UPPER CHALK. 
81 
them to slij) over each other, before they were 
entirely consolidated.* In a quarry, now disused, 
and which was one of the most productive in fishes 
and zoophytes, there is a remarkably deep well, 
or conical cavity, filled up with the reddish sand 
and coarse sandstone of the tertiary beds. 
South-street j)it, near Lewes, affords a fine sec- 
tion of the flinty chalk, exceeding two hundred 
feet in height. An irregular canal or dike, varying 
from two to eight feet in diameter, traverses this 
quarry, in an oblique direction. It was noticed, 
many years since, at the northern extremity of the 
pit ; and subsequent falls of chalk have from time 
to time exposed its course towards the centre, from 
whence it now appears to proceed easterly ; a sec- 
tion of it is still perceptible at an elevation of a 
few feet. In some parts this cavity was almost 
empty, and in others nearly filled by sand, clay, 
and ochre of a light chocolate colour. This canal 
or dike has probably been formed by a subterranean 
current of water, the substances it contains being 
evidently alluvial. South-street pit is also remark- 
able, as being the only known locality of the 
detached octaedral sulphuret of iron. It contains 
the scales, teeth, &c. of fishes, and numerous shells 
and corals. 
Beddingham pit is situated on the side of the 
Downs, about a mile distant from the village. In 
ascending the hill, the grey marl, lower chalk, 
and Hinty chalk, are passed over in succession. 
* An appearance somewhat similar occurs in the limestone beds of 
Derbyshire, and is provincially termctl “ slickcmides” 
G 
