394 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
geological point of view. Such, for iustance, are — 1st, the slow oscilla- 
tion of this district, first noticed by Belpaire, and which still con- 
tinues;* 2nd, the progressive movement of the sand-hills (dunes) 
towards the interior of the Belgian continent ; 3rd, the existence along 
this coast of an immense bed of grey clay or marl, which spi'eads from 
the river Scheld to Calais, and which has been formed at a compara- 
tively recent period, according to some geologists, since the time of 
Julius Cffisar. To these and some other curious particulars we hope to 
refer again. At present we have to speak of a peculiar rock which we 
laid before the Academy of Sciences at Paris, a short time ago, and 
which appc ars to be daily forming on the coast of "West Plunders. 
The littoral portion of AVest Planders presents three distinct strati- 
fications, M'hich have been classed by Omalius d'Halloy, in his 
" Terrains Jlodernes," and necessarily belong to some of the most recent 
geological formations. Beginning with the uppermost strata, we have — 
1st, the sand of the coast, and of the sand-hills or "dunes;" 2nd, a bed 
of grey clay or marl, generally known as the " Argile grise d'Ostende " 
(because it is very well developed in that neighbourhood), which attains, 
in some places, a thickness of from three to eight feet or more ; 3rd, 
a bed of peat, which lies upon the sand known as " Sable de la Cam- 
pine" (the whole of the province of la Campine being covered with it). 
These beds of clay and peat pass under the sand-hills of the coast, and 
extend to a considerable distance into the sea. 
The recently-formed rock to which I allude in this paper appears to 
have been deposited, and continues in all probabilitj'' to form daily, at 
or near the extremity of the stratum of peat, more than six miles from 
the coast. f When the weather is stormy, the sea throws up large 
blocks, enveloping fragments of peat, and the shells of mollusca which 
* We have already noticed this in the pages of the Geologist (January, 
1858).— T. L. P. 
t About six miles out at sea, and stretching along the coast from Blankenberg 
to Ostend (n. distance of about ten English miles), exists a bank or bar, called by 
fishermen " The Black Bank," which is the most dangerous ou the coast. There 
are also many sand -banks, which shift their places according to the weather, the 
currents, &c. The bank we allude to here is, however, nothing le^s than the peat 
and clay beds mentioned in the text as stretching out into the sea underneath the 
sand of the coast. It consist principally of peat, of which large fragments, often 
pierced by innumerable i^AoZas dactijlus, kc, are coustautly thrown upon the coast 
in rough weather. The anchors of ships will not hold in it ; and at low water it 
is covei-ed with only three feet of water. — T. L. P. 
