33 
Chalk Cliffs near Dover . 
is so sloping as to be covered with a verdure which prevents an 
accurate discovery of the stratification by ascending it, and it can- 
not always be seen from either above or below. 
The external roughness occasioned by the numerous thin beds of 
organic remains in this stratum, is far less considerable than that of 
the chalk with interspersed flints. Still the same appearance of 
sponges is visible after long exposure, but they lie closer together, 
and when detached are less. The few are not unfrequently sepa- 
rated by the remains of shells, so small as to be nearly in a state 
of comminution, a large proportion of them being varieties of the 
striated shell or inoceramus. The two varieties of the echinus 
so common in the chalk with interspersed flints are occasionally 
seen in this bed, but are less numerous. Ammonites from 12 to 18 
inches in diameter and of a circular form are not uncommon : I 
saw several, all of which lay parallel to the strata. Though the thin 
beds of organic matter are nearly in contact in the lower part of 
the stratum, they are more separate in the upper part of it. 
Through one of the many large masses lying on the shore, a bed 
about nine inches thick took its course, consisting of remains essen- 
tially differing from the rest. It consisted chiefly of ramose appear- 
ances about half an inch in diameter, and the masses detached from 
it greatly resembled those of the alcyonium visible in the sand of the 
Isle of Wight, described by fig. 12, pi. 29. vol. 2, of the Geological 
Transactions. 
In this stratum I did not perceive any traces of pyrites, so common 
in other parts of the cliff*. It includes grey veins similar to those of 
the chalk with interspersed flints and of that with few flints, but 
they are far less numerous, and though the organic remains which 
occasion them are similar, they are much smaller. 
Vol. V. 
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