sandberger, in 

 the same number of the ' Geologist ' containing the letter of " W. W." !) 

 I entertain a strong suspicion that even the Bembridge Marls, etc., are 

 Miocene. 



